Chapter 268: Transferring the Mythic Vessel, a Sudden Visit from a Player

A fine drizzle fell early on the morning of October 6. Ke Mingqing sat on his bed, rubbed his eyes, and turned to look out the floor-to-ceiling window.

On the distant elevated bridge, a brightly lit Iron Dragon tore through the falling rain, speeding into the distance. The pattering rain made him drowsy. He yawned and glanced down at the phone beside his bed.

Top Hero, Shadow Girl, Little Red Riding Hood—the people who actively messaged him were practically all dead. Getting a text from them now would feel like stumbling onto a horror movie set, and it made him wonder if the underworld had internet access.

As for the rest, they were either missing or giving him the cold shoulder. At a time like this, the only person left who insisted on messaging him every day was Commander Lin.

Since retiring, Lin Yin had become a man with entirely too much free time.

Working most of his life for the Hero Company had already secured his financial freedom, not to mention he was divorced and didn't need to worry about his son's marriage prospects. Of course, it wasn't that he didn't want to worry about them, but rather that there was nothing he could do.

As a result, his daily life was largely carefree. He had embraced the elderly lifestyle ahead of schedule, pulling out a beach chair every day to lie in his yard, soak up the sun, and read the newspaper. From time to time, he would pick up his phone to chat with Ke Mingqing, sharing landscape photos he'd taken that day or the latest Blue Pigeon jokes making the rounds.

Ke Mingqing wasn't one to reply to messages; he preferred peace and quiet in whatever he did. But he didn't dare ignore Commander Lin, terrified that if he left the old man hanging too long, he might just shoot himself.

Now, he picked up the phone from his pillow and woke the screen.

An unread email sat in his inbox—and a surprisingly old-school QQ email at that. Ke Mingqing raised an eyebrow.

To his mind, QQ was something used by relics from the end of the last century; post-2010s kids like him exclusively used WeChat.

He didn't even know how many years it had been since he last used QQ, nor did he know who had sent this email. Driven by curiosity, he went ahead and opened his inbox.

The page refreshed, and he stared at the solitary email lying on the screen.

[Email Subject: "I'm doing great, don't worry about me."]

[Time Sent: October 06, 03:35 AM.]

[Sender — Anonymous User.]

Ke Mingqing froze, the look in his eyes shifting slightly. A moment later, he opened the email. It was empty apart from a single photograph.

He zoomed in on the picture. The background was an ice field—a boundless expanse of ice where towering glaciers stood shoulder-to-shoulder like a row of deep blue giants. A massive sun hung high in the sky, spilling a cold radiance over the earth that looked more like moonlight.

There was no one in the photo. Only a distinct, slender hand was visible, reaching into the frame—

That hand reached toward the sun, making a "peace" sign in the hazy sunlight. A woven red string bracelet encircled the wrist.

"Third Sister?" Ke Mingqing murmured softly.

He recognized the bracelet in the photo. It was the birthday gift he and Xia Zili had pooled their money to buy for Xia Ningzhi last year.

Ke Mingqing hesitated. Rather than replying, he forwarded the email to Ke Mingwei's phone inbox with an attached message: "Old man, this is an email from Third Sister. Help me trace the sender's address—knowing her personality, she wouldn't play tricks or use a fake photo to lure us to Antarctica."

Message sent, Ke Mingqing took off his pajamas, got out of bed, and went to wash up.

The door to the rooftop was shut tight, but he could hear the rain growing heavier outside. A faint, muffled rumble of thunder rolled through the black clouds.

Sitting on the toilet, Ke Mingqing brushed his teeth while casually browsing the Player Forum. The most popular thread made his eyes widen slightly.

[I have found a method for transferring a mythic vessel, but I have yet to confirm the intelligence's authenticity. Unfortunately, there are only five known mythic vessels at present, and the most powerful mythic vessel is the head of the Roundtable Heroes, "Zeus." If we want to defeat him, I believe it is highly necessary to obtain the power of the other mythic vessels. In addition, if anyone has intel on the mythic vessel "Anubis," please contact me.

Poster: Fanquan.]

