Chapter 102: The Land of Fortune

Ren Ye’s leap into the sacrificial pool was undoubtedly graceful, leaving an almost “heroic” impression on his three teammates.

Yet, deep down, he was utterly panicked—so much so that he was already starting to regret it…

But in that moment, he had no time to hesitate.

The reason he chose to sacrifice himself was because, after compiling all the available information and clues in his mind, he arrived at a single conclusion—there was no way to clear this stage except by jumping into the sacrificial pool himself.

At first, the result of his deduction seemed utterly absurd and ridiculous.

However, after repeatedly reviewing everything, every clue and outcome pointed directly to him.

…

The starting point of his reasoning was the letter that Mr. He had dropped during the battle in the apartment building.

That letter clearly stated that all the trials and challenges within the tomb of Princess Anping were related to Li Mu.

Initially, Ren Ye was skeptical about the letter’s contents. After all, it had come from an enemy faction—who knew if it had been deliberately planted to mislead them?

But the deeper he ventured into the tomb, the more he realized that the letter was highly credible.

When the eleven players first entered the tomb, they faced the first trial: the Wilderness Inn.

Before the game began, Xu Niang told a story about Princess Anping crossing paths with Li Mu during the lantern festival in Qinglian Village.

The princess, who had spent her life in the palace, fell for Li Mu at first sight—charmed by his unrestrained elegance and extraordinary talent.

So what was it about him that made her fall in love at first sight?

Why did she see stars in her eyes the moment she laid eyes on him?

It was because Li Mu had entered the long street from the south, carrying a jug of wine, and had solved eighteen lantern riddles in a row while composing three poems. This left an incredibly strong impression on Princess Anping.

It was his intelligence and outstanding talent that made her heart race…

Thus, the first trial at the Wilderness Inn revolved around calculations, battles of wits, and a contest of intelligence.

After that, Player No. 4 was eliminated—fried alive in boiling oil—while the rest successfully advanced to the second level of the tomb.

On this level, the ten remaining players learned about the princess’s life through the murals in the tomb passage.

And everything in those murals revolved around a single person—Li Mu.

Some sections even contained detailed accounts of his experiences after taking office in Shangyu County.

Among them, three particular events were recounted in great detail.

First, in the year Li Mu took office, a catastrophic flood breached the dikes of Shangyu County, submerging a hundred miles of land.

Li Mu gathered the farmers and villagers to fight the flood, living on the dikes for over three months. He personally executed more than twenty corrupt officials and ultimately succeeded in controlling the flood, saving countless displaced citizens.

To the people there, he was—a leader.

And what happened next?

On the third level, in the second trial, the ten players arrived at a land of extreme cold and were given the cooperative task of “Snow-Avoiding Coffin.”

This mission disregarded faction divisions—it was a cooperative challenge where no one could afford to drop out.

The key to this trial? If everyone acted independently and each faction had their own agendas, the outcome was obvious—they would fail and be forced into a new cycle.

Thus, the core of this trial was organization—a leader had to step up, unify the three factions, convince everyone to cooperate, follow a single command, and work together in order to clear the stage.

Otherwise, even if someone figured out the rotation strategy for clearing the stage, if no one listened and everyone pursued their own interests, they would still fail in the end.

In this trial, Ren Ye and Xu Qingzhao were the ones who devised the solution. Then, Ren Ye convinced the others to adopt a rotating shift system, taking turns every half hour, which successfully allowed them to clear the trial.

This was eerily similar to Li Mu’s flood control efforts.

In an extreme environment, disaster strikes.

When people refused to cooperate, Li Mu executed corrupt officials—just as Ren Ye and Xu Qingzhao killed Player No. 11 to establish authority.

With the troublemakers eliminated, the remaining people obeyed, followed orders, worked as a team, and ultimately overcame the disaster together.

After leaving the land of extreme cold, they reached the fourth level.

From the collected information on this level, nearly all the murals lining the tomb passages depicted a single event.

It was the story of how, when the Southern Barbarians invaded Shangyu County, Li Mu personally led three hundred militia soldiers in an ambush to protect the villagers’ retreat.

This battle completely erased the shame of his previous failure to fight Huang Zi three years prior.

All of southern Shenzhou praised him as a good official—one with true responsibility.

And in Mr. He’s letter, he had mentioned that when the spirit had appeared in Prince Huai’s dream, it kept repeating the same phrase, “We lack someone who takes responsibility.”

The clues within the tomb and the information from Mr. He’s letter aligned perfectly at this moment, emphasizing one thing over and over—responsibility.

If Ren Ye still had doubts about the letter’s authenticity,

Then what followed… was that Imperial Inspector Liu, discovered another booklet—one that recorded the reason why Prince Huai had sent eleven secret agents into the princess’s tomb.

