secret dice.

Chapter 804 Suspicious Points about Zhao Gongming
"What?"

Luo Jun looked completely bewildered: "What did you say?"

"There's no need to hide it anymore." The Ice Queen smiled and said, "You have the strength to kill Zhao Gongming. No one knows your origins. Judging from your level, you even arrived some time earlier than Mu Lanshi and Luo Jun. If you're not the culprit, who else could it be?"

"This...this...this..." Luo Jun was speechless for a moment, because after thinking about what the Ice Queen said, he suddenly felt it made perfect sense! If it were him, not knowing Ye's true identity, he would probably have the same suspicions...

Faced with suspicion, he pondered for a moment, not immediately clarifying, but instead asking, "Why? You're willing to help me cover it up? Is it just to clear the game? Shouldn't the murderer who killed Zhao Gongming be the common enemy of the main world? If you clear the game and let me out, wouldn't that cause even greater harm?"

The Ice Queen was somewhat surprised by Luo Jun's words.

"You really, are you just here to steal things?"

"Otherwise what?" Luo Jun asked back, realizing that there seemed to be something fishy about the death of the God of Wealth. He also decisively activated the Heavenly Secret Dice, trying to find out the truth.

The two pairs of dice were spun; one pair landed on 59 and the other on 72.

"Ding! Event difficulty: 82 points; final score: 95 + 5 points; event successful!"

With a difficulty level of over 80, it seems that even though the Ice Queen hesitated after hearing that he was unaware of the truth, she might still tell him the truth.

"Don't you know how Zhao Gongming became a Feathered One and joined the Federation?" The Ice Queen shook her head: "Many years ago, Zhao Gongming was actually a Zhen Dan person. At that time, he was only at the peak of his cultivation and didn't even have this name. His real name was Zhao Ming."

"Until one day, Zhao Ming went on a mission to the martial arts world, encountered an accident, and failed to return in time, disappearing without a trace. At the time, everyone thought that he had either met with misfortune or had been corrupted... But unexpectedly, a year later, he actually returned, and had already ascended to immortality!"

"He broke through in the martial arts world?" Luo Jun asked in surprise.

“That’s clearly the only possibility,” the Ice Queen said. “But the question is, has he been contaminated?”

“If he ascended to immortality before the contamination, he could survive in the other world for several years without any problem. But if he broke through after the contamination, then he is a contaminant at the immortalization level!” The Ice Queen said, “Therefore, Yuanxiu took him into custody immediately and conducted a comprehensive examination, but no trace of contamination was found.”

"Does this mean he's okay?" Luo Jun asked.

“It cannot be completely proven.” The Ice Queen shook her head: “Although there are examples of Corruptors ascending to immortality, no one would be so cooperative as to come back for testing. Therefore, the Yuan Cultivation Society’s research in this area from the main world was basically lacking. No one knew whether Corruptors could be detected after ascending to immortality… Therefore, the Yuan Cultivation Society did not dare to easily trust Zhao Ming and imposed strict restrictions on him.”

"But later, Zhao Ming couldn't stand this treatment and escaped using his special abilities. The Yuanxiu Society launched a manhunt for him, and Wan Guiyuan and I went together. Knowing he was no match, Zhao Ming simply left Zhen Dan and sought asylum in the Federation. Because of this, Wan Guiyuan directly confronted the Golden Emperor. No one knows what they talked about, only that in the end, Wan Guiyuan chose to back down and no longer pursue Zhao Ming. Zhao Ming also officially joined the Federation's company, becoming another Ascension under the Golden Emperor, and changed his name to Zhao Gongming, calling himself the God of Wealth..."

"There's such a past?" Luo Jun pondered. "This guy suddenly called himself the God of Wealth, and there's also a God of Wealth in the martial arts world he went to. Do you think this matter might be related to Yuan Guangjin?"

“At first, Yuanxiu also had some doubts about this, but the God of Wealth of the Martial World is extremely powerful and difficult to contact, let alone obtain information from,” the Ice Queen said.

"What about the others?" Luo Jun had also witnessed Yuan Guangjin's methods; this guy's level was clearly a level above the others. "Since Zhao Gongming broke through in the [Martial World], the other Ascension Realm cultivators should have noticed something. If we calculate the time, we can deduce whether he was corrupted at the time, right?"