"A method for transferring a mythic vessel..." Ke Mingqing paused for a moment and murmured, "In that case, it seems Second Sister also inherited the opponent's mythic power and became a vessel only after she killed the 'Fire Giant Surtr'."

He pondered for a moment, raised his head, and looked at the post again.

"Do the five currently known mythic vessels refer to 'Anubis,' 'Zeus,' 'Black Dragon Nidhogg,' 'Nezha,' and 'Fire Giant Surtr'?"

"How disappointing. Why are there only five mythic vessels in the world? I was kind of hoping the Great Sage Equal to Heaven would be around..."

Letting his thoughts trail off there, Ke Mingqing clicked into the thread and scrolled through its contents.

[Forum ID: King of Kimchi (IP: Seoul, South Korea): Even if this rumor about transferring a mythic vessel is true, I don't think it has much to do with us players.]

[Forum ID: Japan's Number One Host (IP: Tokyo, Japan): We haven't even tried it yet. How do you know it won't work?]

[Forum ID: King of Kimchi (IP: Seoul, South Korea): Do you think the system will just let us obtain native supernatural powers that aren't under its jurisdiction? I don't believe it'll allow us to do things outside the limits of its control.]

[Forum ID: Pianzhi (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Do you guys think mythic vessels are stronger, or witches? I'm casting my vote for witches—]

1

[Forum ID: Northeast Know-It-All (IP: Hedu, China): Transfer a mythic vessel? How is that any different from taking off your pants to fart? Mythic vessels all start at S Rank on average. If we have the strength to kill them, we wouldn't need to snatch their mythic vessel abilities in the first place.]

[Forum ID: Qing Meng (IP: Tokyo, Japan): Speaking of which, I've seen the Superhuman Panel for the Fire Giant Surtr before. The panel said that after he killed the previous holder of the Fire Giant Surtr, he was favored by the remnant consciousness of the Fire Giant Surtr and possessed, becoming a second-generation mythic vessel—]

[Forum ID: Black Parrot (IP: Paris, France): In that case, according to the person above, do we players also have a chance to become mythic vessels?]

Ke Mingqing skimmed through it. Most of the replies from other players lacked any real substance, and Fanquan hadn't mentioned the method for transferring a mythic vessel in the thread. Even when others asked, he just talked in circles and kept them guessing.

Obviously, this was a highly valuable piece of intel. His attitude made it clear he was hoping other players would exchange useful information for it.

Ke Mingqing scrolled to the very last comment on the final page, shrugged, and thought, 'Don't tell me after all this asking around, he's just going to tell everyone that the method for transferring a mythic vessel is actually a system skill that spawned in the shop and got monopolized by him—and besides, even if he says we can transfer a mythic vessel, would the system really allow us to possess this kind of native power that falls outside its control?'

He suddenly realized, 'Oh, wait. If the me from the previous timeline really used a witch's power to surpass the system's constraints and return to the past, then the system must be turning a blind eye to us players acquiring this world's supernatural abilities.'

A moment later, as Ke Mingqing walked out of the bathroom, the doorbell suddenly rang. The crisp chime cut through the sound of the rain and reached his ears.

"It's early in the morning, and it's still raining outside... Who would choose to come over at a time like this?" Ke Mingqing leaned against the staircase handrail and glanced downstairs.

Ke Linye was currently sitting on the living room sofa reading a book. He stood up, walked to the entryway to open the door, and returned upstairs a short while later.

Browsing Weibo on his phone, Ke Mingqing asked casually, "What's wrong?"

"A guy came to the door, Japanese, wearing a kimono and speaking fairly fluent Chinese. He said he's a friend of yours and that he's a dancer from Kabukicho." Ke Linye said as he walked over, "A'Qing, you're actually interested in Kabuki? I went to see it during my last business trip to Japan, but I almost fell asleep halfway through. From what I remember, the girls on the Kabuki stage are all played by effeminate-looking men..."

At this point, Ke Linye suddenly shot him a strange look, as if starting to worry whether his younger brother's bumpy love life was due to issues with his sexual orientation.