This almost confirmed from another angle that Mr. He’s letter was not fake—it was real…

Responsibility?!

He was the leader of Prince Huai’s faction. If he wasn’t the one to bear this burden, then who would be?

So, after extensive mental deduction, Ren Ye concluded that only by following in Li Mu’s footsteps—choosing to face death in order to find life and voluntarily leaping into the sacrificial pool—would the team have a chance to clear the stage.

If Tang Feng jumped instead, it was highly likely to fail. After all, he wasn’t the leader of Prince Huai’s faction, so the word “responsibility” did not apply to him.

Thus, Ren Ye’s seemingly absurd decision to jump into the pool was actually backed by countless details and verified clues.

Moreover, every step leading up to this was crucial. If it had only been the “responsibility” hint from the third trial, that alone wouldn’t have been enough. The tasks in both the first and second trials had to align perfectly with Li Mu’s story.

After all, a person only has one life!

Who the hell would gamble with their life without some certainty? You’d have to be insane!

…

But the moment Ren Ye’s body plunged into the sacrificial pool, he couldn’t help but regret it—because the pain was unbearable, excruciating…

Scarlet blood surged from all directions, compressing in on him.

Within moments, he felt his entire body wracked with searing agony, as if he were being enveloped in sulfuric acid. Every inch of his skin was slowly dissolving, every bone disintegrating bit by bit…

This kind of pain, originating entirely from his body, was beyond words.

It was as if molten metal, thousands of degrees hot, was being poured over him, melting and burning every part of his skin. At the same time, it felt like countless tiny insects were crawling all over his body, gnawing incessantly at his flesh.

Pain!

Unbearable pain!

And yet, his consciousness remained intact…

At last, Ren Ye felt his body completely dissolve within the blood pool. The pain faded, and he drifted like a wandering ghost inside the sacrificial chamber.

He had no idea how much time had passed,

Nor whether his three idiotic teammates and the beloved consort he deeply missed had met their demise yet…

Through his hazy awareness, he saw a single drop of blood slowly rising from the sacrificial pool.

It was brilliant and crystalline, radiating an intense, vibrant energy and dazzling crimson light.

The blood drop, like a miniature sun, ascended toward the ceiling of the burial chamber.

At the same time, Ren Ye’s consciousness was drawn along with it, rising slowly in tandem.

Together, they passed through the ceiling of the burial chamber, through the suffocating darkness, until they arrived in a completely enclosed space of pure white.

There were no furnishings here, no traces of the tomb’s oppressive darkness—only endless, dense white mist, flowing like rolling clouds, like the ethereal fog of the celestial realm…

At this moment, Ren Ye existed only as a remnant of consciousness, drifting like a ghost, overwhelmed with uncertainty.

Holy shit, am I actually dead?!

Where the hell is this place?

Could this be… that “Heaven” Teacher Teng sang about?¹

I was wrong.

Why the hell did I overanalyze things?

Where did I even get the confidence? Was it my four years at the police academy that gave me the guts to think I could decipher the Star Gate’s clues? How naïve…

Star Gate, please, just one more chance. I’ll go persuade Tang Feng to jump instead, okay?

Or maybe even his husband. That works too.

Ren Ye’s thoughts scattered wildly, his “conscious soul” aimlessly wandering…

Eventually, he reached the center of this space, where he saw an incredibly solid sphere of light, floating midair with an intense radiance.

The moment he laid eyes on “it,” Ren Ye’s consciousness was overwhelmed by a searing pain, a burning sensation as if he might be obliterated at any moment.

“Whoosh!”

Ren Ye fled in panic.

Just then, a familiar ethereal voice echoed through the space.

[Congratulations, Prince Huai of Great Qian. You have successfully passed the third trial: ‘Sacrifice.’]

[Heavenly Pardoned One, you possess extraordinary wisdom, the charisma of a leader, and the courage to bear responsibility. You have not disappointed those who have awaited you here for many years.]

[Congratulations. You have successfully entered the ‘Land of Destiny’ and gained the recognition of the spirit. It has decided to use the fortune of the Great Qian Dynasty, which it has suppressed for many years, to reconstruct your body, fully transforming you into a ‘Heavenly Pardoned One Physique,’ inheriting half the fortune of the nation.]

The flawless praise from Star Gate filled Ren Ye’s heart with excitement—though he also felt a tiny bit… ashamed.

He could accept being called intelligent. He could even acknowledge having some “leadership” qualities, since in the first trial, his strategy for gathering and redistributing votes was entirely correct and provided crucial direction for his teammates.

And in the second trial, he was also the one who first devised the rotating night-watch strategy, successfully “organizing” everyone to clear the stage.