“That’s the problem.” The Ice Queen sighed: “Bai Na Men visited several relatively easy-going Ascensions, but no one noticed that a new Ascension was born this year.”

"How is that possible?" Luo Jun frowned and said, "Even if Zhao Gongming didn't break through in the Martial World, he still eventually came out of the Martial World. Entering and leaving the Martial World would definitely attract Yu Hua's attention, right?"

“Therefore, there are too many suspicious points about this guy,” the Ice Queen said. “We dare not trust him easily. Even his attack and murder this time, I suspect there is something fishy about it. So, I also want to ask you, did you really kill Zhao Gongming?”

Having obtained the information he wanted, Luo Jun shook his head and frankly admitted, "I'm sorry, I am not the murderer of Zhao Gongming. On the contrary, I am also investigating the murderer. Wan Guiyuan can vouch for me on this point."

The Ice Queen narrowed her eyes slightly, then finally nodded: "I believe you. It seems I was overthinking it."

"So how do you plan to catch the murderer?"

“Currently, it seems the killer needs to use the portal opened on the 50th floor to leave,” Luo Jun said. “I hope to slow down the progress of the game and give myself enough time to level up and track down the killer. I suspect that this killer actually lived in this [game] world before, and may even have had a legitimate identity. Tracking him down will take time, as well as sufficient authority and level.”

"Regarding this, I can only apologize," the Ice Queen said. "First of all, the main force conquering the Tower of Babel is the official conquest army. Although the average quality of that massive army is not as good as our explorers, their overall strength far surpasses it. The power system and rules of this world are completely different from other worlds, but judging from their combat performance, there is more than one expert in the conquest army who can rival the Ascension Realm. Our help is just icing on the cake, but it cannot slow down their progress."

"Secondly, this world is also polluted. According to my calculations, the first group of people to enter may be at risk of becoming polluted within a month. I must open the portal to the fiftieth floor before that happens!"

“I understand all that.” Luo Jun nodded. “A month is enough. I don’t need you to slow down the expeditionary force’s progress. If necessary, I will do it myself. Just don’t get in my way. And I promise to open the portal to this level for you before the deadline.”

"Such arrogance?" The Ice Queen smiled and looked at the top of Luo Jun's head. "Hidden your attributes? You seem to have extra privileges in this world..."

"You're half right." Luo Jun smiled. "Then I'll take it as the Queen's agreement. We're both from the main world. Even if we don't fight side by side, I hope we can help each other when necessary!"

As he spoke, Luo Jun extended his hand. The Ice Queen looked at him and also extended her hand to shake his.

The moment their hands clasped, a look of surprise flashed in the Ice Queen's eyes.

He could sense that beneath Luo Jun's dull skin flowed an astonishing amount of vital energy—such powerful vital energy was something he had never seen anyone possess even after achieving immortality…

“You certainly have the right to be arrogant.” The Ice Queen released her grip and handed Luo Jun a uniquely shaped conch shell: “This is a communication conch shell, a tool that allows for long-distance communication. Although it cannot connect the inside and outside of the Tower of Babel, it is still convenient for communication.”

Luo Jun reached out and took it: "Thank you. We'll share any intelligence we have promptly."

After leaving the "Cerebral Thrombosis Commando Team's" base, Luo Jun was processing the intelligence he had just received.

A silent breakthrough to ascension, or perhaps a breakthrough in another world followed by a silent return to the martial arts world… This action made Luo Jun involuntarily connect Zhao Gongming with that mysterious assassin…

Perhaps that assassin also possesses such abilities? Or perhaps there was no assassin at all? Was it all orchestrated by Zhao Gongming himself?
There are still too few clues. Luo Jun rubbed his forehead and decided to focus on leveling up first.

In this world, rank doesn't just represent strength; it also signifies status. Higher-ranking individuals have more authority, and even those cold, indifferent NPCs will look up to you. That should make things much easier.

With that in mind, he organized the tasks he had received, went to the market to buy a top-quality extended-capacity backpack, put it on, and returned to the Tower of Babel...

"Let me see. The first task is on the eighteenth floor... to bring back nerve samples of the Ironhead Ants. A minimum of one hundred samples is required to complete the task, the more the better. The reward will increase based on the number brought back, with a maximum of three hundred..."

