Star Trace Gate

The next morning, six o'clock.

[Congratulations to all players. You have successfully survived to the sixth day in this star gate and cleared the two extremely difficult mission points, Changsheng Temple and Tiangong Tower. This is undoubtedly a great feat...]

[Congratulations again. Since all the necessary Easter egg missions and main missions have been triggered, you have successfully activated the "Final Mission - Evacuation" of this star gate.]

[Today, you do not have to leave the villa. At 8 o'clock in the morning, Tiandao will announce the detailed rules of "Final Mission - Great Evacuation".]

[Star Gate Message: Don’t rush me. I know you are in a hurry, but please give me some time. I also need to evolve…]

After hearing the reminder, Ren Ye spoke politely: "This damned Heavenly Dao, he talks a lot of bullshit."

No need to leave the villa today? This is going to be a new gameplay mechanism...

Ren Ye slowly stood up and walked out of the Qian room.

……

In the lobby on the second floor, when Fatty Tan saw that everyone had come out in good condition, he immediately called out, "Come on, clean up the leftovers from last night."

Xiao Shuai immediately curled his lips and said, "I'm sorry, my family background doesn't allow me to eat leftovers."

"There are new ones too." Fatty Tan pointed to the bathroom on the second floor and said, "Wait there. I'll go take a dump after I finish eating. But I've been suffering from dampness lately, so the taste is very sticky... You can just take a bite."

"Captain, do you have any special fetish?"

"brush!"

While the two were talking, Brother Hu, wearing a black suit, sat next to Xiao Shuai and said, "Do you want to eat? If not, get out!"

"Why are you so irritable so early in the morning? Did you dream about... again last night?!"

"If you dare to say those three words, not only will you eat shit, you will also drink some sticky rice soup." Yinhu's face instantly frowned.

While the three were bickering and chatting, the old cadre suddenly waved his hand at Ren Ye: "Sandbag, come down for a moment, I have something to tell you."

"Oh."

Ren nodded slightly, followed him to the first floor, and asked softly, "What's wrong?"

The sunlight from the window shone into the room. The old cadre stood by the stairs and squinted his eyes and asked, "Did you find anything in the room last night?"

Ren Ye's heart skipped a beat, and he said calmly, "No, I went to sleep as soon as I got home."

"I found it." The old cadre looked at him, suddenly raised his palm, holding a fortune stick and said, "I went to sleep in the Gen room last night. The candle was still on and the light was very dim. I don't know if it was my own psychological effect or if the environment was too weird. Anyway, I always felt that Brother Hong's eyes were staring at me and I couldn't sleep... So I got up and walked around, flipped through it casually, but I didn't expect... to see this fortune stick behind the photo."

When Ren Ye heard this, his expression remained unchanged, but his thoughts suddenly became complicated.

He saw the divination stick, but didn't hide it secretly. Am I overthinking this?

"Look at the reminder on this fortune stick." The old cadre pointed at the words on the fortune stick and narrated with a frown on his face: "The rules of the evil fortune stick: the lower the Tiangong value, the more likely it is to cause a riot and attack of burning corpses. Even any item with the smell of players can cause a big riot. The fortune stick, then, can definitely predict the rules in advance. I suspect that this thing was drawn by Brother Hong, or it was a special reward for completing a certain task. After he entered the Tiangong Building, he felt a little dangerous, so he used it...!"

Ren also showed a suspicious expression and asked in confusion: "But why did this thing appear behind Brother Hong's portrait?"

"I think that this thing is exclusive to this star gate. After the death of a player, it may re-evolve and appear together with the portrait, thus reminding other players." The old cadre said his guess seriously.

"Ah."

Ren nodded slightly, observing the other party's expression with his peripheral vision, but found that the old cadre's concentration was focused on the divination sticks, and then asked softly: "What do you think?"

"brush!"

After he finished speaking, the old cadre slowly raised his head and looked at Ren Ye.

His eyes were full of seriousness, and his voice was a little hoarse. "Yesterday you speculated that the remaining souls guarding the gate were the most likely to kill people, and your logic was sufficient and well-founded. But...but I always feel something is wrong. Take this reminder for example...the lower the Tiangong value, the easier it is to attract the Burning Corpses, and even anything that is contaminated with the smell may cause a riot. This reminds me of what happened to you when you were refining the Tiangong Fire. So many people covered for you at that time, and Xiaoshuai still had a soul body, and Brother Hong helped you lead the Burning Corpses away first...but why are there still so many Burning Corpses, rushing towards you so suddenly?"

"Do you think someone is deliberately trying to harm you?!"

When the old cadre said this, his eyes met Ren Ye’s again.

Oh shit, that’s amazing!

After hearing this, Ren Ye felt a burning sensation in his brain and his mood was extremely complicated.

He originally wanted to use this fortune stick to test the old cadre on the other side, but he never thought that the other party would not only take out the fortune stick for him to see, but also take the initiative to analyze that Brother Hong might have been killed by him. The abnormal movement and chaos at the end of the corpse burning were also caused by someone in secret.

Damn, this is so uncomfortable.

Is he acting?

