Chapter 334: Survivors Are the Property of the Apocalypse Game; Mass Killing Without Cause Is Prohibited

Qi Suian’s deployment of the second batch of Spiritual Root-type genetic weapons went smoothly. However, the Mages were now on guard after the first wave of his operation.

As a result, it took Qi Suian much longer. Fortunately, the Tai Sui God handled everything, so Qi Suian had nothing to complain about.

But there was some good news. With a bit of luck, he found the survivors from the fourth batch.

This group was huddling together for warmth, having built a stockade in a relatively decent location.

With the power of their Divine Intent system, they had managed to establish a firm foothold.

Compared to the Sacred Artifact World, the apocalypse in the Spirit Root World was more covert. One wouldn’t even come into contact with it unless they were involved or reached a certain level of power and status.

Therefore, the greatest enemies for this group of survivors were still the Mages and Spirit Demons.

But since they kept a low profile, they hadn’t faced many crises. In fact, their lives were far more comfortable than Qi Suian’s.

How could Qi Suian stand for that? ’I, a violator, am running around frantically all day, dealing with powerful enemies, and you call this ’surviving’?’

So his first thought was to just kill them all.

However, as Qi Suian approached the survivors’ stockade, he received a warning from the Doomsday Game.

[Warning: Survivors are the property of the Doomsday Game. Unprovoked, large-scale killing is prohibited.]

’In other words, this group of survivors is the last of its kind. I can’t kill them.’

The human survivors from the Divine Intent World were the strongest and had the most potential of all four batches.

The Doomsday Game and Qi Suian were currently in a cold war, and they had a prior agreement not to kill indiscriminately without reason.

But now Qi Suian was thinking of breaking that agreement, which prompted the reminder.

As for the mass deaths back in the Sacred Artifact World? That was the work of the Destructive Sacred Object. What the hell did that have to do with Qi Suian?

"Wait, you..." Qi Suian’s eye twitched. ’There are only a few of them left. Wouldn’t it be better to just kill them and bring in a new batch?’

After holding it in for three minutes, Qi Suian finally continued, "This handful of people doesn’t count as ’large-scale,’ does it?"

"With your power, Doomsday Game, you’d need millions dead to even begin to use the term ’large-scale.’ Their numbers are in the double digits. That doesn’t even qualify as ’small-scale’."

But the Doomsday Game ignored Qi Suian’s snark and simply displayed the same warning again.

The meaning was clear: No.

"Fine, fine. I’m known as the Honest and Trustworthy Young Master. If you say it’s large-scale, then it’s large-scale. I won’t kill them, then," Qi Suian said, patting his chest as if to give his assurance.

’If I can’t kill them directly, I’ll just kill them indirectly.’

After all, Qi Suian’s goal wasn’t to kill them himself, but simply to make sure this group of survivors died.

’So, I’ll just exploit a loophole. I’ll just have them die at the hands of the Spirit Root World’s natives.’

It was nothing more than a simple matter of diverting the disaster and killing with a borrowed knife.

That was easy enough to solve.

Qi Suian had never worried about how to kill these survivors. The real trouble was finding them in the first place.

It now seemed the fourth batch of survivors, who came from the Sacred Artifact World to the Spirit Root World, had also been deployed as a single factional unit.

Unfortunately, every death meant one less of them.

’Their overall strength is not high. The strongest is only about on par with a Sixth-Grade Mage.’

’However, because they come from a world where everyone is Extraordinary, and they managed to survive the Sacred Artifact World, even the weakest among them has the strength of an Eighth-Grade Mage.’

’No wonder the Doomsday Game treasures them so much.’

’Their potential is indeed good, and it can be realized relatively quickly.’ Qi Suian quickly collected data on all the survivors through his reconnaissance network.

Not a single one had escaped; they were all in this stockade.

If he weren’t worried about his actions angering the Doomsday Game and getting himself tagged with a "Permanent Target: Survivor" status, he would have just launched a missile and wiped them all out. It would have been incredibly easy.

’The Doomsday Game’s definition of a "large-scale" kill of survivors probably isn’t based on numbers, but on the trend toward extinction.’

’So even if there’s only this handful left, if I kill them all, it would still count as a large-scale massacre.’

’If there were a hundred million of them, I could kill a million survivors and the Doomsday Game wouldn’t issue a warning.’

It wasn’t like Qi Suian hadn’t done it before. He was the one who had wiped out Longjing City with an intercontinental ballistic missile.

And he didn’t receive a warning then, either.

That was because Qi Suian hadn’t completely annihilated all the survivors at the time; quite a few had managed to escape.

The subsequent deaths of those survivors were the handiwork of the Sacred Artifact World’s Destructive Sacred Object. It had little to do with Qi Suian, other than the fact that he had indirectly brought about the creation of the Destructive Sacred Object.

"AI Brain, draw up a plan. I want this group of survivors to die at the hands of the Spirit Root World’s natives."

Qi Suian had no intention of handling such a trivial matter himself. He would let the AI Brain come up with a plan, have the Tai Sui God execute it, and then simply sit on the mountain to watch the tigers fight.

He planned to find a place nearby to set up a temporary lab. He would work on improving his A-rank talent, Body of the Hungry, while also serving as a backstop for the plan to annihilate the fourth batch of survivors.

As for the third batch of Spiritual Root-type genetic weapons, he could ignore that for now. Any future plans would depend on the follow-up data.

Thus, he had plenty of time to watch how this group of survivors would die.

