Chapter 69

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Chapter 69: The Queen’s Inheritance (VIII)

Qi Leren didn’t wake up early, but he was tired and yawned absently at breakfast, so Ning Zhou asked him with concern if he needed to sleep for a while longer.

“No, it’s nothing, just a little sleepy getting up.” Qi Leren yawned and drank a big mouthful of thick and bitter black coffee, which Celia had given him. Although he didn’t like the taste at all, it was really helpful to refresh himself.

The displayed number had dropped from 912 before going to bed to 710, which was a bad hint. Many people must have died last night, but they didn’t even know where those people are.

After eating breakfast, the two people started again. Qi Leren silently watched Ning Zhou remove the barrier. There were a lot of words he wanted to ask, but in the end didn’t ask anything. He had no love experience. On the one hand, he felt that he had something to talk about, but on the other hand, he was worried that his own inquisition would exacerbate Ning Zhou’s pain. This tangled bewilderment finally turned into his cautious silence.

When he walked out of the enchantment, Qi Leren was surprised to find that the fog from yesterday had dispersed, and the appearance of the whole underground city was clearly displayed in front of his eyes—uniform streets, ground cleaned of anything unusual, and a “blue sky” above his head that seemed as if they weren’t underground.

After the fog had dispersed, the light of the flame to the west could really be seen, which was the royal palace of the Dragon Ant Queen.

Qi Leren looked at Ning Zhou, who looked at the sky thoughtfully, and couldn’t help but smile and ask, “Is this what you secretly did last night?”

Ning Zhou’s ears were red, but he nodded in confession.

“Dispelled the fog and dispelled the demons here. You did a good thing. Why should you be ashamed?” Qi Leren asked.

Ning Zhou didn’t answer, but Qi Leren understood his words.

Because he used the evil force.

This kind of strength, which was contrary to the education he had received since childhood and which constantly influenced him, lured him towards the dangerous road. He resisted, but he couldn’t resist. He would eventually fall into that abyss, just like his father.

Qi Leren boldly stepped forward, took his arm, and walked with him in the direction of the the Dragon Ant Queen’s palace.

“Ning Zhou.”

“Hmm.”

“I am very proud of you, though.”

“?”

“Because you’re always doing good things and helping people in need, just like when we met for the first time… You also helped me. At that time, I thought, how can there be such a beautiful and kind-hearted little sister?”

Ning Zhou didn’t just blush.

However, Qi Leren was excited, and suddenly found the pleasure of teasing the “goddess” from the Witchcraft Sacrifice task.

“So I suddenly fell in love with you at first sight!”

“!”

Qi Leren was really happy. He cocked his head, looked at Ning Zhou’s red face, and smiled and asked, “At that time, you were still using the skill card called ‘Silent Meditation’, right? Are you not talking to me because you still have it equipped?”

Ning Zhou shook his head.

“Why not use it, what a pity,” Qi Leren said.

“But I want to talk to you.” Ning Zhou answered.

Qi Leren was hit at once. He stopped, so did Ning Zhou. They looked at each other and got red in the face.

“Well… I… I also want to talk to you… I am very happy.”

“Hmm!”

Both of them laughed, and Qi Leren felt incredibly stupid, but Ning Zhou was so cute, that he wondered if he looked the same in Ning Zhou’s eyes.

Along the street without fog or evil, they talked all the way as they walked west.

“Look, that’s the royal palace of the Dragon Ant Queen, isn’t it?” Qi Leren, who had climbed onto a roof, poked Ning Zhou with his elbow.

“It should be.”

in the direction he had pointed, a building like the Colosseum in ancient Rome stood between the uninhabited buildings, waiting for the two people to set foot inside.

The eagle hovering in the air also clearly sang out a cry, as if also delighted to find the destination.

The goal was just around the corner. The two people sped up the pace, and arrived at the palace an hour later.

Surprisingly, the interior of this ancient Roman Colosseum was hollowed out. Spiral stairs like a giant conch shell guided people to go down, and there were no guards around. These steps led below ground, and each step was more than ten meters wide. Looking down at the dark hole below, the cold underground wind blew from bottom to top, which made people suspect that this huge spiral staircase would undoubtedly lead to hell.

And not far from this giant staircase, there was a deep underground canyon where it seemed to have engulfed the sun. It sent out a strong light from underground, which made people afraid to go to the rift and look down, because just standing on the surface and looking at the light coming out already made it feel like their eyes were burning.

The light of the flame they had seen in the distance came from this underground canyon.

The two people walked down. After completely losing the light source above their heads, Qi Leren had to turn on the lantern. Even with the lightsource, his eyesight wasn’t good enough to see the path clearly in the pure black environment.

After going down for a long time, finally there was a sound ahead, and then there was light. There was a group of huge ants climbing the underground steps, emerging from gnawed holes in the wall, carrying stones and dirt, and drilling more holes in the wall.

“What are they doing?” Qi Leren wondered.

“Building,” Ning Zhou said.

“Building? You mean building this tomb?”

“Hmm.”

“They let the ants build it?” Qi Leren felt a little weird.

“The ants are responsible for excavation and human beings are responsible for decoration.”

