290: Chapter 290 Frozen Betrayal! Morgana's Schemer Was Actually Him

Book 8 Chapter 76: Frozen Betrayal! Morgana's Ambusher Was Actually Him

Three minutes after Lin Chen and Arrogant Dragon left the Karma Arena, the system popped up an SOS signal from Morgana.

It wasn't text, but a video feed.

In the image, Morgana was frozen inside a massive cube, her body covered in frost, her expression frozen between shock and anger. The surface of the cube was covered in complex runes, each one flashing with an eerie red light.

A line of text appeared below the image:

「Distress Caller: Morgana (Frost Supreme)」

「Status: Imprisoned by 'Eternal Ice Coffin'」

「Imprisoner: ——」

The name had been redacted.

Arrogant Dragon looked at the image and frowned. "Isn't she the incarnation of the Frost Law? How could she be frozen?"

"It's not ordinary ice." Lin Chen zoomed in on the image, staring at the runes. "This is an ice coffin reinforced with the 'causality law'. Someone is using the law of causality to turn her frozen state into an 'inevitable event'."

"What do you mean?"

"It means she should have been able to thaw herself out. But now, causality has been tampered with—on a causal level, 'Morgana being eternally frozen' has become a certainty. No matter how she struggles, she cannot escape."

Arrogant Dragon's expression changed. "Who did this?"

Lin Chen didn't answer.

He opened the system and pulled up Morgana's battle records.

The records showed: Three days ago, Morgana entered the 'Extreme Cold Arena' to duel a player codenamed 'Flame Demon'. Flame Demon is a master of the Fire Law and should theoretically be hard-countered by Morgana. But halfway through the battle, Flame Demon suddenly used a causality law item to transform Morgana's 'freezing' into 'being frozen', directly locking her inside the Eternal Ice Coffin.

After Flame Demon won, his rank skyrocketed from 97th to 8th.

"A causality law item." Lin Chen muttered the words. "Just like the one I bought for Arrogant Dragon."

Arrogant Dragon was stunned. "You mean someone else also bought items to deal with Morgana?"

"And they bought them earlier than we did." Lin Chen pulled up the transaction history. "The Edge World only had three such items in stock. I bought the last one. The first two were bought three days ago."

"Who bought them?"

Lin Chen zoomed in on the buyer's information—it was redacted.

But he had his ways.

He opened the Edge World trading system and entered a string of code. It was a backdoor he had left with Faceless earlier—exchanged for the credit he pledged when taking out the loan.

The code ran.

The redacted name slowly emerged:

「Buyer: Causality Law Controller (Eliminated)」

Arrogant Dragon was baffled. "The Causality Law Controller? Didn't I kill him?"

"He is dead," Lin Chen said. "But the items he bought could be used in advance, or... given to others."

He continued scrolling down.

The transaction records showed: The Causality Law Controller bought two items. The first was a karma interferer, used to deal with Arrogant Dragon. The second was the 'Eternal Ice Coffin', with a note: 'Gifted to Flame Demon'.

"He gave it to Flame Demon," Lin Chen said. "That's how Flame Demon was able to trap Morgana with the ice coffin."

Arrogant Dragon fell silent.

He remembered his own battle with the Causality Law Controller—if Lin Chen hadn't come, he too would have been trapped by causality, never able to escape.

"Boss, we have to save her."

"Of course." Lin Chen stood up. "Where is she?"

The system displayed: 「Extreme Cold Arena, War Zone 8.」

When the two teleported to the Extreme Cold Arena, what they saw was a world of ice and snow.

A massive ice coffin stood in the center of the arena, with Morgana frozen inside, her expression still fixed as it was three days ago. Around the coffin, a dozen players were watching; some tried to attack the coffin, but their attacks were deflected the moment they touched the surface.

"Move aside." Lin Chen walked over.

The spectating players automatically made a path.

Lin Chen stood before the ice coffin, carefully studying the runes.

Arrogant Dragon asked, "Can you break it?"

Lin Chen didn't answer, but simply opened the system and began to operate.

First task: Investigate.

He hacked into the ice coffin's underlying code and found that its operating logic was very simple—using causality law to lock the state of 'Morgana being frozen'. As long as the causality law remained, the ice coffin would never open.

But the causality law itself could be interfered with.

He no longer had any interferers in his possession. But he had something else.

Second task: Purchase.

He opened the in-game marketplace and searched for the keyword 'causality law interferer'.

The results showed: 0 items.