The complete annihilation of the fourth batch of survivors was also very much in Qi Suian’s interest.

He needed even more powerful Extraordinary Survivors to provide their Extraordinary systems as nourishment for his own growth.

Worlds like the Spirit Root World and the Wasteland World, which lacked an Extraordinary system, had forced Qi Suian to take countless detours.

[Generating plan...]

[Reconnaissance network has detected a First-Grade Mage approaching. 90% probability that it is Prince Li of Yunhan, Luo Yu.]

[Behavioral analysis indicates a high probability that he is looking for you.]

"Is it because of the plague caused by the Spiritual Root-type genetic weapons?" That was Qi Suian’s first thought.

’As for how the guy found me, it’s obviously just the protection of his protagonist halo.’

Qi Suian wasn’t the only one with a protagonist halo. It was highly likely that Luo Geng, the Emperor Yunhan, had one as well.

The Emperor couldn’t act himself, but it wasn’t impossible for him to send someone to pursue him.

It was just a matter of manual targeting followed by a remote strike.

Luo Geng’s Spiritual Roots were all space-related. To a certain extent, distance was not an issue for him at all.

As long as he could be located, the rest would be simple.

[Yes. Based on trace analysis, he has been following the deployment sequence.]

Upon receiving confirmation from the Tai Sui God, Qi Suian couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

The Tai Sui God’s work might not be flawless, but it wasn’t something Luo Yu should have been able to track.

If he were a First-Grade Mage specializing in tracking and perception, then maybe. But this guy’s specialty was defense and recovery.

So, to be able to find his tracks... if someone told him it wasn’t the protagonist halo at work, he’d eat the man alive.

[Evasion is recommended. This could be a conspiracy against you.]

The AI Brain couldn’t see the full picture, but in any case, the mission was complete. There was no need to risk his life.

"Let’s put the recommendation aside for a moment. We need to determine whether Luo Yu finding us is the result of *his* protagonist halo, or a combined effect of my protagonist halo and Luo Geng’s."

Qi Suian, however, had a different idea.

Protagonist halos had a self-preservation instinct; Qi Suian knew this well.

Back in the Sacred Artifact World, the protagonist halo of the survivor Li Yao had acted to save itself.

That action wasn’t just Li Yao’s own protagonist halo at work; it was also aided by Qi Suian’s protagonist halo, which was why Li Yao had been able to escape Longjing City so easily.

But what gave him his success also led to his downfall. In the end, he still died at Qi Suian’s hands.

[Are you suggesting that Luo Geng might be unable to hold on any longer, and that’s why he wants your help?]

[And your protagonist halo has judged this to be a fortuitous opportunity, or a chance for a resolution, thus forming a temporary partnership?]

"Exactly. That’s what I’m thinking. So I’ve decided... to send Fei to check it out for me."

Qi Suian certainly had no intention of going himself.

If he was right, he might be able to resolve the crisis.

If he was wrong, it was even simpler. He’d just divert the disaster and use the newcomer’s hand to get rid of the survivors.

At worst, he would only lose Fei. He could just reform it later.

The cost was pitifully low, but the potential gains were significant.

Of course, there were risks as well.

[Your idea is excellent, but you should still think it over carefully before acting.]

[Luo Geng has already become an Immortal Mage. His strength is far beyond what you can compare to.]

[It’s always better to be safe than sorry.]

"I’m already being this reckless, so my intelligence must have been nerfed. Since things have come to this, I have to see it through, whether I want to or not."

Qi Suian grumbled about his own situation, finally realizing what was happening.

Generally speaking, a protagonist halo rarely nerfs its own host’s intelligence unless the potential benefits are truly enormous.

Otherwise, there was no way Qi Suian would be this insistent.

-----------------

"I lost the trail. Dammit!" Luo Yu’s face was etched with exhaustion, but his expression was one of bitter unwillingness.

Using the resources of the Yunhan Dynasty, he had finally managed to pick up a faint trail of the person spreading the Spiritual Root plague.

He had followed the trail all this way and was on the verge of finding his target, but at the last moment, the trail went cold.

He didn’t need to think to know that his pursuit had been detected, prompting the target to more thoroughly cover their tracks.

’The target can’t have gone far. I still have a chance.’

’If I can’t find him, both the Yunhan Dynasty and the Human Race will be in grave danger.’ Luo Yu forced himself to rally his spirits.

Things had come to this; Luo Yu no longer had any path of retreat.

Once Luo Geng, the Immortal Mage, was possessed by the Spiritual Root and transformed into one of the Insect People, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Even all the First-Grade Mages combined would be no match for an Immortal Mage—let alone an Immortal Mage who should have belonged to the Human Race, only to have the fruits of their labor stolen by the Insect People.

How could Luo Yu tolerate that?

Now, the only one who could save Luo Geng was the person spreading the Spiritual Root plague.

’If that person can create a plague capable of killing an Immortal Spiritual Root, the rest will be easy to solve.’

He took out a map, his gaze falling on several locations. In his eyes, they formed a diffusion circle.

’The previous area was the target’s last stop. If nothing unexpected happened...’ Various speculations surfaced in Luo Yu’s mind.

Soon, one possibility emerged.

"Will... will the target come looking for me?" Luo Yu murmured. After all, he was the one doing the tracking.

"Of course. Aren’t I here now? Otherwise, all this effort would have been a waste of time." Suddenly, a voice boomed out.

Luo Yu turned his head and saw a familiar behemoth appear before his eyes.

"It’s you?!!"