Evil Emperor Zun

Chapter 2041 Qin Jia's Kidnapping
Upon learning that the Devourer Clan's recognition of its master was a trap from the very beginning, that the king had successfully emerged, made a doomsday prophecy, and captured a pure soul, the demons were both shocked and heavy-hearted.

Xuan Su had the worst expression. His plan to resurrect his wife, Bai Long, required help, for which he had paid a hefty sum to invite like-minded individuals. Now, however, due to this inexplicable reason, his forces had been severely depleted, and the treasures he had entrusted to them had all fallen into the hands of the Devouring Clan. Such a disastrous start made his tense figure almost solidify into a black hole, radiating a chilling aura.

The demons who had previously adopted a wait-and-see attitude, like Baili Ji, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, though they didn't say it outright. A pie falling from the sky really isn't so easy to grab.

They had tried scanning the entire mysterious space with their divine sense, even extending to Tian Tan, but they couldn't find the whereabouts of the Devouring Clan King and Qin Jia. Once they left Tian Tan, even with their strength, they could no longer probe further, and could only send their subordinates who were still outside to gather information.

The mission was assigned, but the demons didn't really hold out much hope. Judging from the abilities the king had demonstrated so far—he could instantly traverse an entire plane and move freely between the past and the present—they didn't think they would have any chance of finding him if he wanted to hide.

Shui Wunian immediately tried to use the system to locate Qin Jia. Unsurprisingly, he couldn't switch to Qin Jia's perspective. Furthermore, Qin Jia's avatar in the player list had dimmed. However, unlike the players who were confirmed dead and whose names had turned gray, her status seemed to be locked down; clicking on her had no effect, as if she had been removed from the player group the moment she disappeared, her whereabouts and fate unknown.

The players soon learned of this news from Ye Yunyan and were all very worried about Qin Jia.

Sasaki Ike felt particularly guilty, especially since he couldn't find a single thing he could truly blame himself for. He was powerless to stop the demons from bringing Qin Jia, and even if Qin Jia stayed with the faction, she couldn't stop the king; similarly, even if he stayed by her side to protect her at all times, he couldn't guarantee her safety. In other words, no matter what he did or didn't do, he couldn't change the current outcome.

Important people are being torn apart by various forces, and you don't even have the right to participate. This feeling of powerlessness is too painful. Sasaki Ike was in so much pain that he bent over.

Alice kept comforting him. She said Qin Jia was so cute, everyone would like her. Since a king can become king naturally, he had no reason to harm a pure soul. Maybe little Qin Jia was just going out for a trip, and when she came back she would have already won over all the kings.

No one, except the most evil, can harm a pure soul. But players still find it hard to completely relax. After all, the Gnawing King is a completely new creature; who knows if it still conforms to this rule? What if that cold-blooded animal itself possesses the characteristics of the most evil?

Even Mo Feng could only shake his head. After all, he wasn't the official Lord of Hell. Moreover, as far as he knew, the name of a king wasn't even recorded in the Book of Life and Death. He wasn't a species born according to destiny, and his actions wouldn't be included in the Heavenly Dao's trajectory. He would likely become an anomaly, unpredictable and uncontrollable by anyone!

Chu Tianyao was also restless. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen to the blood transfusion if the King never returned. He had no irreplaceable value, and if the King needed someone to do something in the future, he could easily subdue servants who were much stronger than him. He really couldn't think of any reason why the King would continue to give him blood transfusions.

It seems necessary to send a letter to Hei Shiyu as soon as possible. Chu Tianyao thought anxiously. Perhaps the King had given it some instructions before leaving. Even if not, it would be good to hear its thoughts. Two people working together would make it easier to come up with a solution than one person alone.

Cain stood in a corner of the long hall, silently observing the group of people with heavy hearts. He was so calm, like someone standing alone on the last piece of land in a raging torrent capable of destroying the world, watching the people before him struggle desperately and ultimately be swallowed by the waves, simply watching. He felt pity for their misfortune, but he would not reach out to help any of them.

Ye Yunyan's gaze fell on him again and again, and finally, she chose to get up and walk up to him.

Cain's gaze, devoid of any emotion, turned indifferently and met her eyes.

Looking at him was like seeing the apocalyptic storm and the vast ocean behind him. Ye Yunyan needed immense willpower to withstand the impact of that human suffering and find her own voice again.

"I know you won't help rescue her, but could you at least give us a hint so we can be sure Qin Jia is safe?"

This was their first re-communication after he revealed his identity.

"Without violating the rules, there should be something you can do, right? You know all the trajectories. Since showing me history can indirectly help the Devourer King, I think you also have a way to use the same butterfly effect to help us."

