Chapter 60: King’s Game (Conclusion) Part 2

As everyone racked their brains, Yun Xueqing suddenly spoke up. “Perhaps the way out is very simple… but we don’t dare to try it easily.”

San Zhi liked to play the riddler himself, but he couldn’t stand it when others spoke in vague, foggy terms. He impatiently raised an eyebrow. “Do you have any leads? If so, spit it out.”

Everyone urgently awaited his answer, but the more pressing the situation, the more leisurely Yun Xueqing became. In an unhurried tone, he said, “Zhongse is a very malicious person. He always guided us to do certain things, but if we actually did them, what awaited us might be destruction.”

In the first hell, the nobles’ banquet, he had been guided to find an unmarried husband. If he had really gone looking, he would have become a true miser and remained trapped in hell.

In the red-and-blue ball game, the imperfect rules quietly induced the “smart ones” to choose the red ball. If one single-mindedly sought self-preservation and aggressively only picked the red ball while ignoring the rest, they would end up mistakenly selecting the blue one and dying.

In the second hell, with the faction division between the Crown Prince and the Second Prince, they were induced to take sides and fight for their faction’s power. If one wholeheartedly strove for their “liege,” the brand on their hand would turn them into complete puppets, unable to escape.

In the Blue Castle, the surface rules were all fake. The true rules had to be sought out by themselves.

Yun Xueqing’s tone was exceptionally flat. “We’ve already realized that becoming the King isn’t the condition for escape… So what if we expand the scope further? What if constantly climbing the class ranks from the start was already a mistake?”

In this Class World, the invisible rules told them to keep climbing upward, to become one of those above, to gain the right to dominate and decide many things, to possess freedom.

But now, it seemed that this freedom wasn’t true freedom for themselves, but rather the freedom to squeeze the life out of others.

They could look down on people, command them, control them, even oppress them, but they couldn’t truly transcend themselves.

Even reaching the top and becoming the King was essentially the same.

Everyone vaguely understood his point, with no small amount of surprise. “So we… shouldn’t climb upward?”

But in this world, if they didn’t climb upward… did that mean going downward?

Going downward would turn them into the lowest livestock!

Wait… livestock…

San Zhi suddenly looked up at Yun Xueqing. The other’s expression remained perfectly calm, as if he hadn’t said anything particularly outrageous.

He couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, “Your imagination is wild… to come up with such an outrageous idea.”

After becoming slaves, if they didn’t work properly, the slave masters would whip them into livestock, turning them into mindless animals.

However… none of the participants among them had truly become livestock.

So they didn’t know if, once beaten into livestock, their human consciousness clung to the animal’s body… or if it had already left this world and returned to the original one!

Perhaps becoming livestock was the only way out of this world!

This idea was utterly preposterous! Absurd, heretical, against the grain!

But it had to be said… it actually made some sense!

San Zhi’s teeth ached. “Such an outrageous escape method— that pervert Zhongse really might have designed it that way.”

After all, requiring them to become livestock to escape was full of malicious amusement.

After complaining, San Zhi looked strangely at Yun Xueqing. “Such a wild idea would make sense coming from Fu Wuxuan… How did you come up with something so imaginative?”

In fact, it proved that Yun Xueqing wasn’t just wildly guessing without basis.

He picked up Hell Screen, which Jiang Yiyue had just finished reading and casually handed to him.

This was still a deluxe edition book, wrapped in an outer dust jacket.

He removed the dust jacket, revealing the bare deluxe cover.

The front cover was no different from the dust jacket’s, but on the back, there was an extra line of text.

It was written in blue ballpoint pen by hand, not very conspicuous on the black book back.

[Water flows to high places, people walk to low places.]

Just this one cryptic sentence, with no other clues.

This line indirectly confirmed Yun Xueqing’s guess.

Most of those present affirmed Yun Xueqing’s speculation, each harboring their own thoughts.

Fu Wuxuan’s face showed a hint of amusement. “This Zhongse’s personality is indeed malicious enough.”

He had laid the escape method bare before them.

But they, constrained by the false rules, didn’t dare to overstep or even approach it. He toyed with them using such a simple trick.

The condition for escape was right in front of them, yet they foolishly kept clearing levels, sacrificing their lives.

Zhongse under the goat mask must have been laughing heartily, mocking their stupidity as he played them in the palm of his hand.

Fu Wuxuan’s lips curved, his gaze gradually turning icy. “It’s really irritating.”

