63: Chapter 63 You tell fortunes, I settle accounts

The snow in the Northern Wastes was fiercer than yesterday.

The white mist Chen Fan exhaled had barely drifted into the air before the wind whipped it away, shattering it against the broken wooden beams of the abandoned relay station.

He deliberately made his footprints uneven, deep and shallow; the winding trail across the snow looked like a wounded snake—this was bait for the Black Banner Emissary.

"Chen Fan!" Su Shuang's voice drifted from the back window of the relay station, carrying a hint of calculated panic. "They're coming!"

He reached back and tightened his grip on the blood pouch at his waist, his thumb rubbing against the frost that had formed on it.

This was brewed last night using Blood Silk Vine ashes mixed with fake blood; it could suppress Critical Hit fluctuations until they were as quiet as a mosquito's hum.

The copper coin in his palm grew hot. He had specifically triggered it this morning with the weakest possible Critical Hit—the red glow had only flashed for half a breath, like a candle being snuffed out.

"Three of them," Chen Fan muttered, his back to the door, counting the footsteps in the snow.

The first pair belonged to the Black Banner Emissary, his boot soles stained with the blue phosphorus of Data Specterss, branding faint blue light spots onto the snow with every step. The second was the soft sound of Seventh of Class C's Law Saber scabbard brushing against the snow, a corner of the red silk wrapping the blade whipped up by the wind. The third was the lightest, like cat paws—Green Face was on the roof beams.

"Surrender!" The Black Banner Emissary's shout burst through the broken door as twelve Data Specterss surged out from behind him.

Those translucent shadows were draped in chains, the data streams in their eye sockets rolling frantically; the system had specifically buffed them for this hunt.

Chen Fan stared at the wrist of the leading phantom, where there was an almost invisible crack—as Su Shuang had said, the stronger the data entity, the shallower the flaw was hidden.

"Like hell I will!" Chen Fan roared, his left fist wrapped in a blinding red light as he swung at the Black Banner Emissary's face.

With this punch, he deliberately didn't suppress the Critical Hit fluctuations. The red glow exploded like a firework, causing even Green Face on the roof beams to lean down for a look.

The Black Banner Emissary raised his banner pole to block, the sound of metal clashing ringing painfully in the ears—but he didn't know that seventy percent of the force in Chen Fan's punch had already been diverted.

The system prompt sounded right on time: [Attack hit, Damage +120].

The Black Banner Emissary's pupils constricted.

He had seen Chen Fan's Critical Hits in the Bronze Dungeon; that fist could smash a Rock Demon's skull into powder. But now?

He looked down at the dent on the banner pole, an indentation no bigger than a fingernail—this kid really was at his wit's end.

Chen Fan's right fist slowly clenched inside his sleeve.

He could feel the red light of the copper coin surging along his blood vessels toward his knuckles, like a snake being held by its seven-inch mark, making his whole body burn with suppressed heat.

This was "Hidden Critical Hit x2." The system couldn't detect its fluctuations; even Su Shuang had to rely on the smell of the ashes on him to notice it.

"Die!" he growled, throwing his right fist past the Black Banner Emissary's left ribs.

There was no red light, no shockwave, only the soft pop of compressed air.

The Black Banner Emissary didn't even have time to raise his banner pole—he only felt his chest struck by a heavy hammer. The crisp sound of breaking ribs mixed with the dull ache of shifting internal organs as he was sent flying, crashing through the relay station's back wall, his banner pole snapping in two with a 'crack.'

"Phantoms!

Form ranks!" Seventh of Class C's Law Saber cleared its scabbard, the 'Critical Suppression' runes on the blade glowing with a cold light.

But before he could finish his sentence, Su Shuang's voice, wrapped in wind and snow, pierced everyone's ears: "Heaven's fate is unjust; the decree comes from my mouth."

From the corner of his eye, Chen Fan saw her head bowed and eyes closed, her fingertips tracing a Fox Race secret sigil in the void.

The moment the Reversal of Fate Utterance activated, the temperature inside the relay station plummeted—not because of the snow, but from the coldness of system rules being tampered with.

[Warning: External interference detected. Data Specters stability decreased by 50%]

The twelve phantoms suddenly froze in place.

