However, Hao Jiu was no longer in the mood to care about the black dragon's energy. Who could guarantee that he wouldn't be killed by that little ball like the black dragon?
The black dragon also realized that his energy was leaking out wildly. Although he couldn't stop it, he was determined not to let the enemy get his energy. So, he spent all the remaining energy!
Splash...
Like beans pouring from a bamboo tube, countless tiny blue pills spewed from the dragon's mouth, piling up on the ground into a small mountain...
Then, a golden block-shaped object was spat out from the dragon's mouth. This object was also chained, with one end connected to the black dragon and the other end connected to the piece of 'flesh' that had been fused with poisonous insects.
Then, the entire black dragon was pulled into the colorful ball. Just before its head entered the ball, the black dragon released a little more energy.
Hao Jiu recognized that what the black dragon spat out at the end was a system function module, which was probably related to the poisonous insect. However, he was in a precarious situation and couldn't afford to mess with that module.
Xiang Yu's face flushed red. "God of Wine! That black dragon is dead! Can you make that thing stop... Heh!"
Hao Jiu felt like crying. There were no instructions for this prop, and he had never used it before. He had no idea how to make that jerk stop!
Even without Xiang Yu's reminder, he had been shouting in his mind for a long time, but it was no use at all. So, let's try voice control?
"Stop! Stop the project! Stop the capture! You bastard! ...This is so unintelligent!"
"This is infuriating! Why are there so many problems every time I use a prop?" Hao Jiu thought to himself, "Could it be that the system god is deliberately trying to annoy me?"
Just then, a cracking sound was heard, and the halberd broke...
Xiang Yu reacted quickly and planted the broken half of the halberd into the ground, but to little avail. He was immediately dragged off the ground by the chains and flew straight towards the colorful ball!
Whew~~~~
At the critical moment, the black horse neighed and charged forward, but Xiang Yu grabbed it and desperately kicked the ground with its four hooves, carving deep furrows.
At the same time, the 'meat chunk' that had fused with the poisonous insects and was suspended in the air merged with the golden module that the black dragon spat out at the end.
At this moment, it became a struggle between the black horse and the chain, but the black horse was clearly no match for the chain and was being dragged over little by little.
Caught between them, Xiang Yu was also being stretched continuously, sweat pouring down his face. Even though he was fighting against thousands of soldiers to protect Yu Ji, Hao Jiu had never seen Xiang Yu sweat so much, but he still stubbornly persisted.
In this situation, even if Xiang Yu is not pulled in two, once Xiang Yu or Wuzhui horse runs out of strength and is pulled over along with Hao Jiu, given the nature of this capture item, it's hard to guarantee that Xiang Yu, who is bound to Hao Jiu, won't be pulled into that ball as well.
Hao Jiu had already seen the terrible state of the black dragon. It wasn't just a simple matter of locking the black dragon up; it was as if the black dragon had been completely torn apart, like peeling away layers of an onion.
Hao Jiu felt that he was definitely going to die if he was dragged into this. As for what would happen to Xiang Yu, he couldn't be sure. Since he was going to die anyway, he might as well not drag Xiang Yu down with him. It wouldn't be bad to leave a good impression on Xiang Yu before he died and get a "good guy" card.
"Overlord, let's untie. Just agree when you hear the notification sound. I've come all this way to help you turn the tide, so don't worry, I'm a god, I won't die. But you, if you keep insisting like this, you might really be in danger..."
"Shut up!"
Xiang Yu gritted his teeth, grabbed the black horse with one hand, and with the other hand, he swiftly reached into his robes and pulled out several divine medicines, including healing and stamina-boosting pills. He ate half of them himself and then threw the rest forward.
"Eat, Zhui!"
As the black horse turned its head, two pills fell into its mouth, instantly restoring Xiang Yu and the black horse, who were already on the verge of collapse, to full health.
Hao Jiu stared wide-eyed. Was this black horse some kind of spirit? Then a sudden pang of inexplicable heartache struck her. "Overlord, why are you doing this? Wouldn't it be better to keep these divine medicines to save lives later? Even if you persist, it probably won't change anything."
Xiang Yu grinned. "Is even the God of Wine this stingy with himself? I'm saving you!"
"Am I being stingy? I'm just avoiding waste, being careful with my money, being thrifty, and using resources wisely!" Hao Jiu laughed after saying that. What was the point of arguing at a time like this? Damn, I really am stingy!
"God of Wine, didn't you tell me before that we should never give up until the very last moment? Now that you have this time, why don't you think about how to break this deadlock? When we reversed time, the situation was even more urgent than this, and we still succeeded, didn't we?" Xiang Yu felt much better after taking the healing medicine, and he felt stronger than before.
