Chapter 548: Desolate

Proofreader: Arya

Gu Qing Shan gave Laura a glance, gesturing with his eyes for her to wait a bit.

He then told the crowd of restless people: “Everyone, please calm down first”

“I’m here to solve this problem on a commission from the Bramble Bird royal family”

“First of all, do you know why the Order that you all carry wanted to kill me?”

“We don’t” many people replied.

“It’s because I’ve already used this [Worlds Apocalypse Online: Origin] before, I know everything about it”

“It was because of my experience that the big wigs outside decided to send me in after a lot of consideration, giving me full responsibility to explain exactly what’s going on”

Gu Qing Shan told them.

Everyone went quiet.

He already used this fake [Origin] before?

They all couldn’t help but question this.

At first, everyone was suspicious of this guy from the Club who suddenly appeared with the Bramble Bird princess.

But everything he said up until now made perfect sense.

And now he claimed that he once used this fake Order.

“That’s right, anything that you don’t understand about this fraud, you can ask me”

Gu Qing Shan pointed to himself and continued: “You should know, the reason why it’s so intent on killing me is because I’ve managed to uninstall it”

He uninstalled it!

Everyone was stunned again.

Hearing this, they became even more confused.

“Do you really know everything there is to know about it?” God’s Might asked.

“That’s right, for example—- it’s currently promising you that as long as you kill me, not only will you receive ample rewards, you will also escape all pursuits by being transported straight to the Fallen Zones”

They all couldn’t help but check their own [Origin] UIs.

“And also, it had just hidden the total amount of EXP necessary to level up from your personal status, claiming that the status screen is currently being updated” Gu Qing Shan continued.

Everyone’s gaze was fixed on their UIs, staring at the lines of text that just showed up.

How is that possible!

He really did know about it!

They really can’t see the amount of EXP needed to level up anymore no matter how much they search.

Seeing their reactions, Gu Qing Shan silently sighed.

In truth, [Worlds Apocalypse Online], this [Demon King Order] was sentient.

In the past life, when [Worlds Apocalypse Online] had just launched, the status and data it provided were accessible to everyone.

It wasn’t until later that it slowly hid the status information away bit by bit.

It could learn, it could evolve, it could grow!

This was the true terror it posed to a civilization.

As time passed, everyone began to notice that as [Worlds Apocalypse Online] got to know humanity better, it knew how to improve itself to accommodate the humans.

And it also knew how to better abuse human nature to fool and lure its users.

Just like in this life, it knew to disguise itself as [Kindling] to fool Gu Qing Shan.

Gu Qing Shan continued: “It should be telling you right now that you don’t have to worry about the problem of EXP”

“If I remember correctly, it is saying that—–”

Gu Qing Shan inhaled deeply and recalled the events of his past.

At that time, the two statements that were deeply imprinted in everyone’s minds.

“When you level up to a certain degree, you will get to see the infinite worlds, where there are countless targets for you to kill”

“You will face an entirely new adventure, facing even more powerful enemies, gaining ever increasing EXP values, so you don’t need to worry about levelling up”

Everyone stopped breathing.

Word by word, everything Gu Qing Shan just said started to show up on the [Origin] UI.

Gu Qing Shan’s speech was fast, just enough that he would always say the content of the message just 1 second before it appears on their UIs.

As a result, the 800 demonized Combatants here saw that the UI was copying Gu Qing Shan’s words as he spoke.

Not a word more! Not a word less!

How would he be able to do that if he didn’t know everything there was to know about this thing?

And in truth, Gu Qing Shan wasn’t lying to them.

10 years of the Apocalypse.

He really did know [Origin] well.

The atmosphere inside the divine temple at the top of the ice mountain of the Old Gods was now as cold and chilling as it was meant to be.

The 800 demonized Combatants all fell eerily silent.

And then…

Clang clang clink, clang clang!

In a unified long sigh, everyone threw the weapons they had exchanged from the UI to the frozen ground.

That’s right, this must be the truth.

We were completely fooled.

If he was here to resolve this problem, then let’s cooperate to resolve it as fast as possible.

It’s probably true that he was sent here because he already used and knew how to uninstall this thing.

——after all, he even told us what [Origin] wanted to tell us even before it did.

Of course, with so many demonized people here, not all of them were fully convinced yet.

They still haven’t given up.

“Then— I have a question, about the System” a female Combatant stared at Gu Qing Shan as she spoke.

“Ask away” Gu Qing Shan replied.

“This thing, it has a minimap function, but why can’t I control its vision well?”

“That’s simple, you need to tell it what state you’re in”

“What state? What do you mean?”

“It still isn’t very smart yet, you need to tell it whether you want to scout or to conduct battle, that way it can automatically choose the display mode for you”

The female Combatant silently tried doing as he told her.

Not just her, many of the others also tried doing the same.

As for the wanted poster and the incessant warning messages, they’ve all decided to ignore them.

“You’re right, it really does work” the female Combatant nodded after she finished checking.

She felt regretful.

If only I really did become demonized and obtain unimaginable power, that couldn’t have been better.

The entire reason she came to the call of the Bramble Birds in the first place was because she desired power and wealth.

But now, it was all just a fraud.

Everything was fake!

Looking at the constant blinking notifications on the [Origin] UI, she felt irritated.

Fuck you!

She silently cursed it.

After that, a few more demonized Combatants raised their hands taking turns asking questions.

They tried asking Gu Qing Shan questions that they think to be sly or hidden.

The other demonized Combatants just stayed quiet.

