Fate Trading System – Chapter 280

Plan A

Divine Vestige 6

This sounded like a romantic confession, but Su Xin only felt a sense of crisis, as if her eyes were about to be gouged out.

“Sorry, they belong to me.”

Su Xin didn’t seem to get the point. A confession that would make any other girl swoon with romance was, to Su Xin, just a psycho she’d just met wanting to dig out her eyes.

The young lady thief nodded, admitting that this was indeed the case.

And so, their friendly exchange came to an end. Sha Ying returned to the group.

“Does he have any use?”

Slayer whispered this question in Su Xin’s ear again.

She really felt this new companion was pretty useless and couldn’t understand why Su Xin would team up with him.

“Everything has its own reason for existing.”

Su Xin patted the dust off her clothes and gave Sha Ying a look.

“This is Slayer, and this is Sha Ying.”

After introducing the two to each other, Su Xin and her group continued to rest where they were.

The sky was still dark. The moon was nowhere to be seen, but the countless stars twinkled with a faint yet breathtaking light that seemed to embrace the entire forest, creating a beautiful sight.

There was a corpse not far away. As Su Xin chanted, the body dissolved into specks of light and vanished into the air, leaving nothing behind.

This spell was truly a must-have for murder and plunder¹.

It had the same effect as Bone Dissolving Powder, but it was much prettier to look at.

Slayer didn’t have a mount. Su Xin offered to buy her one, but she refused.

Slayer said she was very fast and riding a mount would only slow her down.

Su Xin’s speed stat was above average, but she certainly couldn’t compare to a thief. So, she sat comfortably on her demonic beast, looking very cool and impressive.

They passed through several small towns without stopping, heading straight for their destination and only occasionally pausing to rest.

Slayer had no objection to going to the Elven Forest first, as Su Xin had said it was the most likely target for success at the moment.

Just before night fell again, they arrived at a small town.

The young lady thief ended up riding the demonic beast after all—sharing with Su Xin, of course. It was too boring for her to run far ahead and then have to wait, so she decided to try slowing down and traveling by Su Xin’s side.

Besides, she was very interested in that treasure. She would sneak a peek from time to time. Although she couldn’t steal it, she could still admire it.

“This place… seems a little strange.”

Slayer looked around, her keen senses picking up on something.

“Yes, it is strange.”

Su Xin’s Light attribute allowed her to feel an intense negative aura, yet there was no presence of dark creatures here.

Sha Ying followed obediently from behind. He rarely spoke; he had always been a loner who didn’t enjoy chatting with others, and now, trailing behind two powerhouses, he was even more silent.

In Sha Ying’s eyes, Su Xin was undoubtedly playing out the protagonist’s script². As long as this wasn’t some story about getting revenge on society³, following the protagonist was a surefire path to victory, right?

Su Xin’s group had traveled in a hurry and hadn’t encountered any other players. Most of the people they met were NPCs or Lost Ones, who had blended in so perfectly they seemed like real people living here.

“Let’s go in and take a look first.”

It wasn’t that Su Xin wanted to be nosy, but she believed in saving those she could. If it turned out to be NPCs causing trouble, she wouldn’t bother interfering. After all, NPCs couldn’t be truly killed and would just revive. The same went for any Lost Ones harmed by them.

Dusk lingered over the land, painting the horizon in warm colors.

Su Xin walked into the small inn. It didn’t seem very busy, but it wasn’t deserted either, with a few people sitting scattered about.

These people were all NPCs, their facial expressions incredibly natural.

It looked as if nothing was amiss, just like any ordinary small town.

But Su Xin and Slayer’s senses were definitely not mistaken. There was certainly something wrong here. However, they couldn’t get any answers by asking these NPCs, because once harmed, they would revive with their memories of the incident wiped clean.

“Are you all looking to stay the night?”

“Yes, please give us three rooms, and some food and water.”

“Of course, follow me.”

For the time being, they settled down in the town. When a bright moon hung high in the sky, Su Xin’s eyes snapped open in her bed.

Someone was standing in her room, sitting in a chair, neither too close nor too far away.

“My beautiful lady, your alertness is quite impressive.”

The person spoke, and his voice was that of a young man.

“I believe you owe me an explanation for appearing in my room in the middle of the night.”

Su Xin saw the blue ID above the man’s head. He was a player.

The ID was 【Shu Ai⁴】, a rather artistic-sounding name.

IDs were limited to ten characters. Bizarre names, strange symbols, and emoticons were not allowed.