"Hmm, that makes sense. Well then, I'll give it a shot and analyze it from the beginning. First of all, this prop—well, you can think of it as a magical artifact—was used to capture that black dragon, and it has indeed solved the problem."
However, back then, the Black Dragon injected a poisonous worm into my body, and it fused with the piece of flesh I had bitten into. Now, the magical artifact has determined that the fused flesh also belongs to the Black Dragon, and it wants to use chains to retrieve it. As a result, the poisonous worm was attached to the piece of flesh I had bitten into.
The divine artifact then determined that I was also part of the Black Dragon. Therefore, I was essentially using the magical artifact to kill myself, and it wouldn't stop until I was dead.
The key lies in that piece of meat. If I can find a way to separate the poisonous insect from my flesh, perhaps the problem can be solved.
But in our current state, we can't reach that piece of meat at all, and since we couldn't separate the poisonous insects from the meat back then, our chances are slim now.
The analysis concluded that severing the connection between me and the Black Dragon should resolve this crisis, but how? The possibility of separating the poisonous insects from my piece of flesh is practically zero; we must find another way.
"Can this magical artifact be destroyed? If it can be destroyed..." Xiang Yu suddenly thought of this possibility.
"Hmm? Overlord's idea is pretty good, but since it's a divine object, how can it be easily destroyed? Apart from you and me, most people probably can't even see it or touch it, just like ordinary objects. But we can still give it a try, but how do we destroy that bastard?"
Hao Jiu felt a pang of heartache at the thought of destroying such a powerful capture tool, but in order to survive, if it meant destroying that bastard, then so be it.
"God of Wine, are there spare weapons in the storage space?" Xiang Yu asked in his mind.
"Yes, but they are all ordinary weapons, far inferior to the one that was just broken." Hao Jiu's storage space contains not only spare weapons, but also food, water, ropes, and other essential survival items.
"Then we have no choice but to try. Let's retreat and move towards the divine object, and then make our move when we're closer." With that thought, Xiang Yu took a rope from Hao Jiu and tied himself and his horse, Wuzhui, together. He then gave Wuzhui the order to slowly retreat.
The black horse was also very capable, and it really was retreating step by step, while Xiang Yu was also pulling forward with both legs at the same time, cooperating with the black horse to control the speed of retreat.
However, Hao Jiu suddenly exclaimed, "Stop backing up! Stop right now!"
Chapter 95 Mission Failed?
"Stop, Black Steed!" Xiang Yu quickly called to halt the horse. "God of Wine, what has happened?"
Hao Jiu composed himself. "There are poisonous insect modules left by the Black Dragon between us and the Chaos God. However, as we retreat, the distance between the poisonous insect modules and the Chaos God does not shorten. In other words, if we continue, we will encounter the poisonous insect modules first."
But I just took a closer look, and the poisonous insect is completely enveloped by the module; the two have fused together. I'm not sure if I'll immediately fuse with the module when I touch it, and I can't be sure whether the fusion will be good or bad.
Xiang Yu was completely confused, but he understood the last sentence: "Is the God of Wine afraid that after fusing with that module, it will be impossible to separate, and it might completely become the target of the Chaos God, the Black Dragon?"
"That's the meaning, but there's another layer of meaning. It seems that the scoundrel isn't really a scoundrel. If he were to treat me as the Black Dragon now, he would have already pulled me over there. Even with your help, that poisonous insect flesh should have been pulled into the scoundrel first."
But right now, the chain between the venomous insect module and the monstrous ball isn't exerting any force at all; it's all the force of the chain between the venomous insect module and me contracting.
"But I still don't understand why the module that the black dragon spat out at the end wasn't immediately absorbed by the bastard, but instead merged with the poisonous insects," Hao Jiu asked, puzzled.
Xiang Yu's eyes lit up. "Could it be that the module in question is similar to the God of Wine, also wrongly accused? Or is it simply related to the Black Dragon?"
"Hmm? If that's the case, would it be good or bad if I merged with that module?" Hao Jiu felt he was very close to the truth.
Xiang Yu was also racking his brains, thinking, "I don't understand the module artifacts, but if a good person is mixed in with a group of bad people and might be wronged, then the judge who decides the case will only have three options: either kill them all, or carefully investigate, find the good people, and kill all the bad people."
"The third scenario is to release all the bad guys and kill the good guys?" Hao Jiu found Xiang Yu's analogy quite interesting, and upon closer reflection, it did indeed resemble his current situation.
“That’s right. But it’s clear that the God of Wine is not in the first or third scenario, because the Black Dragon has already been partially brought to justice. The divine being is now distinguishing which of the remaining members should be killed and which should not.” Xiang Yu narrowed his eyes.