Luo Jun checked the task list: "Each nerve sample only gives fifty copper coins, with a maximum of fifteen gold coins, but the experience points are considerable... Come on, let's get started!"

Arriving at the Goblin King's tombstone, Luo Jun flew directly to the eighteenth floor, a floor dominated by insect monsters, where he could see the enormous iron-headed ant nest from afar.

These worker ants are about the size of a mongrel dog, and they swarm in groups of hundreds, often going out to forage, sometimes including a few soldier ants the size of a buffalo. Despite their small size, these monsters have exceptionally strong black exoskeletons that are difficult to penetrate with ordinary weapons, truly deserving of their name "Iron Head." The soldier ants, in particular, possess sharp and powerful mandibles and can even shoot spikes, making them excellent armor-piercing agents.

A typical B-rank team, in order to complete a mission, can only seek out roaming ant squads in the wild, relying on magic and tactics to annihilate them and collect materials. But in Luo Jun's eyes, these were nothing more than a group of weak beasts. He was too lazy to even look for them, and directly rushed to the largest ant nest and burrowed inside.

The anthill is narrow and cramped, but it has one advantage: it is surrounded by walls on all sides. Once it uses its newly learned Piercing Spear Forest magic, it can generate stone spears from all directions without any blind spots, so that the enemy has no way to escape!

Luo Jun didn't hold back and went straight to the densest part of the ants, firing his stone spears in quick succession. Even the hardest carapace couldn't withstand such onslaught, and he killed three hundred ants in no time.

As for collecting materials, Luo Jun simply used the Creation and Craftsmanship Technique to summon a pair of soldiers to help.

It's worth mentioning that in this world, the level of summoned creatures increases along with their master's. Therefore, Luo Jun, who is around level 50, also summons soldiers who are around level 50. Although these soldiers don't have great base stats and their growth potential is also average, they are still many times stronger than before because of their higher level.

From this perspective, for summons like Elontan's, which already have a strong base, the improvement from leveling up is relatively small.

Of course, the level of the summoned creature is refreshed with each summon. Although Luo Jun is now over level 50, the Ashlia he summoned before leveling up is still only around level 30. To get Ashlia to catch up, he would have to summon her again to refresh the level. Of course, Luo Jun doesn't plan to do that; otherwise, if Ashlia impersonates him and her level skyrockets, people will immediately notice something amiss.

After packing the materials, Luo Jun headed to the next location, this time to collect herbs...

With the help of magic and his underlings, his speed in killing monsters and collecting materials greatly increased, and he was incredibly efficient at completing tasks. Moreover, these tasks were all around the twentieth floor. He planned his route and busied himself going up and down. Before the sun even set, he had finished all the tasks he had accepted. After going down to hand them in, he received a large sum of gold coins and experience.

However, the gap between B-rank and A-rank mercenaries is still quite large. Despite completing so many missions, Luo Jun still hadn't achieved an A-rank rating. The B-rank missions suitable for him hadn't yet refreshed. Left with no other choice, he could only return to the fiftieth floor and continue tormenting those giant scorpion worms and desert lizards…

After a night's rest, Luo Jun returned to the tower with a backpack full of gold coins, and also leveled up. This time, he reached level sixty-six.

Leveling up by killing monsters alone is definitely not fast enough... Moreover, as the level increases, the experience given by monsters is less than before. Although there is still a bonus, the experience required to level up increases exponentially, and the leveling speed has obviously slowed down.

He had no choice but to go back to the guild to accept today's quest. After a busy morning, when Luo Jun turned in the quest, he finally received the coveted A-level rating. He also received a reward of twenty skill points!

Now that his rating has improved, Luo Jun can take on more challenging and rewarding missions. He practically took over all the A-level missions with the best rewards and plunged back into the Tower of Babel. This time, however, his destination was the thirtieth floor and above!

Finally, the next morning, Luo Jun reluctantly returned from the fiftieth floor, turned in the quest, and went to the training ground to complete the level-up. His level reached seventy-five!

This is already at the threshold of S-class!
"No wonder so many experts are stuck at level 70-something. Each level requires millions of experience points, but killing a monster only gives a few hundred or a thousand points. I've practically destroyed all fifty floors, and this is all I've managed to get... As for the forties, they give even less experience..."

Luo Jun sighed at how difficult it was to level up, but looking at his current two hundred-plus skill points, a smile appeared on his face.

(End of this chapter)