[Following the sound of the bell, you leave the cave. In the canyon, hundreds of mixed-blood miner slaves have gathered. Their gazes are vacant, their expressions numb. Only a few look delighted, apparently having dug up high-quality ore.]

[You step onto the pitch-black stone platform, pick up a bloodstained whip, and loudly proclaim before the hundreds of miners that all the ore mined today will be collected by you alone!]

[The mixed-blood miners below begin whispering among themselves when they don’t see the other overseers appear. You catch snatches of conversation. “The new overseer just visited the other overseers,” “Whatever deals happen between the overseers, it’s none of our business, just hand over the ore.”]

[Soon, the numbed miners line up to surrender their ore.]

[A miner hurries up the platform, stooping low. It pulls a handful of ore out of its burlap sack…]

[You obtained Obsidian Venom Ore (Common) *5.]

[You obtained Obsidian Venom Ore (Common+) *3.]

[You obtained Obsidian Venom Ore (Fine) *1.]

[Expressionless, you nod and inform the trembling miner that its quota barely passed the minimum, no reward, but no whipping either.]

[The miner kneels to salute you, tucks away its sack, and climbs down. Another miner with a bright expression steps forward and produces its haul…]

[You obtained Obsidian Venom Ore (Common) *3.]

[You obtained Obsidian Venom Ore (Common+) *1.]

[You obtained Obsidian Venom Ore (Rare) *1.]

[Somewhat surprised, you praise it, remarking that it must have been blessed by the Radiant Stars themselves to extract such high-grade ore. You order it to return to the cave and await a reward from the Dragon Nest.]

[…]

One by one, Lin Xun accepted the fruits of the miners’ labor, watching the ore in his inventory skyrocket.

The lowest-grade ore offered was Common, while the highest reached Rare+.

[You have collected the final miner’s ore.]

Lin Xun opened his inventory. The haul included over three thousand Common-grade ores, more than four hundred Fine-grade ores, totaling about fifteen hundred pieces, while the Rare-grade ores numbered four, one of them Rare+.

“That should be enough.”

As a fake overseer, there was no need to turn in the ore. He could consume as much as he liked.

As planned, Lin Xun returned to the cave and began poisoning himself to death…

[…]

[You suffer intense venom corrosion!]

[Absorption complete. Your bloodline power has increased by a very small amount!]

[The accumulated toxins have reached a lethal threshold. You cough up black blood, unable to endure any longer. You collapse and perish…]

[You have died!]

[…]

[An ordinary wandering soul respawns in the Multivision Association…]

[The association’s doors are open. Beneath the starlight, a figure in a bird-beak mask holds an unopened letter in its hands.]

[You glance beyond the door. In the mist, you glimpse the silhouette of a strangely shaped carriage.]

[Upon seeing you appear so suddenly, Bennett hastens to hand you the letter, explaining that it had heard a noise outside the building just moments ago and had plucked up its courage to look out the window.]

[A carriage it had never seen before had burst through the fog and stopped outside the building.]

[No one had emerged from the carriage for a long while. Curiosity fueled by a burning thirst for knowledge finally compelled it to go investigate.]

[The carriage’s design was unlike any in this city. Stranger still, the door stood wide open, the interior empty save for a single unsigned letter lying on the seat.]

[It had intended to open the letter to see what was inside, but just then, True God’s Envoy, you returned to the association…]

[You have obtained Anonymous Letter (Special Item).]

[You take the letter Bennett hands you and open it to read…]

[We have received your message. Regarding the matter of the Veiled Aberration Overlord incubating in Sophia City, the Executor Lord is aware.]

[The Star Bone Sacred Beast will soon depart for Sophia City to contain the escaping disordered divinity of the Omniscient Evil God.]

[The letter contains only these few lines, no salutation, no signature.]

[Worn and battered Apostle, you have triggered this chapter’s final event – The Showdown Between the Veiled Aberration Overlord and the Star Bone Sacred Beast.]

[Based on the oath you have sworn, you must now choose which faction you will aid in the final battle.]

