Even though there was no audience around him, Bai Zhou habitually kept his expression taut.
He fought down his shivers, yet in his ears, it felt as though the echoes of a tsunami were roaring.
These "blood beads" definitely had other uses Bai Zhou hadn't yet discovered.
—Why did the "blood beads" flowing from the crown bear the mark of the Adventurer?
The so-called King of Gold was suspected to be a high-sequence being of the Adventurer pathway!
Could even the twelve unfathomable golden giants standing above the stars, glimpsed in that trance just now...
also be predecessors of the Adventurer pathway?
—Could that even be called an "Adventurer"?
Even the ultimate form of an adventurer Bai Zhou could imagine, a "Dragon-Slaying Hero," wasn't nearly that terrifying.
"..."
Bai Zhou's gaze flickered.
He scrutinized the silent crown resting motionless in the distilled water, showing not a trace of blood, appearing just as it always had.
If hidden within lay the secret to becoming the King of Gold...
then it very likely contained the subsequent pathway for the Adventurer as well!
*Thump, thump—*
This speculation set Bai Zhou's heart racing wildly.
*Moon Cinder Holy Oath Slash* was only enough for Bai Zhou to complete the cultivation of "Body" and "Mind"; he had nowhere to turn for the subsequent pathway.
Looking back all of a sudden, a mountain of treasure had been right before his eyes all along.
"Tsk!"
Blinking his clear eyes twice in the dim Black Chamber, Bai Zhou restrained himself and merely clicked his tongue.
Yet in the end, he couldn't help himself and hummed a couple of cheerful notes.
—Cold living people were all liars.
Warm dead people wouldn't lie, nor would heartwarming dying wishes.
The Special Control Bureau had claimed this was a Grade F Black Box, utterly unremarkable.
—Yet this was probably the greatest treasure hidden in the Special Control Bureau, unbeknownst to anyone!
*Splash, gurgle...*
Pumping out the water, changing the water.
Resealing the tank.
After bustling about for quite a while, Bai Zhou restored everything to normal.
Lifting a hand to rest on the tank, he gave it two gentle pats—*pat, pat*.
He cast a few final, lingering glances at the King of Gold's dying wish hovering above the crown.
Although he had no clue about those grueling "trials" for the moment, Bai Zhou's future might well depend on this.
This thing certainly couldn't be left to the Special Control Bureau... Wait, what Special Control Bureau?
This was Bai Zhou's crown.
God was his witness: what the Special Control Bureau owned was the Crown of Johor, which didn't have half a gold bean to do with his!
Bai Zhou scratched his head, suddenly feeling that the top of his head was rather bare—it would be best to top it off with something.
That unruly cowlick that always stuck up needed something to keep it down anyway.
The White King... that name sounded pretty decent, didn't it?
With a snap—
He sealed the Black Box.
Bai Zhou carefully stowed away those gold beads of unknown function, and then, with an ordinary expression, walked out of Black Chamber F-13777.
Imitating Section Chief Liu's past demeanor, he adopted a steady, measured bureaucrat's stride.
The keys jangled at his waist.
Taking the crown right now would expose him too easily; he wasn't that impatient yet.
But before leaving tomorrow night, he would definitely take the crown with him to savor and inspect at his leisure.
...What did it mean by "one who inherits the throne," the foremost trial?
Bai Zhou pondered. It likely symbolized some sort of "qualification."
To resolve this issue, perhaps he would have to use the Zhuluoji Pass to make another trip to the battlefield ruins.
Even the pass had been bestowed by the crown; to solve the problem presented by the crown...
exploring that place was naturally the only way.
—Bai Zhou began daydreaming again:
Maybe one day, in the ruins of that inverted giant city, he would stumble upon a scepter and imperial seal.
Then, directly receiving the mandate of heaven, he would return and shock the crown into bowing in homage right away, ignoring the twelve trials entirely and hailing him straight as the new King of Gold!
If all else failed, he could look around for some tattered imperial robe; slipping into one might also be worth a try.
...
To keep up appearances, even with no one else around, Bai Zhou continued working instead of leaving the Black Chamber sector.
Footsteps echoing, Supervisor Lord Bai Zhou made his rounds everywhere, inspecting the Black Boxes.
And incidentally checking if there was anything convenient for him to pack up and take along tomorrow.
["I eat eat eat eat eat... I'm so hungry, so hungry!"]
["Writing hypocrites into the phone notepad can kill them... I will become the god of the new world!"]
...Dying wishes, some familiar and some strange, displayed one after another.
"What a pity..."
The more Bai Zhou looked, the more pity he felt, aching with regret.
If only he had an infinitely large storage bag like the protagonist in adventure stories.