Before she even opened her mouth, Cain knew exactly what she was going to say, but he still politely waited for her to finish before responding calmly:

"In this world, every moment countless people are enduring unimaginable suffering, and countless people are praying to the heavens. The heavens will only be impartial, and this is also a kind of fairness."

Although the rejection was expected, Ye Yunyan felt closer to him as she listened to his explanation after so long.

If it weren't for the fact that human strength had reached its limit, she would never have asked him for help, doing something akin to "praying to the heavens." However, the thought that this utter helplessness and despair was a normal part of his life brought back her sense of responsibility to "not want anyone to be left behind," making it impossible for her to ignore his sorrow.

He said he wouldn't respond to anyone's requests, but just as no one would respond to his. Ye Yunyan also lacked the ability to truly "respond" to him; she only wanted to try her best to give him some "echo."

“The ‘self’ that was so hard to come by will not change anything if it is not used.” She spoke softly, gently yet firmly, slowly and solemnly. “I don’t deny that I want to ask for your help, but I want you to understand that your will is also very important. When you are able to think with your own will, you are no longer the pure Heavenly Way you once were. So I hope that, no matter how small the freedom, I hope you can try to act according to your own will.”

"My will..." Cain seemed to be savoring this concept, which was far too distant in his world. Perhaps a hope had once surfaced in his eyes thousands of years ago, but now only a desolate, ashen sorrow remained. After a moment of silence, his expression remained unchanged, except when he looked back at Ye Yunyan, a complex emotion that was difficult to describe would surface. "How can you be so sure that my will will be as you wish?"

Indeed, if the laws of heaven and earth were to gain consciousness, most people would hope that they would reward good and punish evil. However, if they truly possessed complete freedom of action and unrestrained power, it might bring even greater disasters. In that case, it would be better to let them remain bystanders.

“I’ve said it before, the will of Heaven only looks at the results.” Cain continued in a calm tone, “You’ve personally compiled historical records, so you should know that the casualties in wars involving pure souls always far exceed those of any other war. This is a mistake made by the will of Heaven. Pure souls are such a flawed group that should never have existed in the world in the first place.”

"It is my duty not to save pure souls. It is my choice not to save pure souls." That was how he summarized his stance.

……

That was the end of the conversation.

Even Ye Yunyan couldn't persuade Cain, let alone anyone else who wouldn't even have the chance to be accepted as a conversation partner. As for Baili Ji, he never expected him to budge from the start, and he was too lazy to waste his breath on him.

Since he didn't help, the demons and players had nothing to do but wait for news. So, they soon dispersed.

“Actually, there’s something I don’t quite understand.” Shui Wunian took advantage of this calm period to talk to Hua Banxia. “The demons all know that Qin Jia comes from the future. Since she can grow up to be this big, doesn’t that mean that at least in her time, the world hadn’t been destroyed yet? Why do they all seem to care a lot about the doomsday declaration made by the king, but no one thinks of this?” Hua Banxia pursed her lips: “That’s because the perspective of the Heavenly Dao is different from ours.”

"As I told you before, the life of an ordinary person is a one-way street. You can only be who you are at this moment, not who you were ten years ago or ten years from now. But in the dimension of the Heavenly Dao, all timelines are a whole. From beginning to end, everything is already written as 'known'."

"To give an example, let's say we write a program that automatically generates a small ball every day and puts it into the database below. As long as the program continues to run according to this logic, then theoretically, even if we are in the timeline where there is only one small ball, the future where the database is filled with 100,000 small balls can be said to exist at that moment, right?"

"We, living at different stages, constitute each other's independent timelines. Destruction will not begin from a single point in time, but rather push and destroy the entire spacetime dimension. At that time, all timelines will cease to exist. You can also understand it as a book with a well-planned outline, but abandoned by the author halfway through, in which the characters are essentially deprived of the future they could have had."

Therefore, Qin Jia's existence is absolutely not a source of reassurance. How did things suddenly turn out like this? Shui Wunian grew increasingly anxious: "What should we do?"

Hua Banxia shook her head with a wry smile: "We can't even get out of this space now, what else can we do? But with something this big, those leading forces will definitely get the news sooner than us, and they won't just sit idly by. They'll do everything they can to avoid it. If even they can't do that..." She thought for a moment and then said it, "then there's even less of a chance for us to do anything."

It really has come to pass; when the sky falls, the tall ones hold it up. Shui Wunian couldn't quite describe the feeling in his heart. Whether one can survive or not doesn't depend on oneself, but entirely on the unpredictable will of fate—this is the helplessness of ordinary people.

"Thinking back, the sudden loss of contact with the gods might be related to this," Hua Banxia analyzed in a deep voice. Suddenly, as if she had thought of something, her expression turned noticeably grim. "Now the demons will soon realize this too, and things could get very bad..."