Qi Leren thought about it carefully, and the distribution was reasonable. When this group of giant ants did manual work, the workload of human beings would be reduced.

“I heard that this place was built by humans from the tribes in the Sea of Tranquility Desert?” Qi Leren suddenly remembered the Valentine tribe he had passed by on his way to the Underground Ant City. The warm and kind ethnic group mentioned in Ning Zhou’s letter had been destroyed by evil.

Thinking of the bloody scene, Qi Leren couldn’t help but sigh heavily, and didn’t have the heart to tell Ning Zhou the unfortunate news.

Saying goodbye to this group of silent ant laborers, they continued to walk down the steps. This time, it didn’t take long to reach the ground. At the bottom of this spiral staircase was a huge hall with eight corridors leading in different directions, and each corridor was more than ten meters high, as if it were a giant kingdom. The ants walked quietly through the hall, but they couldn’t show them the way.

Qi Leren hesitated for a while, only to see Ning Zhou raise his head, look at the brightly lit corridor, and say, “Someone is coming.”

Soon, a Virgin wearing a simple priestess’s uniform came to them. Although she was blindfolded by a black cloth, she seemed to be able to see the surrounding environment. She came to the two without hindrance. She bowed lightly and said in a soft but cold voice: “I am a Virgin responsible for guarding the Holy Flame. I came to meet you. Did you come to attend the Queen’s inheritance ceremony?”

Qi Leren took out the Prophet’s edict, and the Virgin touched it and gave it back to the two men: “The ceremony has been suspended, and it is not convenient for the Queen to meet foreign guests now. Please come with me to the foreigner hotel for a short rest.”

What the Holy Flame Virgin said was reasonable, but Qi Leren shook his head. He had come to do the task. The task requirements clearly stated that he should look for the Dragon Ant Queen. If the Queen herself was not seen, he was afraid that the next step couldn’t be started.

“We have something important and must meet the Queen,” Qi Leren said.

The Flame Virgin politely refused, “I’m very sorry, but it’s inconvenient for the Queen to meet foreign guests.”

Qi Leren felt the resolute attitude of the other party. He beat about the bush and said, “Is the Illusionist appointed by the Prophet here now?”

“Mr Illusionist? Yes, he is in the hotel, and you can see him later.”

Hearing the news that the Illusionist was fine, Qi Leren was relieved, but felt something was wrong: “Since we came instead of him, can he leave first?”

“I’m afraid not. Neither you nor I can leave here before the ceremony is over,” Holy Flame Virgin said quietly.

What the hell was going on here?

Qi Leren was puzzled by this strange situation. The Dragon Ant Queen was absolutely where the problem lied, causing her to lose control of the situation here and let evil run rampant, and the inheritance ceremony was also suspended. Right now he and Ning Zhou’s task was to complete this ceremony, and let the Underground Ant City transfer this field to the next Dragon Ant Queen.

However, the situation had reached a stalemate. After Qi Leren once again asked to meet the Dragon Ant Queen and was still politely refused, he was already thinking about using force. The Flame Virgin seemed to see his plan, and stepped back half a step. A large group of giant soldier ants with a height of more than two meters poured out from the depths of the corridor, and stopped immovably in the corridor leading to the depths of the hall.

The shells of this group of soldiers had a metal-like quality, and their movements were uniform, which gave the impression that this was a group of robots covered with metal armour.

“I am very sorry, the inheritance ceremony is very important, and there will be no more mistakes.” The Flame Virgin took a step back with a smile and opened her arms to guide them. “Please come with me to the foreigner hotel.”

No more? Sure enough, the ceremony had gone wrong. Just like the task background said, the heir of the Dragon Ant Queen had been assassinated and killed.

What to do? Did they really want to follow her to the hotel, and then quietly go to see the Dragon Ant Queen while no one was watching?

Just as Qi Leren puzzled over it, Ning Zhou, who had been silent, suddenly spoke: “Let her come to see me.”

The Flame Virgin looked up in surprise, wondering why he made such an unreasonable demand.

But the next second, she understood—

The familiar destructive force poured out from this young man, and the body of the Flame Virgin convulsed as if electrocuted. The black cloth covered her eyes so that she couldn’t see the face of the man in front of her, but the force would not deceive her. This kind of power was even greater and more undying than the flame burning in the ground!

This group of Holy Virgins of the Dragon Ant Queen worshipped the Dragon Ant Queen’s force of law. However, as the Dragon Ant Queen had thrown herself into the camp of the Lord of Destruction, they also worshipped the force of destruction. These two contradictory forces had been silent since the battle more than 20 years ago because of the decline of one party. No one could think of it. Today, more than 20 years later, this terrible force once again appeared in the Underground Ant City.

There was a long piercing scream from the depths of the royal palace, which was like a woman crying during childbirth. The pained voice was like someone scraping their eardrum with her nails. An old and panicked voice shouted: “Your Majesty—!”

With the sound of the Dragon Ant Queen’s high screaming, the whole palace was shaking slightly. The Flame Virgin lifted her skirt and led the way for the two: “The Queen can’t walk, please come with me.”

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