Then the entire Black Box Maintenance Department would thank him for his silent dedication.
Because the Black Boxes giving them headaches would cease to exist.
When it came to benefiting both himself and others, Bai Zhou's moral character could be said to be extraordinarily high.
...
Noon.
Having finished his work in the Black Chambers, Bai Zhou headed to the ordnance logistics department to collect his service firearm after his promotion.
The higher-ups had originally intended to issue him a new gun.
But he turned it down.
He took the initiative to apply for and inherit Section Chief Liu's service gun.
—That specially modified Adjudicator-300 enchanted pistol.
When the cold firearm landed in Bai Zhou's hands, it brought him an inexplicable sense of warmth.
The enchanted patterns refracted light across the gun's frame, and the scents of metal and gunpowder surged eagerly into his nostrils, stirring a restless itch in Bai Zhou's heart.
"Don't rush..."
Bai Zhou gently stroked the frame, whispering in his heart.
With a snap, he racked the slide.
The ejected brass cartridge, golden-yellow, hopped into midair.
Bai Zhou caught it in one swift motion.
Opening his palm, the brass bullet engraved with dark-blue patterns lay quietly in his hand.
The cold, hard texture traveled from his palm straight into Bai Zhou's brain.
"Soon."
Overhead was a band of cold white light.
Chilling mechanical walls sealed off heaven and earth.
Leaning in a corner, Bai Zhou looked down at the Adjudicator-300 and the bullet in his hand, murmuring those words.
...
After lunch, Bai Zhou was quite busy.
Busy wandering around the base.
He looked almost as if he had completely shaken off the impact of Section Chief Liu's death, strolling about with a thermos, ambling here and drifting there.
However, he wouldn't dare drink a single sip of what was inside that thermos...
The chemical materials Crow had previously "picked up" from the research institute still had plenty left over in the dorm.
During the special training, Bai Zhou had been forced to memorize many chemical formulas.
Because certain interesting minor rituals required the aid of chemical materials to function.
—This required whoever laid out the ritual to understand the basic composition and principles of the chemicals.
Although this was the subject in which Bai Zhou scored the lowest, he had still managed to pass Crow's examination.
Now,
Bai Zhou stood in various neglected corners of the base, recalling how to draw these rituals.
No one paid any mind to his actions.
...
In the afternoon, Bai Zhou enjoyed a hearty meal in the cafeteria and took plenty of things back with him while he was at it.
Chili oil, mustard water, flour, onions, garlic... and the like.
All things Bai Zhou "loved to eat."
—Once he got out, there would be no more free cafeteria, so whatever needed preparing had to be stocked in advance.
Carrying bags large and small, Bai Zhou huffed and puffed his way back to the dorm.
"Crow?"
The moment he stepped inside, he saw that Crow had returned at some point.
For some reason, the familiar scent of coffee made Bai Zhou's heart, which had been restless and suspended on edge all day, feel inexplicably much more grounded.
...Yet this time, Crow was no longer reclining on the black ribbon reading a book.
She was wiping her blade.
Leaning against the windowsill, her slender hand stroked the unsheathed blade.
In the center of the long blade were engraved occult patterns of white characters on a red ground, which blossomed with light one after another as her fingertips brushed past.
The snow-white edges on either side mirrored Crow's cold eyes.
Then she raised her head and looked at Bai Zhou.
"The matter you asked me to look into, I've gotten to the bottom of it."
"...You were right."
"This place has gone completely rotten!"
After a brief silence, she added,
"But you probably don't know this yet—"
"Their next target is you."
*They.*
Crow had used the word "they," which caused Bai Zhou's heart to tighten.
His heart, which had been suspended in uneasy guesswork, finally sank into complete resignation.
"There's no staying in this place any longer, but they definitely won't let you off."
A sound of grating metal rang out as the long blade slid slowly back into its scabbard.
Crow stood up.
The light lengthened her shadow.
"Bai Zhou, we can't just sit and wait for death."
"We have to do something!"
Her blade-sharp gaze held chilling murderous intent.
Yet the frost in those cold eyes soon melted away, as if she had thought of something.
"Though unfortunately, as unavoidable as it is..."
"after that, barring any surprises..."
Her petite figure was straighter and more upright than a straight blade. As the light overhead poured down, in this fleeting moment, all the light seemed to converge upon Crow.
Like a silver flash of a blade sweeping across his vision.
Her calm voice carried a touch of helplessness—
Slowly raising her arm toward Bai Zhou, she extended her hand.
The gesture was as if offering Bai Zhou an invitation to dance together at a ball—
"You may just have to join a lonely wandering ghost like me..."
"...and flee all the way, roaming to the ends of the earth."
Chapter 30