How should an overly smart NPC be dealt with?
As mentioned before, players' first thought would be to directly kill the NPC so that they could continue dealing with a group of stupid NPCs.
Gu Nan did the same. If he had a chance, he really didn't mind killing Gu Nian, but the latter proved that it truly wouldn't be easy to kill her.
Although she had just entered Prodigious Realm and was still in Origin Stage, the law of "duality" was strange enough for all kinds of wondrous applications to be derived from it.
This law alone was enough for her to fight against ordinary Infinitesimal Stage experts.
But unfortunately, Gu Nan was a veteran who had gone through hundreds of battles. The enemies he once faced far surpassed Gu Nian by countless levels.
Just when Gu Nian secretly breathed a sigh of relief, a pitch-black figure slowly emerged from her shadow, then moved suddenly and fiercely stabbed her in the heart with a sword.
The shadow sword pierced the girl's heart and completely deprived her of her vitality.
Gu Nian looked at Gu Nan with a startled look. She didn't seem to believe that he would really kill her. Her body fell slowly.
"Stop pretending." Gu Nan said calmly, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Life and death are also equal and opposing forces. An attack that missed the focal point cannot kill you."
Gu Nan's voice echoed in the air. Gu Nian's corpse on the ground gradually dissipated, and a new Gu Nian walked out slowly from the side.
"You seem to know a lot about me?" Gu Nian's eyes were curious.
Gu Nan was noncommittal. "I just know this world very well."
He had seen many characteristics of the law of "duality" in his previous life. As for resurrection, that wasn't such a big deal in the game.
Gu Nan wasn't completely helpless against this power, but the emergence of this power made him truly interested in Gu Nian.
Certain difficult matters could be handed over to her in the future.
So Gu Nan stopped and took a look at Shi Miao'er, who had died a violent death.
A strange smile hung from the corners of his mouth. "Now, it's time for us to discuss the conditions."
"What conditions?" Gu Nian secretly sighed in relief, but her voice was still calm.
The power of shadows was indeed extraordinary. It was more mysterious and unpredictable than all the powers she had seen before. If Gu Nan still didn't stop, then she didn't know who the winner would be.
Her resurrection wasn't unlimited.
"The Martial Arts Competition—I want to take charge completely." There was no trace of any smile on Gu Nan's face. If Gu Nian didn't agree to this condition, he would attack immediately.
Players were a group of extremely pragmatic people. Someone used him? Gu Nan didn't care.
Weren't players used by NPCs every time they completed in-game missions for NPCs? But any NPC who dared to interfere with his mission must be hacked to death without any room for negotiation.
So this time, he didn't mind acting as the vanguard for the Gu family on the condition that the Martial Arts Competition be handed over to him.
Gu Nian's hair rose on end from Gu Nan's stare. She could only promise, "Okay... What do you plan to do?"
Destroying the Long family was naturally the top priority, but the Martial Arts Competition was also the Gu family's next main project. She couldn't allow Gu Nan to mess it up.
How could Gu Nan know of the chain event's final objective right now? He shook his head and replied, "You'll know later."
...
When Gu Nan returned to the Gu family, the Lu sisters were still waiting.
Lu Zhanyu still pretended not to know him, while Lu Xinyu's gaze was a little odd. Bai Luoluo sat beside them with wide, innocent eyes.
"Although I don't know what method you used to... Mm, to treat her." For once, Lu Xinyu's expression looked slightly dark. "I hope you can try a sunnier method next time."
"For example?"
"For example, when I ask what her dream is, I hope that she won't say she wants to be an assassin queen," Lu Xinyu answered expressionlessly.
"Oh, isn't that also quite nice?" Gu Nan said after thinking for a while.
"You..."
Lu Zhanyu quickly mediated, "Sister, I think we should stay for a while and help Bai Luoluo sort things out."
It had to be said that Lu Zhanyu's words were precisely what Lu Xinyu wanted, so she nodded immediately.
After the two left, Lu Zhanyu didn't enter Gu Nan's room again until the middle of the night.
"Tell me about the mission." Gu Nan naturally didn't sleep. When Lu Zhanyu came, he asked, "By the way, I don't have much time. How much faster does time pass in that world?"
Lu Zhanyu explained the mission using the fastest possible speed. In fact, it wasn't complicated. It sounded like an ordinary bodyguard mission.
Different from the "tower defense" type of mission when they protected the White Dew Goddess, this mission was more like the "Azure City" mission Gu Nan had seen before. Its objective was to protect a target NPC.
It was a little troublesome that Gu Nan had never seen this mission before in his previous life.
But then Lu Zhanyu told Gu Nan about an unexpected trouble.
"Time passes ten times faster in that world... But the time node when the mission starts is tomorrow night," Lu Zhanyu said calmly.
It was impossible for relatively large planes to be resettable, so they only had one chance at clearing the mission. Thus, the plane coordinates would only appear during the mission's specified time node.
Gu Nan calculated in his heart. If he entered tomorrow, it would be too late...
'The Martial Arts Competition is... Hm? No wait, I have the final say on the start date of the Martial Arts Competition now!'
...
Early the next morning, Gu Nan had a restful sleep, but the rest of the Gu family was still busy.
Yesterday's encirclement and annihilation of the Long family wasn't very successful. After all, there were four Prodigious experts in the Long family. Besides the Long family's Sixth Uncle, who died at Gu Nan's hands, there were still three more.
And unfortunately, all three escaped last night.
Before catching or killing these three people, the Gu family wouldn't dare to truly kill the Long family's forces, or else these three would let go of everything and become assassins without scruples to assassinate the Gu family's higher-ups one by one.
In the end, it was trouble caused by Gu Nan's decisiveness.