His voice was very soft, heard by almost no one except Yun Xueqing beside him.

Yun Xueqing noticed his mood and said faintly, “Once you get out of the Degeneration Abstinence Institute, you’ll have your chance.”

There would always be an opportunity to grow stronger and get revenge.

Fu Wuxuan glanced at him with interest. “Revenge? That doesn’t sound like something a Daoist would say.”

Yun Xueqing drawled, “It’s not revenge, just severing karma.”

Zhongse had planted malicious seeds, which would soon bear malicious fruit. They needed to find a chance to cut them off for true peace and freedom—what was commonly called getting revenge, just phrased more elegantly.

Fu Wuxuan smiled and took his words to heart, mentally listing the top ten tortures to inflict on Zhongse once his strength recovered.

As the two bantered, the others remained hesitant.

Jiang Yiyue said worriedly, “Are we really doing this?”

They had put in so much effort to rise from commoners to nobles, and now they had to demote themselves back to slaves.

All their previous efforts would go down the drain—it was truly lamentable.

This was a gamble involving their lives. If they lost, they’d be livestock at others’ mercy forever—far too risky.

Fu Wuxuan, who had been a silent listener, showed a bland smile, though his eyes were dark. “Class Game: No regrets on bets.”

Whether to gamble was a personal choice; no one had the right to regret.

In this world, it wasn’t just about reasoning—it required the courage to act.

Hearing this, Jiang Yiyue hesitated no longer. She gritted her teeth and said, “Then let’s do it! I’m sick of this world anyway!”

Perhaps after spending so long in this world full of classes and oppression everywhere, Jiang Yiyue’s courage had grown. She vented, “Director Zhongse is such a nutcase, building a feudal dynasty like this and dividing everything into classes! Is he going through a chuunibyou phase? Creating such a bizarre world— I don’t want to stay here one more second, let alone one more moment. Worst case, I die!”

In the past, she absolutely wouldn’t have dared to curse an S-rank Oracle, but now her mind was on the brink of collapse from this world.

After pouring out her heart, the once timid Jiang Yiyue was the first to walk out of the Blue Castle.

Everyone watched her retreating figure in silence for a long time.

San Zhi’s tone was subtle. “Becoming a noble requires racking your brains and scheming endlessly, but becoming a slave is easy.”

Just give away all your wealth and voluntarily sign a deed of servitude, and you’d become a slave.

San Zhi sighed. “At the critical moment, she’s got real guts.”

Perhaps that’s why she survived to the end.

Fu Mi beside him smiled. “Perhaps that’s what they mean by great wisdom appearing foolish.”

After saying this, he too walked out of the Blue Castle.

San Zhi watched his departing back, then glanced back at Yun Xueqing and Fu Wuxuan standing together. His mouth moved, but in the end, he turned his head away and said to them with his back turned, “Stop dawdling. There might be a time limit— you two hurry and go too.”

Feeling the Weird aura in his body growing more unstable, he waved at the two with his back turned and chased after Fu Mi’s figure.

The vast Blue Castle was left with only Yun Xueqing and Fu Wuxuan.

Yun Xueqing glanced at the silent Fu Wuxuan. “What did you discover?”

Along the way, he had come to somewhat understand Fu Wuxuan. Once this man was certain of something, he would be the first to act. If he didn’t, it meant he had a bigger plan.

Fu Wuxuan smiled, his pitch-black eyes gleaming with fine shards of light, like polished black obsidian—subtle, not overly extravagant. “I have an even bolder guess.”

Yun Xueqing said nothing, quietly listening for him to continue.

“Jiang Yiyue’s words before leaving suddenly made me think that Zhongse probably hates this Class World too.”

He had clearly built a Class World, yet he liked reading The Divine Comedy. Every layer of hell he constructed brimmed with rebellion against classes, just with extreme methods.

Fu Wuxuan said leisurely, “Someone so crazy might even be an idealist, wanting to create a utopian world.”

His tone was neutral, bland, seemingly emotionless, but Yun Xueqing inexplicably heard a hint of mockery.

Yun Xueqing nodded in agreement, striving to be objective without personal bias. “After all, he’s an official. No matter how malicious his personality, he wouldn’t cross fundamental principles.”

He still believed that Zhongse, as an official and director of the Degeneration Abstinence Institute, had some bottom line left.

