347: Chapter 347 They ran away without killing us all?

Chen You stared into Zhong Bukui's eyes.

That was definitely not the kind of gaze that could be possessed by data made of 0s and 1s.

Deep, weathered, and exuding a calm that seemed to have seen through the ages.

He was all too familiar with this feeling; back on the walls of White Jade Capital, that Erlang Shen, the True Lord Manifested as Saint - Yang Jian, who had forcibly twisted the laws to descend, had possessed the same gaze.

Chen You's spiritual power surged, sending the giant boulders on his body flying in all directions.

He stood up, brushed the dust off his body, and tentatively spoke: "True Lord, what you said..."

Zhong Bukui raised his hand and pressed it down casually.

An invisible force instantly sealed the space around Chen You.

He opened his mouth, but couldn't make a sound.

Zhong Bukui didn't offer further explanation; his gaze passed over Chen You and landed on the Big Yellow Duck hiding behind a rock.

"Quack?" The Big Yellow Duck's golden feathers instantly stood on end, its two short little legs paddling frantically as it tried to burrow into the snow.

Zhong Bukui extended his right hand and made a grab in the void from a distance of over ten meters.

The Big Yellow Duck let out a shrill, miserable cry, its body flying backward uncontrollably, landing precisely in Zhong Bukui's large palm.

Zhong Bukui expertly pinched the duck's neck, as if holding a live bird just bought from a wet market.

Chen You's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

What was the meaning of this?

Carrying the duck, Zhong Bukui turned and took a step.

The void in front of him rippled like water, and the dark golden pillar of light that pierced the sky began to shrink, transforming into a shimmering, iridescent portal.

He stepped into the portal, his figure gradually fading.

A low mutter drifted on the wind: "This fat duck should make a nice side dish for wine."

The portal shattered with a boom, and the pillar of light dissipated completely.

The spatial lock was lifted.

Only then did Chen You feel his body relax, staring at the empty snowy plains.

"Nice side dish for wine"?!

Before he could recover, an object emitting a dim luster suddenly drifted down from mid-air.

Chen You instinctively reached out and caught it.

It was a water droplet the size of a pigeon's egg.

Its entire body was a deep dark gold, with stars seemingly being born and dying inside, and it had an indescribable weight when held in the hand.

[Ding! The Yellow Springs Yin-Gathering Formation has finished operating, and the quest "Foundation of the Great Dao" has been completed.]

[Detected that the Huangquan Essence condensation progress has reached 10000%; the reward has mutated.]

Chen You immediately pulled up his item panel.

[Huangquan Essence (Extreme State)]

[Quality: ???]

[Description: A wondrous treasure of heaven and earth formed by condensing ten thousand times the pure Yang energy with the extreme Yin power of the Nine Netherworlds.]

[Effect: If you are going to use this, it is recommended not to do so within the Source Realm.]

Chen You was stunned.

Not use it within the Source Realm?

What did this mean?

"Cough, cough... Ouch, my old back..."

A series of groans came from the snowy ground nearby.

With Zhong Bukui's disappearance, those players who had been slapped into the ground, hung on the city walls, or frozen in ice holes finally woke up from their forced control state.

A Berserker with his head stuck in the snow struggled to pull himself out, shaking off the ice shards on his head.

Super Meng, sporting cheeks swollen to three times their size, limped over to Chen You.

"God You!" Super Meng grinned, revealing his missing front teeth.

"Was my aggro management solid? That Evil God was so provoked by my taunts that he didn't dare look at anyone else, just kept beating me alone!"

Chen You looked at Super Meng's horrific face, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

"God You, my analysis was spot on, right!" The warlock wearing a pointed hat leaned in, his face full of smugness.

"This BOSS is just a gimmick monster! He doesn't actually deal damage when he hits people, he just relies on disgusting crowd control skills."

"As long as we can hold out, he'll exhaust himself to death!"

"Exactly!" A Shield Warrior raised his dented shield and loudly agreed.

"Brothers taking turns tanking, this tactic is simply perfect! Look, he didn't even use his ultimate, he just ran out of mana and ran away!"

"Some Evil God, he's nothing special. Hahaha!"

Tens of thousands of players climbed up from the ground, helping each other, their faces beaming with the pride of victors.

As for the surviving players, they erupted into deafening cheers.

They hugged each other, and some even shed tears of excitement.

Chen You looked at this group of battered, bruised, yet smug players, his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

If this group of people knew they were just heartless Yang energy purifiers, and that because of their overly enthusiastic "suicide runs," Zhong Bukui got to clock out early, would they break down on the spot?

"Everyone has worked hard." Chen You put on a solemn expression and patted Super Meng on the shoulder.

"It is precisely because of your fearlessness and sacrifice that the Evil God was successfully driven back."

"This time, it is I, Chen You, who owes you all."

He casually transferred fifty thousand gold coins to Super Meng.

"Distribute these fifty thousand gold coins among everyone as a token of appreciation for your hard work."

Averaged out, it was at most 1 gold coin per person.

But the moment the players heard "fifty thousand gold coins," they went even crazier.

"God You is generous!"

"Call me next time there's a quest where I get to take a beating!"

Chen You really couldn't bear to watch this large-scale scene of self-congratulation any longer.

He gave a few perfunctory remarks and chose to enter the guild territory directly.

...

In the White Jade Capital guild hall, beside the obsidian long table, the atmosphere was exceptionally heavy.

Chen You sat in the main seat and placed the dark golden [Huangquan Essence (Extreme State)] on the table.

"That is the situation."

Director Li Guoan, sitting opposite Chen You, furrowed his brows tightly.

Beside him, data analysis team leader Sun Feng attempted to scan the energy structure of this Huangquan Essence.

tactical team leader Zhang Yunhai stood to the side, arms crossed in thought.

"10000% progress." Sun Feng, having failed to scan it, rubbed his temples. "Comrade Chen You, are you sure those fifty thousand players were just singing the "song of the heroes" and didn't sacrifice their souls?"

"I am very sure." Chen You spread his hands.

"Not only did they sing, but they sang with burning passion, and when they were being beaten, they even lined up and shouted that it felt great."

"They didn't show any discomfort afterward either."

Sun Feng stared and shook his head: "From the perspective of conservation of energy, this is simply unreasonable."

"And that 'Yang energy'... what kind of material form is that, exactly?"

Zhang Yunhai tapped his fingers on the table and interrupted coldly: "Regardless of how this Yang energy is explained in physics, the tactical intent is clear."

"That NPC who looks like Zhong Kui definitely used some special method to attach an extremely vast amount of extra energy to this thing."

"Or rather, he used the game quest as a cover to stuff his own private goods into it."

Sun Feng looked at Zhang Yunhai: "Why would he do that? What authority does an NPC have to modify quest rewards set by the system? This is a 10000% overflow."

Chen You's gaze fell on the phantom stars being born and dying inside the dark golden droplet.

"Perhaps, it wasn't an addition."

Zhang Yunhai: "What do you mean?"

"Before that NPC left, he said one sentence to me—'I can only help you up to this point'." Chen You looked at Director Li Guoan.

"Director Li, do you remember the Erlang Shen, the True Lord Manifested as Saint - Yang Jian, who descended during the last castle defense battle?"

Director Li Guoan nodded.

"Their eyes were the same." Chen You put forward his conjecture.

"If he said he was 'helping' me, then it might mean one thing..."

Chen You paused, his voice dropping: "The foundation-building item that the Source Realm originally prepared for me might not be enough at all."