The data streams in their eye sockets began to spin wildly. Their chains hit the ground with a 'clang,' and even the movement of holding the chains turned into slow motion.

The Black Banner Emissary clutched his chest as he crawled up, the color completely drained from his face—this was impossible. His phantoms were specially supplied by the Life Recording Division. How could they be interfered with?

"Illusion!" Seventh of Class C swung his saber at the nearest phantom. The blade light slashed into the phantom's body, but only stirred up a cloud of blue debris.

The ninth white scar on his temple suddenly throbbed with pain; it was a mark used by the system to track 'thought fluctuations.'

For the past three days, this white scar would always burn whenever he saw Chen Fan—just like now, as Chen Fan walked toward them step by step over the broken bricks, his left fist blustering with red light while his right was hidden in the shadows like a poisoned blade.

"Break!" Chen Fan's right fist suddenly shot up, targeting the Law Shield of the Magistrate on the left.

There was no system prompt, no Critical Hit visual effect. The Magistrate only felt his shield grow heavy before it shattered into two with a 'crack.'

He stared wide-eyed. "You... how did you break a Law Shield?!"

"Your shields are written by fate-tellers," Chen Fan said, shaking the snow off his fist. "My fist is a debt calculated with my life."

Green Face, on the roof beams, could finally sit still no longer.

He pulled out a Trace Ink Pellet from his sleeve. It was a tracker specially made by the Life Recording Division; once crushed, it would leave a permanent mark on Chen Fan.

But just as he raised his hand, a furry fox tail suddenly swept across—Su Shuang had appeared beneath the beams at some point, her fox tail phantom fluffy like an umbrella, precisely sweeping the ink pellet into a snowdrift.

"Where would a beggar get ink?" She tilted her face up, her fox-like eyes narrowing. "Unless... you were a hunting dog all along."

Green Face's expression changed instantly. He turned, intending to jump out the window.

Chen Fan had been watching his shadow for a long time—this kid touched the mole on the back of his neck every time he got nervous, and he'd just done it three times.

He flicked his finger, and the copper coin, imbued with a Hidden Critical Hit, whistled through the air.

The snow exploded with a 'boom.' Green Face was like a swatted sparrow, falling straight into the snowdrift, knocked unconscious.

Seventh of Class C's Law Saber hit the ground with a 'clang.'

He stared at the blood-stained name tag by Chen Fan's feet—it was the ID tag of the New Player, Xiao Lin. Three days ago, when he personally handed Xiao Lin's soul data over to the Life Recording Division, this tag was still clutched in Xiao Lin's hand.

Memories suddenly flooded back: ten years ago, he too was a newcomer punished by the system for trying to save a teammate. It was 'they' who said 'Ascension' could allow one to escape the rules of the jungle... but the person he was killing now, was it his past self?

"I don't care if you like settling fates," Chen Fan said, bending down to pick up the name tag and brushing off the snow. "But every step I've taken on this path—is about settling scores."

He turned and walked toward Su Shuang, the wind and snow whipping at his clothes.

A piercing alarm suddenly rang out from outside the relay station, in a frequency unique to the Life Recording Division: [Magistrate Seventh of Class C, thought fluctuations exceed limit. Initiating 'Purification Preparation' protocol].

Seventh of Class C looked up toward the north, where a looming tower sat half-hidden. The Life Recording Division headquarters of the Star-Dazzle level dungeon was glowing with a red light.

"Let's go." Su Shuang tugged at his sleeve, her fox tail phantom quietly wrapping around his wrist.

Chen Fan nodded, and the two walked into the woods, stepping through the accumulated snow.

The wind blew harder and harder, making the broken wooden door of the relay station creak as if it were chanting an incantation.

A broken bridge in the wind and snow, the waning moon like a hook.

Chen Fan leaned against a broken stone pillar, the blood on his chest not yet dry.

He looked at the churning snow mist beneath the bridge and heard the soft sound of a Law Saber being drawn in the distance—was it Seventh of Class C?

Or an even more troublesome character?

"They're here," Su Shuang's voice came from behind him, carrying the chill of ice shards.

Chen Fan gripped the name tag tight, the red light of the copper coin pulsing in his palm.

He smiled, revealing a flash of white teeth. "Just in time."