Fu Wuxuan neither agreed nor disagreed with this view, but hearing the other “praise” Zhongse left a sour taste in his heart.

Yun Xueqing stopped talking about Zhongse and asked him instead, “What do you want to do?”

Fu Wuxuan smiled. “Do you remember the first trial we cleared, the fire I set at the banquet?”

He spoke slowly, with a solemn weight, almost word by word. “I want to make this fire burn even bigger.”

Yun Xueqing instantly understood his intent. He neither dissuaded him nor spoke, but instead took out the lighter the other had given him earlier from his Storage Space.

He placed the lighter in Fu Wuxuan’s palm, returning both it and the spark together.

Fu Wuxuan smiled—a smile that, for once, held no pretense.

He pressed the lighter’s switch, watched the crimson flame leap up, smiled, and tossed the lighter onto the Pear Blossom Chair.

The vast room caught fire and began burning fiercely. Fu Wuxuan grabbed the hand and said gravely, “Run!”

Yun Xueqing reacted swiftly, scooping up the other and charging downstairs.

The flames spread and engulfed at an unimaginable speed, surrounding the entire Blue Castle in fiery red, yet bizarrely producing no black smoke.

From afar, it looked like an exquisite blue candle wrapped in crimson flames, sparks flying beautifully beyond belief.

The residents of Gambling Town at the foot of Blue Castle Mountain saw the castle ablaze and showed shocked expressions. “The castle’s on fire!”

“My god, which gutsy noble did this!”

“Quick, put out the fire! Put out the fire!”

“No, non-nobles can’t go up the mountain… Nobles… Uh? Wait, what era is this? Why are there still nobles?”

“Quick, save the King… King… No, it’s 4202 already. Feudal dynasties went extinct over a century ago—why are we still supporting a king?”

Everyone’s eyes gradually cleared. They looked at each other with strange expressions. “Yeah… it feels like we all just… did some cosplay?”

*

After burning the Blue Castle, white light appeared before Fu Wuxuan and Yun Xueqing’s eyes simultaneously. When they opened them again, they were back in the prison of the Degeneration Abstinence Institute.

But Zhongse was nowhere beside them—only Fu Wuxuan, San Zhi, and the others.

The five of them had truly all made it out.

Both methods allowed them to escape the Class World.

Fu Wuxuan glanced downward. After enduring that world which tested humanity, his Weirdification had regressed. His fish tail had vanished, and his legs had returned.

There wasn’t a single sign of heteromorphization left on his body. He had recovered to the point where he looked like an ordinary person.

He scanned the others and found that their Weirdification levels had also regressed, to varying degrees.

Zhongse’s domain was perverse, but it was undeniably effective. It had genuinely purified their Pollution Values.

Fu Wuxuan thought to himself that Zhongse had rendered a service. There was no need for an immediate death sentence—postponing it to execution after the autumn harvest would suffice.

The traits on Jiang Yiyue’s body had completely disappeared as well. She was visibly delighted. “Our Pollution Values have returned to normal levels. We can apply for release from prison now!”

As she spoke, she looked toward the outside of the prison and craned her neck. “Where’s Director Zhongse? I wonder when he’ll show up.”

San Zhi’s tone was neither warm nor cold. “You called him a lunatic inside the domain, but now in the prison, you address him as Director Zhongse. Humans really are skilled at putting on disguises.”

Jiang Yiyue wasn’t annoyed by his sarcasm. Instead, she replied with particular seriousness. “One matter is one matter.”

What he had done inside the domain was indeed insane, but the fact that he had helped lower their Pollution Values was undeniable. It wasn’t over the top to address him respectfully as Director Zhongse.

San Zhi ignored that point and said meaningfully, “It’s a pity your Director Zhongse probably won’t have the chance to hear your praise.”

Everyone picked up on the unusual implication in his words. They all simultaneously recalled how Zhongse—the one who had been testing them—had received a secret message and hurriedly exited the small world.

What exactly had happened outside the prison that required an S-rank Oracle to rush over?

Fu Wuxuan raised an eyebrow. He guessed it had something to do with the Strategy God Heavens. “What do you mean by that?”

San Zhi let out a derisive chuckle. Before he could say anything more, the prison suddenly shook with the force of an earthquake.

Jiang Yiyue panicked a little. “What’s going on? What’s happening?!”

San Zhi, however, remained perfectly calm. A hint of joy even appeared on his face. “It’s finally here!”