[When the ultimate monster of the opposing side is slain, you will clear this chapter.]

[You may choose to place the Anonymous Letter back in the carriage. Once your reply is received, the Star Bone Sacred Beast will immediately proceed to Sophia City.]

[Alternatively, you may choose not to reply. In that case, the Star Bone Sacred Beast will depart for Sophia City in five days.]

[Will you reply?]

???

Lin Xun’s mouth twitched, his face a picture of confusion.

When he first entered Hidden Canyon and uncovered one hidden plot after another, he’d had a vague feeling the chapter was nearing its end.

But he hadn’t expected the final event to arrive so abruptly, even before he’d finished conquering Hidden Canyon, the ultimate showdown was already underway.

In this infernal game, completing a chapter didn’t always mean clearing every area of the map.

Some chapters, upon reaching the final stage, would trigger endgame boss battles through events or other mechanisms.

According to the unspoken rules of the game, Lin Xun had undoubtedly stumbled into the end-of-chapter bonus sequence.

Having two bosses fight each other and requiring the Apostle only to lend a hand from the sidelines, if that wasn’t free loot, what was?

This chapter was Hell Difficulty. The sheer brutality of the progression was insane, so offering a final reward made sense.

However… the problem was that the boss representing the Omniscient True Knowledge faction had already been picked off by Lin Xun himself.

The strength of the Veiled Aberration Overlord needs no further explanation. If not for having scavenged the kill, Lin Xun would never have been able to defeat that boss.

If he were to face an end-of-chapter boss as powerful as the Veiled Aberration Overlord alone, it would almost certainly be him who died.

Lin Xun frowned deeply.

Then he suddenly thought of the Overlord’s Summoning Eye, and at once understood.

In the intended flow of the game, even if he had accidentally stolen the kill and slain the Veiled Aberration Overlord, he could have used the Overlord’s Summoning Eye to face the end boss head-on.

He also suspected that the Star Bone Sacred Beast’s strength might exceed that of the behemoth overlord by a fair margin, and that the White Dwarf Star Elixir was probably meant to be used against the Star Bone Sacred Beast.

“This infernal game really does leave me a way out…but I already used it all up…”

For a moment, he felt both exasperated and amused. The Star Spirit Palace was never a place that an Apostle of the Omniscient faction could normally enter. Fighting the Legendary Starborn there had always been an optional side content. Using the Overlord’s Summoning Eye had absolutely been an unforeseen event.

Lin Xun carefully reread the letter’s text, trying to glean clues from its scant few sentences.

The anonymous letter gave no indication of which secret organization had sent it.

But judging from its tone and the mention of the Star Bone Sacred Beast, the secret organization should belong to the Radiant Stars faction.

And if the letter was delivered to the Multivision Association, it was obvious who the intended recipient was.

Lin Xun surmised that the secret Radiant Stars organization the Multivision President belonged to was connected to the later parts of this volume, and that in this chapter he’d only glimpsed the tip of the iceberg.

He suddenly noticed that the Star Bone Sacred Beast had come to contain the godhood of the behemoth overlord.

That word, ‘contain’ sent Lin Xun’s thoughts racing.

He’d always wondered why killing ordinary behemoths had dropped divine items, but slaying the overlord had not. At the time, he’d assumed he was just unlucky and hit some rare drop rate.

But seeing the word ‘contain’ in the letter gave him a partial revelation…

“Maybe to acquire the overlord’s godhood, you have to do something special.”

Lin Xun shook his head, feeling it was a pity.

Even if he could now find the site of the Ten Monsters Overlord Slaying Formation in the mists, the overlord’s corpse would have long since despawned.

“Looks like the final battle will be a straight-up slugfest with the end boss after all. I just hope what I gained in Hidden Canyon will let my power skyrocket.”

Lin Xun didn’t choose to reply to the letter. He shooed Bennett back upstairs to the Eyeball Laboratory.

Then he settled by the Resting Page to begin the pureblood half-dragon’s grand evolution…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep