Ye Chui and his group, led by Kas, passed through the Bridge located at the edge of the central city and arrived in the Stan Town fragment world.
The Bridge was a spatial teleportation array. The central city connected to all other fragment worlds through these Bridges.
The Stan Town fragment world appeared oval-shaped. Familiar buildings of the town were visible everywhere. Around the town’s shattered edges lay small patches of forest and grassland. Yet the once kind and lively town now looked lifeless and desolate.
While Ye Chui and the others sighed at returning to this town only to find everything changed, Kas suddenly sensed something. He cried out in alarm, “Oh no, outsiders are invading!”
He immediately rushed toward the centre of the town.
Ye Chui already knew that Kas was the master of Stan Town. As long as he remained in the town, he could sense to a certain extent whether outsiders had invaded this fragment world.
Ye Chui exchanged glances with his companions. With a clatter, they threw their backpacks to the ground. Ye Chui and Green skilfully pulled modified firearms from their storage spaces, one for each person. They loaded magic scrolls as ammunition, clicked the bolts, and chambered rounds.
“Is it Windless City and Kane City attacking?” Xile Si asked coldly. Compared to Ye Chui, Debbie, and Lesa, she and Green were original residents of this town and felt a deeper attachment to it.
“Other fragment worlds need Bridge Builders to first establish a Bridge if they want to launch an invasion. They cannot do it that quickly,” Ye Chui replied, shaking his head. He cradled a submachine gun in his arms and led the way into Stan Town.
Ye Chui had already learned some more important information from Kas. The residents of the Sin Continent could roughly be divided into four professions: Bridge Builders, Forgers, Inscribers, and Hunters.
Among them, Bridge Builders were responsible for constructing Bridges. They possessed powerful spatial magic abilities and could open Bridges linking to other fragment worlds.
Survival in the Sin Continent required constant competition.
Participating in trials and battlefields for life-and-death fights was one form of competition. At the same time, fragment worlds also fought endlessly against one another, swallowing or splitting apart. The name Hell came precisely from this ceaseless mutual struggle!
Bridge Builders played a crucial role when fragment worlds devoured each other. They were the key to invading other worlds and the only means to stop other Bridge Builders from building Bridges!
Forgers were responsible for crafting various weapons. Inscribers engraved scrolls. To obtain supplies, people in fragment worlds exchanged equipment and scrolls. Resources could be gathered from trials and battlefields, or produced personally. In fact, the equipment and scrolls that appeared in trials and battlefields were all made by these Forgers and Inscribers.
These items could be exchanged for supplies at the Sky Ladder light pillar. The ruling consciousness of the celestial light pillar would randomly distribute the equipment and supplies across various trials and battlefields.
As for the final profession, Hunters, these were the chosen warriors and fighters from each fragment world.
They went to participate in trials and battlefields to hunt. What they hunted were not beasts, but other Hunters. Hunters were also called hunters. In any single trial or battlefield, only one person or one team could emerge victorious. The victors gained Sky Ladder points. For the exiled, Sky Ladder points could unlock their original powers and be exchanged for various abilities: swordsman sword skills, magic spells, summoned beasts, all could be obtained through Sky Ladder points.
Bridge Builders, Forgers, Inscribers, Hunters. These were the four most important professions in the Sin Continent.
In Stan Town, there were only a few low-level Forgers. The old great mage Merlin, through his exceptional talent, had comprehended both Bridge Builder and Inscriber abilities, but only at a low level. As for Hunters, although many from the magic guilds and mercenary groups had volunteered to become Hunters and enter trials and battlefields, they had all been tragically wiped out.
Shortly after Stan Town arrived in the Sin Continent, many fragment worlds sent envoys to swallow it up. Fortunately, Merlin, relying on his powerful magical talent, comprehended Bridge Builder power at a critical moment and prevented other worlds’ Bridge Builders from establishing Bridges to Stan Town’s fragment world. The Bridge from the central city to Stan Town required permission from Kas, the world controller, so no one could invade other fragment worlds through the central city.
Ye Chui’s group walked along the broken and desolate streets. They passed by Ye Chui’s former residence, but they had no mood to go inside and look. They followed Blue Road Street all the way to the square in front of the mercenary guild.
Almost everyone in the town was now gathered here.
When Ye Chui and the others arrived, the crowd was clustered together discussing something. The familiar townsfolk, or at least those who looked somewhat recognisable, did not notice Ye Chui’s group’s arrival at first.
“Are you really determined to do this? You actually allowed another fragment world to open a Bridge!” Ye Chui heard Kas’s furious voice ring out.
“Kas, there is no way to survive by staying here. Since another world is willing to accept us, why should we keep lingering in this place? Lord Uday, the world master of Moon Bay, promised us that as long as we join his world, we will receive abundant supplies!” a somewhat oily and slick voice replied.