In these key moments, he had indeed contributed and thought things through, so the Star Gate praising him was fair.

There’s a saying—excessive humility is just another form of arrogance.

Still, hearing the Star Gate call him “responsible” did make Ren Ye feel a little embarrassed…

To be honest, he hadn’t chosen to jump into the sacrificial pool out of a sense of duty or self-sacrifice. In reality, he didn’t want to die—not even take too many risks. After all, he still had his father and younger sister waiting for him outside…

At least at this stage, Ren Ye had no such lofty ideals. However, he could accept a fair lottery to determine a sacrifice. If he ended up being the unlucky one, then that would just be fate.

Ultimately, what made him take the leap was his calculated deduction—the only viable way out. And the reason he could figure it out in the first place was all thanks to Mr. He’s letter.

The content of that letter was too crucial. It confirmed the truth of key information at every critical juncture.

Ren Ye felt that clearing the third challenge had a significant element of luck. If Mr. He hadn’t dropped that letter, who knew how things would have turned out?

But embarrassment aside, Ren Ye still wanted to live, and naturally, he wanted his reward.

As he was deep in thought, he suddenly noticed that the previously still white mist had started flowing like water, surging madly toward that drop of blood that glowed like a crimson sun.

“Whoosh!”

In an instant, his consciousness was yanked forward, pulled uncontrollably into that single drop of blood.

Soul and blood fused together, and his awareness slipped into slumber.

In a hazy daze, an incredibly comfortable sensation washed over him. Ren Ye could feel his senses and physical touch gradually returning.

His heartbeat resumed, his internal organs awakened, his eyes perceived a blurry light, his ears picked up faint rustling sounds, and even his limbs felt the breeze brushing against them…

What he didn’t notice was that the Nation-Stabilizing Sword, which had been stored within his consciousness space, was now flying out from his forehead, heading straight for the glowing mass of energy in the Land of Fortune.

If there had been a second person witnessing this scene up close, they would have been utterly stunned.

From all directions, the dense flowing white mist poured into that drop of blood, transforming into countless glimmering lights that helped reconstruct Ren Ye’s body.

This was an extraordinarily lengthy process. At one point, Ren Ye felt as if he had been asleep for decades.

Finally, when everything quieted down and the surroundings returned to stillness, he suddenly experienced a falling sensation.

“Thud!”

With a muffled impact, he landed heavily on what felt like a mirror-like surface. The sharp pain in his backside made him realize—he was alive again.

Opening his eyes, he took a look around.

The space was roughly a hundred square meters. There were no furnishings in sight—just a vast chamber formed by mirrored walls on all sides, creating the illusion of a glass box. The white mist from earlier had completely dissipated.

However, directly in front of him, the once blinding glowing sphere was still there. Except now, it had dimmed significantly and was no longer too intense to look at.

“Huh?!”

Glancing down at himself, Ren Ye realized that he was completely naked, with his “little earthworm” swaying freely.

But instead of despairing, he encouraged himself, saying, “It still has room to grow. Slow and steady.”

The moment he finished speaking, whether it was an illusion or some bodily change, his “little earthworm” did appear a bit… thicker.

“Woom!”

Just then, the mirror-like space trembled violently.

Ren Ye snapped his head up, just in time to see the Nation-Stabilizing Sword pierce through the reflective floor and embed itself in the center of the space.

“Boom!”

Immediately after, a loud explosion erupted—the dimmed light sphere crashed directly into the sword.

Moments later, the tremors ceased, and the once brilliant glow vanished.

Ren Ye stared curiously at the Nation-Stabilizing Sword, then suddenly slapped his thigh. “Holy shit! so it was here?!”

No sooner had he spoken than the Star Gate’s notification rang out.

[Congratulations! You have recovered the missing “spirit” of the Nation-Stabilizing Sword and successfully completed a main quest.]

Ren Ye was ecstatic.

“I’m gonna be OP! I can take on ten people at once!!”

Ren Ye was extremely excited, running barefoot towards the Nation-Stabilizing Sword, “You’re finally whole!”

With those words, he bent down and gripped the sword’s hilt—

Huh?

It didn’t budge.

Ren Ye froze, then lifted his other arm, gripping the hilt with both hands before attempting to pull it free again.

But… it still wouldn’t move an inch.

“What the hell?!!”

Gritting his teeth, Ren Ye used every ounce of strength, pressing his feet into the ground for leverage as he gave it one last mighty pull.

The sword didn’t move.

Instead, a weak voice echoed in his mind:

“Are you an idiot? You can’t pull it out, so you just keep pulling? Is your brain as small as your dick? Why don’t you try figuring out the problem first?”

Ren Ye immediately covered his “little earthworm” and took a cautious step back.

“Who’s talking?!”