Chapter 58: How entertaining humans are~

[Moon Demon Emperor]

The moment those four ominous words appeared in everyone’s minds, it brought back the terrifying memory of the Demon Emperor’s birth.

Everyone fell silent.

Their faces turned pale.

Some even broke out in cold sweat, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

The scene back then had been more than frightening.

It was like the end of the world had descended.

His mere birth had caused the heavens to tremble and the earth to shake.

The sheer terror of that Demon Emperor was beyond imagination.

Out in the wild, the danger had kept them too occupied to reflect on anything else.

Now that the tension had eased slightly, they were finally reminded of his existence—

And his unimaginable power.

In the final stage of the beta test, that Demon Emperor might just give everyone a massive “surprise.”

“If the Moon Demon Emperor takes action himself, we’ll all die,” said Dancing Elephant, lowering his hands with a grave expression.

Upon hearing this, the fear buried in everyone’s hearts surged wildly, almost too much to contain.

“H-He wouldn’t actually target us personally… right?” a player asked with trembling lips, not even believing his own words.

“I think there’s a pretty high chance he will. After all, the Demon Emperor was born after we players entered the game. Who’s going to believe that’s just a coincidence?”

“Exactly. Even if the Moon Demon Emperor doesn’t act directly, he’ll probably send powerful monsters to wipe us out. We better not hold on to false hope,” said a female player.

Her in-game name was Xingyue.

She was 21, good-looking, tall, and had a bit of a heroic aura.

“Are you saying we just wait here to die?” said a muscular male player named Ayu.

He glanced nervously at Xingyue every now and then.

It was obvious he liked her.

But she had never once looked at him directly.

Her attention was always focused on Dancing Elephant, clearly treating him as their leader.

This made Ayu deeply uncomfortable.

“Right now, we have no choice but to unite and face the coming darkness together,” said Dancing Elephant.

Only by uniting every force they could could they hope to survive!

“Easy for you to say. But what can the six of us even do?” Ayu said unhappily.

To him, those were just empty words.

“Of course it’s not just us. I believe more players will soon arrive in Mo City. When that happens, if we all unite, we’ll become a force to be reckoned with.”

Dancing Elephant spoke calmly.

“You’re way too idealistic. This isn’t some ordinary game. Who’s going to listen to you?”

Ayu sneered.

Dancing Elephant didn’t respond.

He seemed used to Ayu’s sarcastic tone by now and simply ignored him.

“Whatever the case, if we want to survive, we have to stick together,” said Xingyue, clearly siding with Dancing Elephant.

“……”

‘Again with this!’

Ayu clenched his fists tightly, his heart burning with jealousy.

While fighting for survival out in the wilderness, he hadn’t had the time or energy to think about such things.

Maybe now that they were somewhere safe and their nerves had relaxed, his focus had started to drift to these trivial matters.

Humans weren’t machines—desires were normal.

But even then, there was a time and place for everything.

Ayu’s shift in mindset felt clearly abnormal.

Perhaps it was a side effect of staying too long in the Nightmare Space.

“Speaking of unity, why don’t we try cooperating with the owner of the Silver Alchemy Workshop?” a player suddenly suggested.

“I did consider it,” Elephant Dancer said as he turned around and walked away.

“But she gave me a dangerous feeling. How should I put it… it was like suddenly running into a tiger in the wild.”

Xingyue and the others followed closely behind, puzzled expressions on their faces.

None of them had felt anything like that.

“Anyway, she’s not someone we can work with,” Elephant Dancer said, shaking his head.

He had considered cooperating with her—precisely because he had, that eerie sense of danger had arisen.

That was also why he had decisively left the alchemy workshop.

“Here he goes again with his theatrics,” Ayu said sarcastically.

He found Elephant Dancer’s mysterious behavior incredibly annoying.

But unfortunately, the rest of the team seemed to eat it up.

Take Xingyue, for example.

She jogged ahead, wanting to get a clear explanation.

But she accidentally slipped.

Just when everyone thought she was about to fall flat on her face—

Elephant Dancer, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, suddenly turned and dashed forward, catching her in his arms.

Seeing this, Ayu was filled with rage, his eyes nearly bulging with jealousy.

Along with the anger came a wave of deep sorrow.

Because of his own incompetence, Elephant Dancer had gotten this perfect moment to shine.

This should have been his chance to win her favor!

Incompetence was a sin!

Ayu stared at the two of them, imagining them gazing deeply into each other’s eyes.

His clenched fists trembled slightly.

‘If I had the strength… then the one holding Xingyue right now would be me!’ he thought bitterly.

Just moments ago, his mind had been consumed with thoughts of survival—and now suddenly, it was all about romance.

The desires of humanity were truly baffling sometimes.

***

Inside the shop.

Bai Xue asked curiously, “Master, what do you think of that Elephant Dancer?”

“Him? He’s a high-level player—and he might be hiding something,” Ye Lian replied.

“A secret?” Bai Xue tilted her head slightly.

“But we’re all closed beta players. What kind of secret could he have?”

“Exactly, we’re all closed beta players,” Ye Lian nodded lightly.

“But you can’t lump everyone together. Even among beta testers—how would you describe me?”

“Master, you’re totally OP!” Bai Xue said without hesitation.

“The reason I’m stronger than the rest of you by such a wide margin is because I started ahead of you all.”

Ye Lian briefly explained the white room she had experienced at the very beginning.

Naturally, she left out the part where she had to spin in circles and meow like a cat.

After hearing this, Bai Xue felt like she had missed out on a fortune.

Back then, she’d been so excited to enter the game that she hadn’t paid any attention to unusual details on the interface.

In fact, most players were like that.

Only a very small number of curious or idle players had taken the time to investigate.

But the rewards for doing so had been incredible.

Some had obtained divine artifacts.

Others had unlocked god-tier skills. Still others had awakened strange and powerful abilities…

“Ugh, I wish I could start over!” Bai Xue said, full of regret.

If she’d known the game had hidden easter eggs, her opening wouldn’t have been such a disaster.

Maybe even some of her companions would still be alive.

“Silly girl. You can’t time travel—how would you start over?” Ye Lian said with a laugh.

“I’m not silly~” Bai Xue pouted slightly and muttered.

“Anyway, don’t dwell on what’s already happened. Let the past stay in the past.”

Ye Lian spoke casually.

To her, the past was just the foundation to support the present and the future.

It was important, but not that important.

A person could live without a past—but not without a future.

Even a tower in the void… is still a tower.

While Ye Lian and Bai Xue were chatting casually—

Outside the city of Mo, a pitch-black figure suddenly appeared.