After receiving Mrs. Yunās message, Su Ze and Liou Wenxin rushed back to the villa, only to find that Mr. Ya had already arrived.
"Ah, youāre all here." A complicated smile appeared on Mrs. Yunās face, as if she were giving her last words. "Iāll be starting my fourth evolution soon," she said. "If I succeed, Iāll live for another hundred years. But if I fail... I might not even have the chance to say goodbye to you all. So..."
"Alright, Sun Xiayun, enough with the melodrama. Just get on with your evolution. Iām still waiting for you to hunt a Tier 4 S-rank Evolved Beast for me!" Su Ze interrupted impatiently.
"You little brat! Youād better pray I *donāt* succeed, or else..." Mrs. Yun glared, her anger flaring. The somber atmosphere she had painstakingly created was shattered by Su Ze just like that.
She couldnāt say anything more. She brought out a box from behind her, placed it on the coffee table, and said, "Hereās everything I own thatās worth anything. I also converted all my remaining contribution points into high-level Evolution Items. If I fail my evolution and die in there, you all can split this stuff."
"Who wants your stuff? Who are you looking down on? All of us are worth tens of billions. Cut the crap and get back to your room to start your evolution. Hurry up!" Su Ze said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Liou Wenxin smiled and also chimed in, "Mrs. Yun, donāt overthink it. Just give it your all. Youāll definitely succeed."
Whether the fourth evolution succeeded or not, momentum and mentality were also crucial. Having drive and confidence made success more likely.
But Mrs. Yun, being so hesitant and gloomy, had already increased her chances of failure by twenty percent before she even began.
Mrs. Yun nodded. She knew this was true. Adjusting her mindset slightly, she said, "Iāve been taking Evolution Honey Water from the Honey Pot Ants for the past few months, so my chances of success are quite high. Since none of you want to hear this old woman ramble, Iāll stop. Just wait for my good news."
With that, she got up, went into her room, and closed the door.
The fourth evolution was a leap in oneās level of existence, and the process was quite lengthy. It would take at least a few hours, and for some, it could even last several days.
Su Ze felt that Mrs. Yun was still lacking some drive, some motivation. He decided to add a little more fuel to the fire.
He took out his phone while saying to Mr. Ya, "Mr. Ya, take me away from here. The farther the better!"
"Huh?" Mr. Ya was stunned for a moment.
"Donāt ask any questions. Youāll understand in a bit!"
"Okay."
Su Ze waved goodbye to a very confused Liou Wenxin while pressing the send button on his phone. The next moment, he and Mr. Ya used Earth Escape to teleport to an abandoned factory outside the school.
DING!
Just as Su Ze left, Liou Wenxin heard her phone chime. She unlocked it and found a new message in their small four-person group chat.
She opened the chat. It was a video sent by Su Ze.
Liou Wenxin hit play. The video showed an old woman with a wrinkled face and stiff movements, dancing gracefully in the morning sun. She spun and leaped, but every gesture revealed a lack of coordination, like a clumsy duck trying to imitate a swan.
Who else could this old woman be but Mrs. Yun?
A moment later, Su Ze sent a text message to the group: "Mrs. Yun, you wouldnāt want me to post this video of you doing the Swan Dance in the āSecret Operations Department Discussion Group,ā would you? If you fail your evolution, Iāll be sure to post it everywhere."
Liou Wenxin heard a low growl, thick with suppressed rage, coming from Mrs. Yunās room: "Su Ze!"
Then, the door was thrown open, and Mrs. Yun rushed out, her old face flushed red, looking around for any sign of Su Ze.
Liou Wenxin stifled a laugh and spread her hands. "Heās long gone."
"When I successfully evolve, Iām going to lock him up and make him dance every single day, 24 hours without stopping! Iāll even invite the TV stations to broadcast it live!"
Seething with impotent rage, Mrs. Yun slammed the door with a BANG, sat on her bed, picked up her phone, and opened the Secret Operations Department group chat.
Mrs. Yun had been the one to add Su Ze and Mr. Ya to the "Secret Operations Department Discussion Group" earlier. She had always held a post in the Secret Operations Department, and the group was full of her old colleagues.
If Su Ze posted her dancing video here, she would be utterly and completely socially ruined.
Looking at the list of old acquaintances in the group chat, Mrs. Yun wished she could just dig a hole and bury her head under the bed at the mere thought of their reactions to the video.
If she was still alive after this, sheād probably have to consider changing her name and moving far, far away.
āIāll kick both of those little brats out!ā Mrs. Yunās eyes lit up. She quickly found Su Ze and Mr. Ya in the group members list, only to realize she wasnāt the group owner and didnāt have permission to kick people.
She was only the deputy chief of the Secret Operations Department; the group owner was the chief.
She couldnāt very well ask the chief for help with this. How could she ask him to kick out two new, decorated comrades without any good reason?
The plan wouldnāt work.
Then she thought of another tactic. She immediately sent Su Ze a private message with a photo attached.
It was a photo Mrs. Yun had taken some time ago when Su Ze had consumed an Evolutionary Liquid, causing his "Knowledge is Power" skill to level up and his body to swell to the size of a giant.
