Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 294: Chapter 294: Bottled Prisoner (Eighteen)_1

“`

So, there’s a good chance that he’s now in a “Sinner” state?

Fu Qian looked at Lin En, who was drenched all over.

He must have been hiding in the water just now and then took advantage of this poor brother passing by to land a successful hit.

It was just like the ambush on Ailina by the Hunting Squad earlier.

In open spaces, people tend to let their guard down subconsciously.

...It seems that, apart from the pain caused by the Sinflame diminishing, there’s nothing special about him; his mind is still very much intact.

It’s unclear exactly how the activation by the Goddess of Sin and Punishment manifests, but if Sinners refers to everyone who has communicated with the Goddess, then he is undoubtedly within the target range.

But there’s no rush; with three days of competition, there’s plenty of time.

“I’m not surprised by your answer,”

With this in mind, Fu Qian walked slowly forward under Lin En’s watchful eyes, until he reached the nearest water’s edge.

“You seem to have adapted quickly!”

He said again in that low and hoarse voice.

“What do you mean?”

“Firstly, you’ve organized such a group of people with nothing but a vague hope.”

“It’s conceivable that even if the plan goes smoothly, most of them are just cannon fodder.”

“So I’ve never had any hopes that you would be honest.”

“I’m just a victim, simply trying to survive.”

Staring at the approaching Fu Qian, Lin En spoke quickly.

Old hands all know that lunatics are the most dangerous characters because their behavior is completely unpredictable.

Especially this one in front of him, sometimes mad, sometimes cold-blooded.

And crucially, judging by his earlier performance, his strength is quite exaggerated, making him a very troublesome character.

“William, that self-righteous madman, judges others on a whim based on his likes and dislikes.”

“The law of the survival of the fittest is the rule of the Broken Lands, by his standards, each and every one is a sinner.”

“Don’t worry, I have no interest in judgment; I just find this game interesting,”

Fu Qian shook his head and pointed at the corpse in the water.

“I have a question, how many people have you ‘liberated’ like this before?”

…

It was obviously odd to Lin En why Fu Qian would care about this, and after a moment of contemplation, he replied.

“More than a dozen people.”

This group’s efficiency isn’t too bad.

“And have all the resulting Sinflames been purified?”

“Yes,”

Lin En nodded.

“That’s the core rule of cooperation; everyone must abide by it.”

“So how many times have you purified before the statue?”

“Once; that time, I killed two people plus a beast.”

“And it was after that, you discovered that Sinflame no longer causes you pain?”

…

“Actually, I only realized it just now.”

Lin En hesitated before finally admitting.

“I was wondering why it was like this, I’m sure the enhancement effect is still there, but I hardly feel any pain now, although now that I think about it—”

He laughed coldly.

“Someone had purified before and then regained Sinflame; everyone just kept silent about it.”

“Understood, it’s a thankless job if it’s like that; no one would fight for it.”

As a fragile alliance that might fall apart at any moment, keeping something up your sleeve is a basic practice, and having Sinflame isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

If others knew there were no negative effects at all, many would probably fight over this scapegoat role.

“So even after witnessing so many death games, you still didn’t know about this until now?”

“No one knew before entering.”

Lin En’s expression was unusually certain.

“When Sinflame accumulates to a certain extent, the pain is unbearable, and it’s not something willpower can shift.”

“`

“If everyone knew this information, it would have been nearly impossible for me to organize these people at the start.”

“That’s true.”

Fu Qian nodded.

What Lin En said made sense, but upon further thought, the situation still seemed a bit abnormal.

In this death competition, not many people survived, and most indeed had no chance to spread this message.

And according to what Ailina had said before, everyone feared the Butcher, who supposedly had never undergone the Complete Transformation, so even if he survived, he might not know about this.

But aside from the Butcher, the other four individuals, being “Cleansed”, logically should not be so tight-lipped.

The information seemed to have been deliberately concealed.

Could it be that they experienced various accidents because of this?

“Speaking of which, I too am quite curious about something.”

Seeing Fu Qian thoughtful, Lin En suddenly asked.

“Oh? Go ahead.”

Fu Qian’s demeanor was very relaxed.

“I haven’t had the chance to ask, but you mentioned earlier that the Sin Seekers didn’t go after the Butcher, so who did they actually pursue?”

Lin En took a breath.

“Up to this point, I still can’t figure out where exactly the problem lies.”

Indeed, it was this question.

“It’s simple.”

Fu Qian glanced behind him.

“In this contest, there was a Mad Swordsman named Yun.”

“And unfortunately, he killed a few too many people at the start, accidentally surpassing the Butcher in sinfulness.”

…

So that was it!

After hearing Fu Qian’s response, Lin En fell silent.

From the beginning, including himself, most people’s focus had clearly been on the Butcher, without expecting that someone could be even more insane than the Butcher.

Wait a second… if that was the case, didn’t that mean that the remaining number of people was far fewer than expected?

Suddenly realizing something, Lin En’s brow furrowed deeply.

“I understand now, our previous strategy almost had no effect on the Butcher.”

“Where exactly did you encounter that Yun?”

“There! In that direction.”

Fu Qian turned again, nodding toward the direction they had come from.

However, the moment he turned his head, an imperceptible disturbance rippled from the ground beneath.

A sharp, invisible net split the sand, shooting upward, aiming for his legs.

This sudden attack was hidden and malicious, yet Fu Qian reacted as if he had eyes on his feet.

The next moment, his body unbelievably leaped lightly, deftly avoiding the strike.

“Scram!”

In midair, Fu Qian spat out a word toward an empty space in front of him.

Another invisible net was directly shattered.

“Well played.”

Having completed this series of actions, Fu Qian landed gracefully, offering Lin En a word of praise.

First, he’d pretended he was reluctant to be an enemy, quietly setting up traps.

Then, using the question to distract his attention, he launched a sudden attack.

Even anticipating the possibility of him dodging the first wave, a follow-up attack was arranged, truly linking every move.

“Why didn’t you make a move?”

Having his well-planned attack fail to succeed, Lin En was shocked, and realizing that the man in front of him was stronger than imagined, his expression was quite unsightly.

But by now, he watched Fu Qian warily.

“No need.”

Fu Qian shook his head and looked into the distance.

“Someone else is more interested in you.”