That voice sounded vaguely familiar to Ye Chui, but he could not immediately place it. He looked toward Green and Xile Si.
Green had been a member of the Blue Horn Magic Guild back then and was also a seasoned gambler, best at gathering all sorts of information. Xile Si was the attendant in the mercenary guild hall. Between them, they knew almost everyone in Stan Town.
“This is… one of the guys from the Bull Head Magic Guild,” Green answered. “His name is Taran. I have had a few exchanges with him at the gambling table. He is an utterly shameless fellow. I heard that after we took down the Bull Head Magic Guild’s president, he took over as the new president.”
Stan Town originally had three magic guilds: Bull Head Magic Guild, Blue Horn Magic Guild, and Goddess’s Kiss Magic Guild.
Among them, Bull Head and Goddess’s Kiss had quite a few stories involving Ye Chui and Debbie.
With Ye Chui’s rise, apart from the always neutral Blue Horn Magic Guild, the other two guilds suffered devastating blows and were nearly destroyed. However, after Ye Chui left Stan Town, those two guilds gradually regained some vitality. Of course, their behaviour was no longer as arrogant and domineering as before.
“You actually used trickery to drug Teacher Merlin unconscious, allowing Moon Bay’s Bridge Builder to open a Bridge connecting here! If you want to leave, just leave, but doing this exposes Stan Town to deadly danger!” Kas continued roaring in fury.
It seemed that while Kas was away in the central city, Taran and his group had secretly drugged Merlin unconscious, allowing Moon Bay’s Bridge Builder to smoothly establish a Bridge to this place.
Stan Town had only recently arrived in the Sin Continent and was very weak. If Moon Bay launched an attack, Stan Town would be in imminent peril!
The mage named Taran sneered coldly. “Town Mayor Kas, you are truly naive. Do you think joining Moon Bay is so easy? Joining comes at a price. Can you guess what the price is?”
What was the price?
Through the crowd, Ye Chui saw Kas’s body trembling with rage.
Clearly, the price… was Stan Town itself!
At some point, Taran and his group had secretly colluded with people from Moon Bay, acting as inside agents to help Moon Bay build the Bridge. Now that people from Moon Bay’s fragment world had entered Stan Town, what awaited Stan Town was naturally the fate of being swallowed. In return, Taran and the others would gain the favour of Moon Bay’s master.
Taran and his group had actually sold out everyone in Stan Town!
“Luckily we arrived in time. Otherwise Stan Town would have faced total destruction,” Xile Si said with a grim face, her voice ice-cold.
Taran was a native of Stan Town. This was the place where they had grown up. Yet for their own survival, they had betrayed every resident here!
Someone heard Xile Si’s voice and turned around in confusion. Then they saw the fully armed Ye Chui and his group. This was an old man with a face full of wrinkles. His body trembled, his expression one of utter disbelief. “You… you all…”
“Grandpa, we came to save you,” Ye Chui said. He did not recognise the old man, though he looked vaguely familiar. But he knew the old man had recognised them. He patted the old man’s shoulder and pushed through the crowd toward the centre.
The people being pushed aside felt annoyed at first, but when they saw who was pushing past them, they all showed shocked expressions. Some covered their faces and wept. Some could not help laughing. Others became so excited they fainted on the spot.
Stan Town was merely an ordinary border town in the Star Empire. Yet with one young man setting out from here, this town became extraordinary. A legend began here. And now, in their moment of crisis, their legend had appeared before them once again!
The crowd began to stir. They automatically parted, opening a path that revealed the few people surrounded in the middle.
Behind Kas stood several of his personal guards and a few of his loyal supporters. Among them Ye Chui saw familiar faces like Ross and Gayton. On Kunlan’s side there were forty or fifty people in total, all young and strong fellows, including a few familiar ones. They had their backs to Ye Chui’s group, so they did not immediately notice the path opening in the crowd. They did not see Ye Chui and the others approaching with cold expressions.
At that moment, Kunlan spoke loudly in a mocking and arrogant tone. “The people from Moon Bay have already set foot on the Bridge. They will arrive here very soon. At that time, anyone who still resists will be executed! Those who want to live had better stand on our side right now. Of course, frail old people and children should not harbour any delusions. Moon Bay will not take in such useless trash. Everyone in Stan Town, listen up. We…”
Shouting so loudly, Taran glanced around. Then he and his accomplices finally saw Ye Chui and his group standing right behind them.
Their expressions and bodies instantly froze.
“I am listening…” Ye Chui said to Taran with a cold smile, pointing the gun in his hand straight at Taran’s chest. “Go on. Keep talking.”