No one expected that not only did Gu Nan kill Long Quan, but he even killed the Long family's Sixth Uncle. The fall of a Prodigious Realm elder had already escalated the feud to an irreversible level, forcing the Gu family to take action earlier than planned.
It was precisely their lack of preparation that allowed the three Prodigious cultivators to escape.
"What? You want to postpone the Martial Arts Competition?" Gu Xingzhu looked at Gu Nan in front of him and felt like her head was about to burst.
'He actually wants to cause more trouble in such a tense situation. Does he really think…'
"How long do you want to delay it for?" Gu Nian was calmer.
"At least three days. The specific time will be decided after my return," Gu Nan wasn't polite at all and spoke in a commanding tone.
The veins on Gu Xingzhu's forehead jumped violently, and even her breathing quickened. 'Does this person actually know how important the Martial Arts Competition is to the Gu family?'
'All of Ruby Fish Star's martial artists are looking forward to this annual event. But you actually…'
"Okay."
"Eldest Miss?!" Gu Xingzhu felt that this world was going crazy.
Gu Nan nodded with satisfaction and left, but Gu Xingzhu couldn't help stopping Gu Nian to ask, "Eldest Miss, how can you go along with his insanity?"
Gu Nian smiled silently. "Unless you want him to crash the event, everything about the Martial Arts Competition will have to follow his instructions."
"Why?" Gu Xingzhu couldn't accept it at all. It was clearly a competition they worked hard to prepare, so why should they hand it over to Gu Nan just like that?
Gu Nian looked at her seriously. "I can guarantee that if you don't listen to him, this Martial Arts Competition won't be able to continue."
...
Gu Nian was right. Although the two sides only had an oral agreement, Gu Nan was confident.
If he returned and found that the Martial Arts Competition had begun… Then he would most certainly start killing on the spot.
Although the Gu family benefitted the most from the Long family's destruction, it wasn't like Gu Nan didn't reap any benefits from this—at the very least, he proved to everyone that he, Gu Nan, was an Infinitesimal Stage powerhouse and one of the most powerful people on this planet.
In other words, he was now qualified to negotiate with any organization and had become a genuine big shot.
But right now, this big shot was currently lurking in the shadows in front of a low bungalow, silently spying on a young girl's martial arts practice.
Student Lin Yunyun was entirely unaware of this. As usual, she woke up early and did morning exercises. She endured the pain day after day and honed her internal energy.
Perhaps Gu Nan had brought her bad luck, because today was obviously not a good day. Not far away, a group of people with ill intentions were quickly approaching the bungalow.
Devotee's Game System Inspired Note
» This section of the chapter is a Fan based created system to mock-up or simulate the 'Status Information' of our MC - Gu Nan. This implies that you are free to skip reading this and continue your journey onto the next chapter.
» All catalog data below is a summary of various information achieved by Gu Nan that corresponds till the end of the related chapter and is compiled into a singular 'Status Screen.' Additionally, the invented system below would continue to evolve as we progress and learn more about the novel itself.
MC's Status Information
Name: Gu Nan
Current Location: Gu Famiy's residence, Ruby Fish Star
Current Soul Location: N/A
Status: ⟪ Evil God ⟫
Advancement Direction: Agility Type
Current Evil God Rank: Tier 3
Equivalent/Current Martial Art: Prodigious Realm
◈ Comprehension of Innate ability: Infinitesimal Stage
Chosen Core Skill: The Law of Shadow
Current Evil God Temple Quest:
→ Main Mission Objective/s:
-— Evil Event: Ruby Fish Star's Martial Arts Competition. - Evil God Temple Issued
◈ Status: On Going
→ Side Quest Objective:
-— None. - N/A
◈ Status: N/A
Current Evil Points: 1500
Overall Evil Points: 3775, Overall Evil Value: 97
Core Skill Acquired
— Shadow. ｢Also known precisely as 'The law of Shadow' - its one of the highest-ranked laws in the game. Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Normal Skills Acquired:
— Locked ｢N/A｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
— Locked ｢N/A｣
Exclusive Skills Acquired:
— Deceitful Steps. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Movement Speed increased by 30%. Attack Speed increased by 50%｣
— Power of Shadows. [ LVL 2 ] ｢Allows the players to activate the skill "Hidden Shadows" at LVL 1 and unlocks the skill "Shadow Form" at LVL 2..｣
▸Hidden Shadows. ｢The power to manipulate shadows to a fine degree.｣
▸Shadow Form. ｢An incomparable handy skill that allows the player to manipulate shadows to create things, like weapons and armor. At the highest level of mastery, it could even create a humanoid clone.｣
Equipment being worn
→ Armor
-— Dawn Sage's Robe. ｢Basic level defense. If you are not attacked within 3 seconds, you will receive the "Praise of Dawn" effect.｣
→ Weapon
-— Four Element Crossbow. ｢A Tier 2 crossbow weapon that can generate four types of elemental arrows—earth, water, wind, and fire—based on the user's needs and does not need to load arrows.｣
→ Accessories - Facial Accessories, Necklace, Earrings
-— Observer Eyepiece. ｢An eyepiece that have a fixed Tier 2 magic 'Insight' inscribe in it.｣
-— Dragon Heart Pendant. ｢Allows players to activate the skill "Dragon Power". This skill cannot be upgraded｣
-— Shadow Earrings. ｢Skill 'Power of Shadows' LVL +1｣
Equipment Skills Acquired:
-— Insight. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Ability to obtain high-precision data analysis when looking at people or objects.｣
-— Dragon Power. ｢Greatly enhances the player's strength and physique. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 5 minutes｣
-— Praise of Dawn. [ Passive Ability ] ｢Increases self-healing ability by 300%｣
Item/s owned:
→ None.