Ren also looked at the old cadre, but found that there was only solemnity and frankness in his eyes, and his expression was a little uneasy: "Sandbag, I am definitely not as good as you in terms of clue reasoning. I can also see that you should be the best in this aspect. So, do you think that Brother Hong's death... is there something fishy?"

"Originally I thought that Brother Hong's death was most likely caused by the remaining soul of the gatekeeper, but now with this divination and your speculation, I think... there is indeed a slight possibility of human intervention." Ren Ye frowned and said, "However, it is really hard to judge now."

"You shouldn't have the intention to harm others, but you must be on guard against others." The old cadre frowned and thought for a while, then asked in a very steady manner: "So what do you think, should we show this fortune stick to everyone?"

After the question was thrown back, Ren Ye replied calmly, "The reminder of this fortune stick is no longer useful. Even if we don't take it out, it won't harm anyone. So, I agree with your attitude... You shouldn't have the intention to harm others, but you must be on guard against others. You can save it first and see what happens later."

The question of the divination lot once again returns to the old cadre.

He licked his cracked lips and nodded, "Okay, I'll do as you say."

"Well, don't make it public yet, just wait and see..."

Ren also nodded and responded: "Come on, let's go back."

"Sandbag, wait a moment...!"

The old cadre shouted.

"What's wrong?" Ren Ye asked.

He stood in the sun, his expression looking a little uneasy and a little embarrassed: "Uh...!"

"Uh what?" Ren Ye asked with a smile, "Just tell me if you have something to say."

"I just want to ask you sincerely, are you still in need of a younger brother? Like Xiao Shuai, the kind that pays 300,000 star sources a day." The old cadre's face flushed, and he said this with great difficulty.

"?!!"

Ren was also confused.

"...Administrative jacket, middle-aged veteran cadre, please help me!" The veteran cadre rarely smiled and said half seriously and half jokingly.

It was obvious that he wanted to get closer to Ren Ye, and he did not hide this fact.

"What do you mean? You won't fight anymore?" Ren Ye asked frankly.

"Honestly," the old cadre licked his lips. "I definitely want to compete, and if I have to compete, I will definitely compete for the first place, otherwise it's meaningless. But now... my situation is a bit difficult. There are only five people left, and my disadvantage is obvious."

Ren also knew what disadvantages he was talking about, so he nodded: "...This is not good. There are five people left. If you and Xiao Shuai help me, wouldn't that be like Brother Tiger and Fatty Tan? It's like forming cliques and causing internal strife."

"I was just joking. What I meant was, if I find that I have no chance to compete for first place, then I will join the iron team, do my best to protect myself, and leave with a normal ranking." The veteran cadre expressed his opinion.

Iron Team?! This is actually a hint that if someone makes trouble in the final stage, he will definitely stand on Ren Ye's side.

"Okay, no problem. We'll communicate and exchange more in the future. Don't keep it to yourself all the time. If you have complicated thoughts, just say it directly." Ren also agreed.

"It's not that I don't like to communicate, I'm just too lazy to talk nonsense." The old cadre smiled and said, "Okay, go back."

After the two finished chatting, they walked back upstairs.

"Where did you two go?" Xiao Shuai asked.

Ren also glanced at him and said lazily, "He went and had a shot."

"...Such a chaotic team relationship." Xiao Shuai turned his head and took a look: "Brother, why do people in this team like to chat with you privately? Is it because you are very, naughty...?!"

"That's a lot of bullshit."

Ren ignored him and just sat in his chair thinking.

Soon, the time came to eight o'clock, and everyone heard the reminder of the Star Gate again.

[At eight o'clock, "The Final Chapter Mission - The Great Evacuation" officially begins. ]

[In this round of missions, Heaven will lead you through the long river of time and back to the time when Fulai County was about to fall. Your bodies will be pulled out of this place and appear at the time when Fulai County was about to fall.]

[When Fulai County is about to fall completely, what choices will the Song family members face? You will be witnesses and experience it all in person.]

[Mission rules for the Great Evacuation: You will be divided into groups by Tiandao, and follow the three story lines of Song Mingzhe, Pan Lianrong, and Song An throughout the whole process, and you will get a lot of fragments of autobiography. Tiandao grouping rules will be based on the clues that players initially get, and the teams will be organized in order.]

[Warm reminder: Although this round is a replay, if you exceed the time limit or die at the star gate, you will be truly dead, and even the gods cannot revive you.]

[One hour later, the backtracking officially began. ]

The five people sitting in the hall on the second floor were dumbfounded after listening to the rules of heaven.

"Shit, going back to the past?!" Ren was stunned for a moment and sighed: "We are already in the star gate, isn't this a dream within a dream?"

"It's over."

The old cadre listened to Xingmen's reminder and said with a broken face: "It turns out that I am the one who suffers the most!!! I said that my disadvantage is too obvious. According to the initial clue grouping, Shabao and Yinhu must be following Song Mingzhe... Xiaoshuai and Captain Tan first got the clue of Pan Lianrong, so they must be following her. But in my line, the woman and Brother Hong have already sacrificed..."

“Then don’t I have to follow Song An alone?!”

"Most importantly, Song An is a fucking moron!"

"Oh my God, someone come save me!"

The old cadre cried out several times in grief.