I Bound Myself to a Destructive Witch

[Settling Red King Guess——]

[Guess successful! Since you selected your candidate in the second round, you receive 80 correct guess rewards! However, as you were not the first to guess successfully, you do not receive the doubled Ember Stone reward!]

[Current successful guessers: 3/8]

[Current Ember Stones: 430]

Was I not the first guesser?

As the Red King, Jin Shiyin naturally couldn't guess himself.

So the first guesser is most likely an ally of Jin Shiyin.

As for why Jin Shiyin is the Red King, it starts with his A-level Spiritual Artifact, the Memory Storage Cup.

When this artifact targets an enemy, the more damage it does, the more important things the target forgets.

Initially, when Xia Feng acquired the Memory Storage Cup, he didn't pay much attention, only thinking it was a very good auxiliary artifact with a random chance to make opponents forget thoughts momentarily in battle. It could even make someone like Yophiel, after being severely injured, forget why they were beaten or captured, losing several hours of memories.

With just this artifact, Jin Shiyin naturally couldn't deceive everyone, much less place his artifact a thousand miles away to clear suspicion.

But if he had the help of Yophiel's Spiritual Artifact Dao Fruit, it'd be different!

Spiritual Artifact Dao Fruit: Relic Transformation!

It can turn a borrowed artifact into a 'Spiritual Artifact Relic,' which anyone can use, splitting its power in half.

Yophiel transformed Jin Shiyin's Spiritual Artifact into a relic, split it in two, and hid it at the bottom of the Unsinking Sea Domain, thereby creating an alibi for Jin Shiyin.

Then Jin Shiyin forcibly injured Yophiel, stripping away his memories to frame Yophiel... without Yophiel knowing it.

From this perspective, Yophiel was not an ally of Jin Shiyin's, likely being tricked by some method. He's just a poor victim...

During the second round, Xia Feng wasn't aware of the Relic Transformation, only judging that Yophiel's Dao Fruit might have a 'Duplicate Spiritual Artifact' ability. It wasn't a 100% certainty, so the decision was somewhat risky at that time.

Fortunately, the risk paid off.

Later, through combat with Yophiel, he gradually understood more details and solidified his suspicions.

Logically, Jin Shiyin's combat strength at most matches Yophiel's, making it impossible to use the Memory Storage Cup to make Yophiel completely amnesiac.

But Jin Shiyin had an ally!

Moreover, an ally with combat prowess comparable to Huang Zhaoyue's, Jinyang Tian.

Though on the surface, Jinyang Tian and Jin Shiyin appeared unfamiliar with each other, as there was little dialogue between them, Xia Feng overheard their conversation when Jinyang Tian used a Calamity Fog Card to sneak attack and 'kill' him.

The two had formed an alliance before even entering the Sumeru Realm.

Though the conversation was somewhat vague, Xia Feng now realizes their alliance agreement was likely that Jin Shiyin would help Jinyang Tian acquire the Jinyang Divine Domain, while Jinyang Tian would help Jin Shiyin obtain the Sumeru Throne.

With help from Jinyang Tian, Yophiel didn't stand a chance against them.

Recalling their past encounter, it's no surprise that when he met Yophiel at the Unsinking Sea Domain seeking a Basic Airdrop Treasure Box, Yophiel appeared battered and bloodied, even slower than Xia Feng, the weakest mobile Venerable One Spirit Master.

Yophiel had actually arrived long ago,

but he encountered Jin Shiyin and Jinyang Tian pursuing him, so he fled the Unsinking Sea Domain. After being beaten into amnesia by Jin and Tian, he ended up back at the Unsinking Sea Domain like a cycle, coincidentally meeting Xia Feng while searching for another Basic Airdrop.

In this way, Yophiel, possessing the Spiritual Artifact Library, became a prime suspect. As for Xia Feng, Jin and Tian likely hadn't expected the Black Spade Man to appear, a surprise element that didn't affect their plan to solidify Yophiel as the Red King.

The benefit of doing so was, of course, to allow Jin Shiyin to conceal his Red King identity longer, garnering more hidden identity rewards while also ensuring everyone guessed wrong, except for Jinyang Tian who guessed correctly.

Second-round correct guess plus first guess success can earn a total of 160 Ember Stones, a considerable unexpected gain, which Jinyang Tian has now completely taken.

However, Jinyang Tian's goal is not the Sumeru Throne, so he will probably give all the Ember Stones to Jin Shiyin, and together they have enough to quickly reach the top.

In theory, considering everyone missed several key pieces of information, this pair's plan was almost perfect. However, Xia Feng happened to duplicate the Memory Storage Cup, knew its specific function and use, and was also an experienced player with 'Duplicate Spiritual Artifact,' 'Borrowed Spiritual Artifact,' and 'Stealing Spiritual Artifact.' His instincts guessed some aspects of Yophiel's Spiritual Artifact Dao Fruit's function.

He even learned of Jin and Tian's secret alliance, almost acquiring all critical information. If he couldn't guess Jin Shiyin was secretly behind it all, he would have to slap himself awake every night.

[As the Black King, you have an additional settlement task——You successfully completed 3 rounds of identity concealment, earning 20 Ember Stones!]

[Current Ember Stones: 450]

[Settlement complete——]

Looking at a balance of nearly five hundred assets, Xia Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It's not easy, but now this asset definitely puts him in the lead.

Of course, the next step is to start spending lavishly again!

[Store open, private exchange begins now; you have one minute to exchange item cards. The store will close in one minute.]

[In rounds 1 to 3, you can sell the currently owned item cards back to the store for recovery...]

[Once recovered, this type of card can no longer be used in the future.]

Recovery is only available for the first three rounds; missing this opportunity will mean it's gone forever.

Xia Feng glanced at his item cards, unfortunately, his level 1 cards were all used up, and his level 2 and 3 cards were useful, leaving almost nothing to recover.

Except for two level 0 cards.

After contemplating for a moment, he decided to sell off just the level 0 cards.

[Active Positioning Card*1, Recording Card*1——Successfully sold]

[You gain 12 Ember Stones]

[Current total: 462]

The gains are minimal, but it's still free gain.

After all, he doesn't need allies to open Ash Land now; the Active Positioning Card is practically useless, and the Recording Card is even more so.

The Recording Card is usually used by non-special identity players to prove innocence; he is a player with a special identity, with many secrets, so even if he records it, it's unlikely he can prove innocence publicly.

[Third Round Exchange——Store prices increased by 150%]

[You possess a Level 2 Store Price Increase Card; do you wish to adjust the current round's store price increase extent?]

The price of Outer Realm Descent is 300, increased by 1.5 times, which could directly bankrupt him.

Although suppressing the increase would also benefit other players, there's no other way now, as this thing can't control the price of a single item; it can only control them all.

Either they all rise, or none do.

Pit!