He then searched for 'causality law bypass', 'causality law exemption', 'causality law insurance'...

Nothing at all.

"Can't find it," Arrogant Dragon said anxiously. "What do we do then?"

Lin Chen was silent for three seconds.

Then he smiled.

That smile made a chill run down Arrogant Dragon's spine—the last time he saw that smile was when Lin Chen had driven The Silencer's shorting account into liquidation.

"There are no causality law interferers," Lin Chen said. "Then we'll just make the causality law itself... invalid."

He opened the system and sent an application to the True Game Committee:

「Request to modify game rules: Within the range of the Extreme Cold Arena, temporarily disable the causality law.」

Three seconds later, the reply came:

「Application rejected. Modifying rules requires a vote from all players and must pass with a two-thirds majority. Current support rate: 0%.」

Arrogant Dragon's heart sank halfway as he saw the reply.

But Lin Chen didn't give up.

He sent a second application:

「Request to modify rules: Within the Extreme Cold Arena, temporarily enable the 'capital exemption clause'—any player who can prove their strength through capital may be temporarily exempt from the effects of the causality law.」

This application utilized the core permissions of the Capital Law.

Three seconds later, the reply came:

「Application approved. The capital exemption clause will be in effect in the Extreme Cold Arena for 24 hours. Exemption condition: Players must hold assets valued at over 1 million game coins within the arena.」

Arrogant Dragon was stunned. "1 million? Where would we get..."

Before he could finish, Lin Chen opened his asset panel.

It displayed:

【Player: Lord of Capital】

【Current Total Asset Value: 2.378 million game coins】

【Sources: Novice Village earnings (1.032m) + Causality Law Controller's inheritance share (670k) + Edge World loan (380k) + Interest income (296k)】

Arrogant Dragon's eyes widened. "You... where did you get all this money?"

"Earnings from the Novice Village monopoly," Lin Chen said. "Plus the system's automatic share from killing the Causality Law Controller just now. And..."

He paused and smiled. "When I took out the loan, I bought myself 'Interest Insurance'. The faster the interest rises, the more I earn."

Arrogant Dragon fell silent.

He realized he would never be able to understand this man's maneuvers.

Lin Chen walked to the ice coffin and pressed his hand against the runes.

The moment the capital exemption clause took effect, his palm emitted a golden light.

The runes began to tremble, and the red light gradually faded away.

The first crack appeared on the surface of the ice coffin.

Cracks grew more and more numerous, becoming denser.

"Bang!"

The ice coffin shattered.

Morgana tumbled out from within and was caught by Arrogant Dragon.

She was still covered in a thin layer of ice, her face as pale as snow, but her eyes were open.

She looked at Lin Chen, her lips moving slightly. "You... came."

"Nonsense," Lin Chen said. "You haven't paid back what you owe me yet, so how could I let you die?"

Morgana smiled.

In that smile, there was frost, but there was also warmth.

Just then, a figure descended from the sky.

It was Flame Demon.

His entire body was wreathed in flames as he stared at Lin Chen, his eyes full of rage. "It's you?! You broke my ice coffin?!"

Lin Chen looked at him and said leisurely, "It was me. Is there a problem?"

"Do you have any idea how much that ice coffin cost?!" Flame Demon roared. "The Causality Law Controller only gave it to me because he owed me a favor! You just broke it like that?!"

Lin Chen smiled.

He opened his asset panel and projected it into the air.

"How much did it cost? Let's hear it."

Flame Demon hesitated and said, "...Three hundred thousand."

Lin Chen pointed to his own assets. "I have over two million here. How about I compensate you?"

Flame Demon was dumbfounded.

Lin Chen continued, "Three hundred thousand to buy your anger—is that enough?"

Flame Demon remained silent.

"If it's not enough, I can increase the price," Lin Chen said slowly. "Five hundred thousand to buy you never bothering Morgana again. One million to buy you joining my team. Two million to buy you calling me Boss."

Flame Demon's face turned beet red.

He was a master of the Fire Law and ranked 8th among the powerhouses—how could he be bought with money?!

Three seconds later.

"Boss."

Arrogant Dragon almost burst out laughing beside them.

Leaning against Arrogant Dragon, Morgana weakly rolled her eyes.

Lin Chen patted Flame Demon's shoulder. "Good employee. Now, take us to find Alpha."

Flame Demon was stunned. "Alpha? He's in the Data Maze, ranked 12th. The rules there are..."

He paused, his expression turning strange.

"The Data Maze prohibits the use of any capital means. Your money is useless there."