Ke Mingqing blanked, his eyes locked on his phone screen. Only after a long while did he raise his head and murmur, "A Japanese person... Kabukicho?"

In a flash, the image of the Japanese youth he had seen that day in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward crossed his mind. The figure dressed in an ochre-red kimono, arms crossed with their hands tucked into the sleeves, wearing a faint smile—that image still lingered stubbornly in his head.

Oh crap, that Japanese player?

"Rumble!"

A sudden crack of thunder sounded, and the torrential rain intensified. The originally pattering rain was now as loud as a crashing tide. Outside, the paulownia trees were buffeted by the fierce wind, their brilliant splashes of yellow rustling and swaying in the curtain of rain.

Ke Mingqing leaned against the staircase railing, his eyes slightly lowered toward the living room. Just then, a figure wearing an ochre-red kimono slowly stepped out from the entryway, entering his line of sight.

Floating right above the person's head was a line of black text—without a doubt, it was a player marker!

Kamishiro Ruri.

Noticing his gaze, Kamishiro Ruri raised an eyebrow, placed the red umbrella in her hand into the stairwell, and slowly lifted her head, looking at Ke Mingqing with eyes as clear as sword blades.

Their eyes met after a long time apart.

Ke Mingqing stood frozen in place, cold sweat slowly trailing down his forehead.

He thought, 'Holy crap, I just secretly deleted you from my friends list. Did you really have to come all the way to Leijing to hunt me down? You Japanese are way too petty. If you find out I blocked you one day, are you going to commit seppuku?'

He knew this should be his first time meeting Kamishiro Ruri with this face. Previously, when he had met her under the identity of the "Red Name Player Jin Chengwu," he had used his Disguiser Talent to alter his appearance beforehand.

Ke Linye leaned against the staircase handrail with his arms crossed. He tilted his head, glanced at Kamishiro Ruri, and pointed out, "There, he's already come in."

Ke Mingqing didn't react, merely staring silently at Kamishiro Ruri's smiling face as his mind raced with a million thoughts.

'Why... would a player show up at the door at a time like this?'

'What is going on?'

'So how exactly did she know I was here, as well as my true identity?'

'Could Kuroki Hitomi have sold me out? Well, that makes sense, I should have been mentally prepared for this.'

Ke Mingqing pondered quietly, and only after two or three seconds did he slowly raise his head. Shrugging, he said, "It's someone my ex-girlfriend knows. I've never even been to Japan, alright?"

"Oh, so it's someone your ex-girlfriend sent to hack you to pieces. That's not surprising then." Ke Linye smiled. "Stay safe. Being a playboy comes with a price, you know."

Saying that, he patted Ke Mingqing on the shoulder and turned to walk into his own bedroom.

Just then, Xia Zili, who happened to push open her door and step out of her room, furrowed her brow. She stood quietly in the doorway, staring motionlessly at Ke Mingqing.

Noticing her gaze, Ke Mingqing turned and glanced at her. Neither of them spoke, nor did they know what to say. A moment later, he silently headed downstairs.

Kamishiro Ruri crossed her arms, her sword-clear eyes lowered slightly. A moment later, she smiled and said, "Long time no see, Li-kun."

Ke Mingqing frowned and stayed silent for a while before finally remembering that he had used the name "Ke Zili" to brush off those two Japanese players back then.

For Kamishiro Ruri to address him by this fake name now obviously carried a hint of sarcasm.

'Damn it—'

'Big brother and my little sister are both home, so it wouldn't be good to make a move. Otherwise, explaining it later will be a huge pain. Plus—I still have a lot of questions to ask her.'

'I need to know if my identity has been exposed to other players as well, or if it's currently just her and Kuroki Hitomi who know about it.'

At that thought, Ke Mingqing took a deep breath. Only after a long while did he look up and ask, "Spill it—how did you know I was here?"

"That's a long story," Kamishiro Ruri said softly, arms still crossed. "But there's no rush. Since it happens to be raining, we can take our time."

Saying that, she turned to glance out the floor-to-ceiling window. The rain was falling heavier now, a torrential downpour shrouding everything in the world. A bird, battered by the rain, dropped down onto a utility pole.