But they don’t know that Gu Qing Shan already had 10 years of experience using [Worlds Apocalypse Online]!

Their questions were nothing but the most basic of basics, functions that Gu Qing Shan had long mastered and memorized.

Gu Qing Shan patiently answered each and every question.

After 7-8 minutes of questioning, he had already answered several dozen questions without a single mistake or hesitation.

At this point, no matter how suspicious the demonized Combatants were, they were forced to be convinced.

The 800 demonized Combatants all gave up on fighting.

“What should we do now?” God’s Might asked Gu Qing Shan.

Gu Qing Shan answered: “After the uninstallation, we will release a signal for the Light of Dawn Triste to take everyone back outside”

“But then—— while I was fooled by this thing, I’ve already killed a lot of people, how will this be dealt with?”

God’s Might asked again.

Following his question, every demonized Combatant looked straight at Gu Qing Shan.

Every single demonized person here had killed at least one person.

Because if not, they couldn’t have obtained the Soul Points to exchange for power.

Once they go outside, this will be the biggest problem.

Gu Qing Shan bitterly smiled: “The responsibility for this matter lies in the fact that the Bramble Bird royal family had mismanaged and caused such a huge blunder”

“Once we’re outside, the Bramble Bird royal family alone will shoulder the full responsibilities”

Saying that, Gu Qing Shan looked over to Laura.

Laura was still standing on his shoulder, slowly curtsied and spoke full of regret: “Representing the Bramble Bird royal family, I express my sincerest apologies. The reimbursement and responsibility for those who died will be taken care of by us”

Everyone looked at Laura and stayed silent until she declared this.

They all sighed in relief.

If the Bramble Bird princess has declared so, this must be the official stance.

It’s possible that this was the conclusion that all parties concerned arrived at through negotiations.

Otherwise, wouldn’t over a hundred million people have to bear the responsibilities for a mistake of the Bramble Birds?

Furthermore, since the Bramble Birds are so rich, even if the amount of people that needed compensation were several times over, it wouldn’t bother them at all.

God’s Might also relaxed his expression.

He exchanged glances with God’s Eye and God’s Trek, nodding to each other.

“If that’s the case, we have no problem with it” God’s Might answered.

The rest of the crowd quickly followed.

Since the three most powerful Combatants here—– these Demis had already agreed, the rest had no more extraneous words to say.

The biggest problem for them was already solved.

“Then, how do we uninstall this thing?” someone loudly asked.

“A good question, but it’s too troublesome for me to teach each one of you, since there’s over 800 people here”

Gu Qing Shan cleared his throat and explained to everyone there: “You can simply do as I say and wait here until the uninstallation process is over”

He sighed heavily: “My job still isn’t over, since I need to go to other places and help hundreds of millions of other people who were also fooled”

“Then tell us”

“On the bottom left side of the [Origin] UI, there is a red button, that is [Delete character]”

“When you try selecting it, a notice will pop up to warn you that if you delete your character, you will have to register with the System again”

“Ignore it and delete your character, then when it asks to register again, select [uninstall Order]”

Everyone nodded.

That sounds quite simple.

A few impatient people had already followed his instructions.

“How is it? Did someone try it yet?” Gu Qing Shan quickly asked.

A burly man raised his hand: “I’m done, my vision is completely clear now, no longer cluttered with those annoying flickering things”

When he raised his hand, many others also quickly followed suit.

Gu Qing Shan loudly declared: “Very well, take your time, I need to go now”

Laura also added at the end: “Once you leave, the Bramble Bird Kingdom will offer a generous compensation for everyone who was a victim of fraud to express our apologies”

Quite a few shouted in joy.

Gu Qing Shan nodded and brought Laura out of the divine temple.

This time, no one tried to stop him.

The demonized people who blocked his way before now stood on either side.

“Thank you”

“Thank you for coming here”

“After we get out, I hope I can go to the Club to visit”

Quite a few greeted him on his way out.

Gu Qing Shan also greeted them back.

He and Laura quickly went out of sight as they left the divine temple.

They really left.

Back in the divine temple, more and more people were removing [Origin] from themselves.

A few particularly apprehensive people were still hesitating, but as they saw more and more people being joyful for removing it, the constantly flickering red notifications caused them to be annoyed as well.

After a while, confirming that the others were fine, the last few demonized Combatants followed the instructions as well.

Finally, they all finished removing the [Origin] UI.

“Alright, let’s all wait here” God’s Might said.

The crowd nodded in agreement.

Outside the divine temple, the snowfall was becoming thicker.

Gu Qing Shan and Laura got on their horse.

“Summoners, are you in a hurry, or just a stroll?” the black horse asked.

“Run away at will towards the foot of the mountain” Gu Qing Shan sent his voice.

The black horse then galloped down the mountain at mild speed, braving the cold of the snowstorm.

While on the way, Laura couldn’t help herself asking: “Just now, what exactly—–”

“Shh!” Gu Qing Shan signaled her to be quiet for now.

About 7-8 minutes later.

As they reached the side of the mountain, desperate screams of pain came from the top of the mountain.

The screams were filled with agony and despair, as if they were suffering from some sort of unspeakable punishment.

The howls of countless suffering people range out, echoed all around the mountain, as if the top of the ice mountain has already become hell on earth.

The echoes of desperate cries became louder and louder, shaking the entire ice mountain of the Gods.

Gu Qing Shan lowered his head and just listened.

In the winds of the snowstorm, he showed a faint sorrowful smile.