In the photo, Su Ze was seven or eight meters tall, his clothes long since burst, fully revealing the vigor and vitality of a young man.
Mrs. Yun also sent a message: "You wouldnāt want your photo to appear on the school forum, would you?"
Who would have thought that after seeing the photo, Su Ze would marvel at his own magnificent and spectacular form, feeling no shame whatsoever.
In the picture, his body was well-proportioned, his muscles firm. His spear was like a dragon, capable of challenging the sun and moon.
So he replied, "Sun Xiayun, are you trying to help me find more girlfriends at school? Please, feel free."
As the old saying goes: A gentleman bares his balls, a petty man hides his prick.
āNothing to be embarrassed about!ā
Mrs. Yun gritted her teeth in frustration. She hadnāt expected Su Ze to be so shameless.
When a person casts aside all shame, thereās often nothing you can do about them.
Mrs. Yunās only option now was to hurry up and break through to the Saint-level, then use her martial might to intimidate Su Ze so he wouldnāt dare act so wantonly!
"You just wait!"
After spitting out her threat, Mrs. Yun held her breath and, with unparalleled conviction, began her fourth evolution.
To avoid social suicide, to prevent her reputation from being tarnished in her later years, this evolution had to be a success. Failure was not an option!
...
Mr. Ya watched the video in the group chat and honked with laughter for a long time.
"Stop laughing. I have something serious to tell you. I got you a spot for the Divine Dice this time," Su Ze said.
"Really?!" Mr. Ya was overjoyed.
As a "foreigner" from Luofan, he had long been mentally prepared to never be truly accepted by Dongli. He never expected Dongli to actually give him such an important spot.
"Get ready. The Divine Dice could open at any moment."
"When I enter the Divine Dice this time, itās very likely Iāll be targeted by people from Luofan Country," Mr. Ya said with some concern.
He was originally a minorly famous streamer in Luofan. After he defected to Dongli, many people naturally took notice of him, and as a result, many people in Luofan cursed him.
This was especially true when he made an appearance during the fight against the Evolution Divine Teachings. Countless people in Luofan believe in the Evolution Divine Teachings, so Mr. Yaās involvement drew a lot of attention. He was condemned by word and pen in Luofan Country and was once even cursed so much that he became the number one trending topic on Luofanās domestic websites.
He was now the target of scorn and condemnation for countless people from Luofan.
"Who gives a shit? Even without you, given the relationship between Dongli and Luofan, you think they wouldnāt target people from Dongli anyway?" Su Ze clapped Mr. Ya on the shoulder. "Donāt overthink it. You have usāyour friends and familyāand thatās enough. Who gives a shit what other people think of you!"
"Yeah, I get it." Mr. Ya nodded emphatically.
...
It was uncertain how long Mrs. Yunās fourth evolution would take. Su Ze and Mr. Ya returned to the villa and took turns keeping watch in the living room with Liou Wenxin.
They were mainly listening for any disturbances from within the room... If the evolution failed, there would be quite a commotion.
In the evening, Zhou Wenshan created a new group chat and added all four of them who were set to enter the Divine Dice. He then posted a file in the group.
"This contains some basic information about the Divine Dice for you to review. The Divine Dice should open in a few days. Iāve already received a notification from the Sovereign Country, so be prepared to depart at any moment."
The four of them, including Su Ze, all replied, "Roger."
Afterward, Su Ze and Mr. Ya began to look over the information on the Divine Dice.
The file contained several photos of the Divine Dice. Outwardly, it was just a massive die, a perfect cube with its length, width, and height all measuring around thirty meters.
Just like a normal die, the Divine Dice had six faces, with pips numbering from one to six.
This enormous die was situated in a valley in Lin Hua Country, but that wasnāt where it had first appeared.
The Divine Dice was capable of moving and would automatically seek out densely populated human areas.
In previous years, about a month before opening, the Divine Dice would float into mid-air, and the "pips" on five of its facesāall except the "6" faceāwould begin to glow.
When it was time to open, those five faces, with a total of 15 pips, would all open up.
pips, meaning 15 entrances into the Divine Dice.
Each entrance could only admit three people. After three had entered, the entrance would close.
Once all the entrances were closed, the trial of the Divine Dice would begin.
Mr. Ya asked curiously, "If 15 pips mean 15 entrances, and each entrance only lets in three people, thatās a total of 45 people. Why are there extra spots this time?"
Zhou Wenshan quickly provided an explanation in the group chat: "Because this time, the six pips on the face that has never opened before have also begun to glow, indicating an additional 6 entrances."
āSo thatās how it is...ā The face with six pips had never opened any entrances before, but this time, those six pips were also glowing. Once the entrances for those six pips opened, there would naturally be 18 extra spots.
Zhou Wenshan reminded them again in the group chat: "Because the situation this time is different from all previous years, past experience may not be reliable. You should read this, but just use it as a reference."
Su Ze continued reading until he reached the elimination rules for the Divine Dice. His heart skipped a beat as he began to understand the true cruelty of this trial.
āPeople will definitely die in there!ā
āThis thing is a man-eating die!ā