Hao Jiu was also pondering, and suddenly, he thought of this answer.
"I understand. Let's take what Ba Wang just said as an example. Suppose that a good person is suspected because he has some connections with bad people, that is, the part that is integrated with the poisonous insect module."
But I don't have anything of the Black Dragon on me right now, so I should be considered a passerby who has nothing to do with bad guys. If I were to merge with that module now, it would only increase the difficulty for the judge to solve the case.
Therefore, I shouldn't merge with that module. And once I merge, I become one with it. The bastard chains would be like ripping a piece of flesh from my body; it would definitely harm me!
"That means we should stay as far away from that module as possible," Xiang Yu nodded.
"That's good, at least we can't get any closer." Hao Jiu finally felt a glimmer of hope. "My only chance to escape is to persevere. As long as we can hold on, and wait until the part of that module related to the Black Dragon is completely removed, maybe I'll be safe!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Xiang Yu exclaimed with delight. "Black Steed! Let's advance!"
hoo~~~
The black horse also sensed the change in Xiang Yu's emotions and pushed forward with all its might, one step, two steps, three steps... until it finally returned to the safe area it had been in before.
Next came the test of time. After an unknown amount of time, some black threads were suddenly pulled out of the module, followed by the disappearance of the flashing of the colorful balls and the disappearance of the chains.
All that remained in the air was a single golden module floating there...
"We succeeded?" Hao Jiu asked, somewhat incredulous.
"We have succeeded!" Xiang Yu said confidently.
"Haha! It worked! Overlord! Quick! Take me to the module!" Hao Jiu was excited. If he could use this module, he would be making a fortune!
Without saying a word, Xiang Yu ran over, and Hao Jiu grabbed the module. As soon as he touched it, the module merged with him.
Then, a small, golden dagger shot out of Hao Jiu's mouth, spun in the air, and returned to Hao Jiu's mouth!
"Just as I thought!" Hao Jiu exclaimed excitedly. This was the Black Dragon's powerful function that could damage other systems and also serve as a surveillance tool!
When fighting against other systems in the future, Hao Jiu will have a reliable weapon, and its function has changed. The black dragon's attack looks like a worm, but Hao Jiu's looks more like a throwing knife.
"Sunshine always comes after the storm... Overlord, hurry over there, there's still lots of energy there!" Hao Jiu excitedly sang a line from the song. He was so happy today! So incredibly happy!
Hao Jiu suddenly felt a sense of exhilaration, like defeating a monster and getting loot. Although the black dragon didn't spew out much energy, combined with the energy he had accumulated over this period, the total had reached 2000 points!
The key point is that it also gained a great feature, one that Hao Jiu has never seen in the God's Shop before, which could be considered priceless.
In addition to spitting out energy and that module, the black dragon also spat out a large number of small blue pills, the purpose of which is unknown.
In short, it doesn't look like an ordinary object; it must have been obtained by exchanging energy.
Mentioning this matter, Hao Jiu was furious. He finally understood what Hei Long meant by those words.
Killing the system does grant you its energy, but if the system doesn't want to, you can use all the energy before you die.
For example, the vortex-shaped portal that the Black Dragon released at the very beginning was clearly a powerful item that could allow one to escape to other dimensions, and its value must have been considerable.
Those little blue pills were probably just money the Black Dragon had left over, and they weren't necessarily anything good.
If it were Hao Jiu in this situation, he would definitely spend all his energy until he couldn't spend any more at the last moment, and buy whatever was useless!
Of course, even excluding those little blue pills, Hao Jiu's gains this time were not small; the throwing knife module alone was enough to make him grin from ear to ear.
As for the rewards from this beginner's quest, they are not that important. The rewards for capturing the mutated system are: 1 time travel item, 1 system capture item, and 100 energy points.
The time-space travel item is likely a ticket to the next dimension, while the system-captured item is a necessity for completing the next mission, and 100 energy points are the actual reward for completing the mission.
Hao Jiu had already picked up the colorful ball. Its appearance was unchanged, but it had lost its luster. Considering the mission reward, Hao Jiu felt that this system-captured item was probably a one-time use item.
Even so, Hao Jiu carefully kept the used jerky, just in case it might come in handy later.
Having collected all the treasures he could, Hao Jiu opened the task interface to claim his rewards.
However, Hao Jiu's expression instantly turned to one of utter disbelief; the mission was actually... not yet complete!
What?! What on earth is going on?! This is ridiculous!
Chapter 96 The Descent of the True God
Hao Jiu came to this plane to complete the novice system mission, but even though the mutation system has already captured the mutated creature, the mission still shows as incomplete!