“You’re not an NPC, are you? From the first moment I saw you, I felt you were different. But it doesn’t matter even if you are.”

Shu Ai walked over. The lamps were unlit, and the room was so dim that it was nearly impossible to see his face.

As the man drew closer and closer, Su Xin’s expression grew colder.

“What did you do?”

Su Xin’s body suddenly went rigid, unable to move. She was certain she hadn’t been drugged or inhaled anything strange. If the man had cast a spell, he would have needed to chant, but he hadn’t made any obvious movements. She had been alert and opened her eyes the instant he arrived, so there was no way he could have done anything sneaky under her nose.

Lord Fourteen, what’s happened to me?

【It appears to be some kind of forbidden art. Host, you can break it. Wait, this one will help you trigger the counter, but you will need five seconds.】

It would take five seconds to chant the spell. Lord Fourteen could trigger the process, but the chanting part was unavoidable.

Su Xin cursed inwardly. Damn it, who the hell invented this rule that magic spells had to be chanted out loud? Don’t they realize how troublesome that is in a fight? Even a few seconds is enough time for someone to die.

But Su Xin refused to believe she would fall here. Her lips moved slightly, but she made no sound.

Just five more seconds.

5, 4, 3…

“I’m sure you’ve noticed the unusual state of your body. You shouldn’t have set foot in here. But even if you hadn’t come in, I would have gone out eventually. This place… has become so dreadfully boring.”

2, 1!

Su Xin felt control return to her body. She couldn’t help but feel a little grateful for this man’s rambling.

My dear brother, haven’t you ever heard the saying? Villains often die from talking too much.

The only problem was, if she wanted to use her powers, she would have to chant again, and this time, it would have to be out loud.

“Let me guess, you must be a player? Oh, look at those eyes, so beautiful. If you’re a player, what a pity. You only get one life. But if you’re an NPC, I would be overjoyed. That way, I could possess you day after day.”

Su Xin felt this body of hers might really have some kind of debuff. Out of the three players she’d met, besides the relatively normal Sha Ying, why was each one more unhinged than the last? This one seemed even more perverted than the previous one.

A scoff escaped Su Xin’s lips, expressing her disdain for his words.

“This game is a wonderful place, isn’t it? I can now be completely certain of your identity. If you were really an NPC, how could you show no reaction to my words?”

“So?”

“So you should be well aware of the consequences of a player being killed here. It’s true death. There’s no getting out.”

“So?”

They were standing very close to each other, the dim light just enough for them to see one another clearly.

Su Xin was now almost certain this man was a psycho. She couldn’t tell if he had an antisocial personality disorder, but he was definitely not a normal person. In the real world, he probably had a criminal record, or at least fantasized about committing crimes without ever acting on it.

“Be a good girl, and you’ll become my most perfect work of art.”

Shu Ai was, to put it mildly, thrilled. He was indeed a criminal—one who had never been caught.

The game becoming real was a dream come true for him.

Due to his personality, the attributes he received were different, as was his method of cultivation.

The lack of a control panel wasn’t a big problem for him. He had begun his “hunting” activities in this small town, learning to distinguish between NPCs and players.

There were few players in this town. With no major or even minor dungeons nearby, it was just a temporary resting spot.

Shu Ai reveled in the thrill, doing the same things he did in the real world, collecting his “works of art.”

But there were pitifully few he could keep. The NPCs, who could revive, would eventually return to their original state, and the “souvenirs” he had taken from them would also disappear, returning to their owners.

This made him very unhappy.

He had already been planning to leave. Besides, this place had no widely enforced laws. Outside of the areas around the capital and bustling trade hubs, who would care what happened in a small town that few people visited?

And just then, someone had walked right into his trap.

A mysterious girl, dressed in white, her face hidden by a veil.

She must be beautiful.

She will be the most perfect work of art.

“An Apostate⁵?”

A disciple abandoned by the God of Light.

“Ha, how clever. But that was in the past.”

Just as the man’s hand was about to touch Su Xin, she dodged cleanly.

“You can move?”

Su Xin quickly used a Light spell, and a blinding radiance flared up in the room.

Su Xin felt herself being grabbed, but then a shockwave threw her off, sending her flying toward the door. At that exact moment, the door happened to swing open.

Su Xin fell on top of Slayer, who had just opened the door, and their lips accidentally met with a bump.

Su Xin thought to herself, even an idol drama wouldn’t dare write a scene this cliché.

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