"What will happen?" Shui Wunian couldn't keep up with her train of thought, so she could only ask whatever came to mind. "Is there anything worse than the world being destroyed?"

Hua Banxia's gaze quickly fell away when it met his, and her half-open lips turned into a bitter smile: "Let's see how it goes... Maybe I'm just being too pessimistic."

……

Mo Qianlong received a letter slipped under the door.

The letter was delivered by Hei Shiyu. It identified itself and warned her to be extremely careful in the near future. "The abduction of pure souls is just the beginning; the real disaster is about to begin."

In fact, Mo Qianlong had also thought of this.

The demons and players are inherently in a predator-prey relationship on the food chain. Previously, Qin Jia acted as a "human valve," allowing both sides to temporarily sit on the same boat and fight against external forces. Once Qin Jia is gone, this precarious balance will immediately be broken, and capsizing is only a matter of time.

Black Dragon's attitude has already revealed itself. He believes he has suffered enormous losses and doesn't want to get involved in these unnecessary matters anymore. The other demons, paid to do the work, will naturally follow his advice. In other words, this period of waiting for news is the last buffer. If Qin Jia is still not found by then, and given the demons' sudden change of course, all the players will be in mortal danger. This is not just unfounded worry.

In its letter, Hei Shiyu also revealed a piece of information. It said that there was a secret passage leading directly to Tian Tan. It described in detail the location of the secret passage and how to open it, and advised Mo Qianlong that if he discovered any signs of the demons turning against him, he should escape through that passage.

This was actually a backup plan left for it by the king of the Gnawing Clan. After all, it was his capable subordinate, and the king had made some arrangements for it.

With Qin Jia's accident, the mysterious space was thrown into chaos, and no one had time to search for it anymore. It could have gone ahead and gone to Tian Tan under the identity of Chen Shiyu, but it couldn't bear to let Mo Qianlong be killed by the demons, so it still told her the secret.

Hei Shiyu also said it was best not to let anyone else know about this. Once the passage is opened, it cannot be closed again. The King had considered that after he left, some players might discover this escape window, and he had no intention of letting them all leave alive. Therefore, the passage's capacity is limited. Each time someone leaves, energy is consumed significantly; once the energy is exhausted, the passage will completely disappear.

Based on the existing capacity, no more than five people can be safely evacuated.

The extra spots represent the king's malice—not everyone is trapped, but the chance to survive is deliberately opened to only a very few, which is tantamount to using interests to forcibly separate them.

The king probably wants to see these once close friends kill each other for a chance to survive. Or, even if they are considerate of each other, as long as the survivor remembers that their life was saved at the cost of their companions, they will never be able to live well again.

All the memories of the Gnawing Clan's existence are filled with humiliation. The king, born from all this suffering, is filled with intense hatred for any creature that has a presentable appearance and can live like a human. He wants to make the whole world unhappy. When Hei Shiyu accepted his power, he also accepted a part of his memories and personally experienced that sharp and crazy hatred surging from his bloodline.

The mysterious space is filled with elites from various factions, outstanding individuals wherever they go. The King is quite pleased to use this group, who have grown up in Glory, as the first to be eliminated. This indicates that he will make this game sufficiently cruel. Those left behind will have no other way out but to be brutally slaughtered by the demons. Hei Shiyu absolutely does not want Mo Qianlong to be one of them.

Looking at the letter in her hand, Mo Qianlong pondered for a long time.

Through their previous encounter, she sensed that Hei Shiyu harbored no hostility towards her. However, he remained a ruthless threat to his companions.

Mo Qianlong didn't understand why the enemy general was showing goodwill only to her, nor did she have much time to think about it. But it was also true that its warning had come before everyone else's and coincided with her own.

The worst-case scenario must be considered. An emergency escape route is invaluable to them. Mo Qianlong is inclined to believe this well-intentioned offer with unclear motives, but regardless, she will first investigate the passage; she won't just blindly walk into it. Furthermore, understanding its operating mechanism might allow her to find a way to accommodate more people.

"As expected, they realized it too..." Hua Banxia murmured to herself in the void, "Escaping to Tian Tan won't be safe either. The situation is really developing in the direction we least wanted to see..."

This time, facing Shui Wunian's worried gaze, Hua Banxia no longer hid anything. Perhaps, in the face of such an unprecedented disaster, she also hoped that someone could share her anxiety.

"Before this, the outsiders only reluctantly followed the rules of the game and did not attack the players because they were afraid of the gods. But when they gradually realized that the gods had to divert all their power to deal with the apocalypse and could no longer restrain them... then nothing could stop this one-sided massacre."

"I'm worried that before the apocalypse arrives, the players will be wiped out by those ruthless outsiders!"