CHAPTER 372: CHAPTER 312: FRAUD WITHOUT A TRUE SECRET CEREMONY

Zhou Xu was chanting the full honorific of the ’Iron Blood God.’

A crisis had erupted in the Deceit Prison.

Yang Qizhou squinted his eyes, recalling yesterday’s encounter at Sky Mountain Garden No. 10, where this senior member of the ’Deceit Bureau’ sought his help. He already had a general sense of the situation.

Should he head over right now?

Yang Qizhou hesitated. The plot had reached a critical juncture—the ’Game Character’ had already appeared near the lower layers of the North Realm Abyss. If he could chant the full honorific of ’Cang’s Green Bird’ and meet Harriet, perhaps he could unravel the King of Nature’s intentions.

This might play a key role in the upcoming Deceiving Apostle’s deity ascension ritual.

"Let’s first take a look at how severe the crisis in Deceit Prison truly is. If it’s something that can hold out for a while longer, then I’ll ignore Zhou Xu’s prayer for now and wait until this part of the plot concludes before heading over," Zhou Xu muttered to himself, his thoughts sinking into the Gray-White Fog within his sea of consciousness.

Soon, the scenes within the ’Deceit Prison’ appeared before his eyes.

Blood-red alarm lights flashed incessantly, like fresh wounds. Terrifying tremors reverberated intermittently. Zhou Xu stood near a corner, his gaze fixed on the darkness-shrouded entrance, his lips murmuring a devout prayer...

"Oh great War Blood, symbol of iron and fire, overseer of courage among the Star Spirits, I offer my devout prayer to you."

"Lamp holder, the crisis in ’Deceit Prison’ has erupted. The ’Hermit Association’ and ’Death Cult’ are invading and have severed its connection to the outside world. I suspect their ultimate goal is strongly tied to a deity ascension ritual within the ’Deception Domain.’

I pray for your assistance."

The prayer concluded, and the vision receded like a tide.

The Hermit Association? That deranged Hidden Organization striving to bring the ’Ancient Gods’ into this world? Their invasion of ’Deceit Prison’ is connected to a deity ascension ritual in the ’Deception Domain’?

Yang Qizhou narrowed his eyes as a thought surfaced in his mind... the deity ascension ritual of the Deceiving Apostle.

He then linked these events to countless others.

"I overlooked something before. A player with the ID ’False Disguise’ is attempting to usurp the Deceiving Apostle’s deity ascension ritual and has meticulously prepared for it. Previously, I thought all these arrangements were confined to the game layer, but I ignored another possibility."

"He may very well have made significant preparations in the real world as well."

Yang Qizhou felt as if the mist before him was gradually clearing. A subtle smile surfaced at the corners of his mouth. "Which means, ’False Disguise’ is likely among the players invading ’Deceit Prison’—and most likely in a leadership role."

"The Hermit Association? The Death Cult?"

"In any case... I’ve caught you."

Yang Qizhou quickly made a decision. An event tied to the Deceiving Apostle’s deity ascension ritual and potentially uncovering the true motives of the King of Nature was far too crucial to miss.

He then retrieved a ’Teleportation Scroll,’ using his prayer as coordinates. As radiant light engulfed his body, his figure soon disappeared from the room.

...

Elsewhere in Deceit Prison.

Blood-red alarm lights flickered, casting eerie shadows across faces where faint scars emerged intermittently. Zhou Xu, who had just finished chanting the honorific of the ’Iron Blood God,’ wore a grave expression as he stood beside the ’Dark Star,’ both staring intently at the titanium-alloy-sealed entrance, fortified with mysterious powers, as though awaiting something.

"Zhou, were you just chanting the full honorific of a ’god’?" a colleague asked, his voice tinged with complexity.

It was forbidden to recite the full honorifics of ’gods’ in the real world—not even so much as a murmur—lest unspeakable horrors be unleashed. This hard-earned lesson came at a heavy cost.

It was only out of trust for his companion that the colleague hadn’t stopped him.

The Dark Star leaned closer, listening intently. Clearly, he was concerned as well.

Zhou Xu nodded. "Yes."

"Which god?" his colleague pressed.

"The Iron Blood God. Strictly speaking, perhaps he doesn’t fully qualify as a god but as a... Anyway, trust me." Zhou Xu ultimately refrained from mentioning the lamp holder’s existence, uncertain whether revealing it would provoke the Deceit Bureau’s sole unregistered S-class player.

Rumbling.

At that moment, tremors shook the great gates ahead. Dust spilled forth as faint sunlight pierced the dim prison gloom.

The entrance had been breached.

His colleague’s eyes betrayed his disbelief. "This door could withstand the impact of a ten-thousand-ton TNT explosion—even a nuclear blast couldn’t break it open. Without the password, it’s supposed to be impossible. How did they manage it?"

"Fraud," Zhou Xu replied.

The ’Dark Star,’ still dressed in prison garb, discarded his prior nonchalance as his expression grew tense, akin to facing a deadly foe. "It’s the leader of the ’Death Cult,’ Mister Death, wielding an artifact of wondrous power from his collection. I didn’t expect him to show up personally. This is serious trouble."

Zhou Xu and his colleague weren’t surprised. As Founders of Hidden Organizations, interactions between the Dark Star and Mister Death were inevitable, their mutual acquaintance nothing out of the ordinary.

By now, the gate had fully opened.

A figure wearing a ’monster’ mask stepped forward, violet halos swirling around him as he chanted: "Oh Favored of Mischief, Apostle of Lies, God of Deception, keeper of the Hidden Secret Ceremony."

In an instant.

Violet radiance streaked across the ground, swiftly outlining a hexagram. Filaments invisible to the naked eye sprouted from it, weaving upward toward each prisoner in the ’Deceit Prison,’ connecting to the tops of their heads and penetrating within.