Monster Paradise

When Lin Huang returned to the God Territory within him and saw Yang Ling again, he could obviously tell that Yang Ling’s mental state had undergone significant improvement.

It was not clear if this was because Spy’s death had eliminated the pressure or if it was because Yang Ling had now reunited with Hong Zhuang.

Lin Huang did not enquire further into this. He merely smiled and commented, “You look much better now.”

Yang Ling had a cheeky grin on his face. “Exercising is beneficial for your mind. I’ve been exercising more.”

“Err… I can tell,” Lin Huang was rather speechless.

As expected, this fellow had once more resumed his lecherous nature…

Sensing Hong Zhuang glancing in his direction from not too far off, Yang Ling hurriedly contained his grin. He took out all six storage rings and passed them to Lin Huang.

“They’ve been unlocked. There’s lots of good stuff inside.”

“Is there anything that you’d like?” Lin Huang asked with a smile after taking the rings.

“No.” Yang Ling shook his head, “But there are a few things that I’d like to talk to you about.”

“Go ahead.” Lin Huang nodded at once.

“Haven’t you put together an organization in the great world? I think you can start an internal trading platform so the members can enjoy some preferential treatment.”

“I can do that. Actually, we also did that in the gravel world previously, and it was quite a success,” Lin Huang agreed to this suggestion immediately. “If you’re willing, you can lead this project. If you need help from other people at any point, just let Sword1 know upfront.

“On my side, I’ll take some time to sort things out and put in the resources I don’t need.”

For Lin Huang in his current state, any treasures below Dao Weapon grade were completely useless to him. Moreover, within the loot he had obtained previously, there were many god sequence relics and sequence items which he had disposed of directly at the black market. It would actually be better to let his own people benefit instead.

“Also, I checked the previous communication logs in these rings. Some of this information ought to be useful to you,” Yang Ling continued.

Lin Huang nodded and did not interrupt, implying that Yang Ling should carry on.

“Firstly, Black Mountain, Spy, and that lady called Babble have powerful connections in the Raiders. Black Mountain has the backing of an ultimate-rank Lord in the universe. This Raider’s codename is Lonely Peak. This Lonely Peak is reportedly only half a step away from the level above Lord, and his abilities are fairly terrifying.”

“Is he close to Black Mountain?” Lin Huang asked this because some superiors did not even know the names of their subordinates.

“Based on the information records that I managed to find, these two have an extremely complicated relationship. Both of them became brothers after transmigration. Black Mountain was the elder brother, around five years older than Lonely Peak. It seems Black Mountain transmigrated here earlier than Lonely Peak did. However, Lonely Peak’s Goldfinger is more powerful, and he’s also more talented. After transmigration, his ability soon surpassed that of Black Mountain.

“When Lonely Peak’s brilliant talents came into prominence, he soon received an invitation from the Raiders to join their organization. It was Lonely Peak who recommended Black Mountain for membership later on.”

“In other words, the relationship between these two is practically no different from that of actual biological brothers.” Lin Huang frowned when he heard this. “If that’s the case, then as soon as the news of Black Mountain’s death gets out, Lonely Peak will very likely come to the great world to hunt me down…”

“The situation won’t become as dire as you think.” Yang Ling shook his head.

“I only found out that there are countless great worlds in the universe after reading Black Mountain and the others’ communication logs. These great worlds are divided into regions and are managed by organizations in the universe. The great world we’re currently in falls under Royal’s jurisdiction.

“Since the highest level of local combat strength in this great world is only lower-rank lord-level, to avoid upsetting equilibrium, other organizations are only allowed to send middle-rank Lords as guardians if they want to settle here. Not only that, guardians can’t be middle-rank Lords who are too powerful.

“If something goes wrong with the branch organization that’s settled here, their headquarters will need to apply to Royal for authority to investigate. Not only that, they will have to conduct the investigation under Royal’s surveillance.

“If something happens to a lower-rank Lord, the highest possible combat strength allowed for the investigator is middle-rank lord-level only. If something happens to a middle-rank Lord, then the highest possible combat strength allowed for the investigator is upper-rank lord-level only.

“This is expressly stipulated in the universe’s oath of alliance. This rule alone puts paid to the possibility of Lonely Peak coming here in person.”

When Lin Huang heard this, he was finally able to be a bit more at ease.

He was very much aware of his current abilities. If he worked harder, he should be able to go head-to-head in a direct confrontation with an upper-rank Lord. However, if he wanted to fight on equal footing with an ultimate-rank Lord, he would not be able to do this—at least not in the immediate future.

“However, the Raiders won’t send only one upper-rank Lord to investigate this time,” Yang Ling elaborated again, “Now let’s talk about Spy and Babble’s backgrounds.”

“Babble’s background is still much simpler. She has a lover in the universe, and this lover’s codename in the Raiders is Rose.”

“A female?” Lin Huang raised his brows.

“That’s right, she’s an absolute beauty. However, she’s also an upper-rank Lord with overwhelming abilities. She’s successfully consolidated a level-1000 Dao seal already and is only one step away from achieving ultimate-rank lord-level.

“Rose has many lovers both male and female; she has at least a thousand lovers, including flings. However, she doted on Babble, who was definitely on her top five list of lovers. Reportedly, this is because Babble had the divine ability to enter one’s dreams. Nobody can replace that.”

“So she might come to the great world to avenge Babble?” Lin Huang asked.

“It’s possible, but the chances of her arriving here in her Primordial form aren’t high. After all, her ability is too close to that of an ultimate-rank Lord. The chances of obtaining an investigator’s ID and passing Royal’s assessment are extremely low.

“I think there’s a higher chance of her sending a lover here to investigate the matter for her. However, I’ve no idea which one she’d send.”

“How about Spy’s background?” Lin Huang asked immediately.

“Spy’s background is much more complicated…” Yang Ling paused and only continued after organizing his thoughts.

“First of all, he’s a member of the Electronic Tribe, a mechanical species. This tribe possesses powerhouses above lord-level. In the universe, they’ve conquered practically the entire information industry, occupying an almost seventy percent share of the market.

“Naturally, Spy isn’t anyone important in the Electronic Tribe. However, he’s still a middle-rank Lord who has now died. The chances of the Electronic Tribe coming to investigate are quite high.

“However, we have no way of ascertaining to what extent the Electronic Tribe will pursue this matter.

“Compared with his identity as a member of the Electronic Tribe, though, what’s even more problematic is that Spy was Lonely Peak’s treasury designer and gatekeeper. He has the key to the treasury.”

“So he’s no less important to Lonely Peak than Black Mountain is?” Lin Huang was even more puzzled when he heard this. “Then why did Lonely Peak send two such essential people to our great world?”

“Because Lonely Peak was preparing to achieve a breakthrough in secret. On the surface, he wanted the two of them to believe that they were going to the great world to plunder loot. In reality, he was worried that if the breakthrough failed, he would die and bring disaster down upon Black Mountain. He also probably did not want the collections that he had spent years amassing to wind up in someone else’s possession,” Yang Ling put forward his conjecture.

“So that’s why this time it wasn’t just me—you were Lonely Peak’s target too!” Lin Huang finally realized why Yang Ling was discussing the matter with him so seriously.

Yang Ling nodded, unsure whether to laugh or cry, “I have the key to his treasury now…”