HELP! These Girls Wants To Kill Me

Chapter 278 278: 278

[Item: Clock Of Time]

[Grade: Spirit]

[Effects: Record user's peak life imprint at the moment of activation and instantly restore user to the recorder peak state upon use.] (100 Days Cooldown and Fate's backlash)

Yang Ze could still remember the description panel when he first got the Clock Of Time from merging the items. At that time, he was so overwhelmed by the effects of the Clock of Time that he never paid any attention to the small annotation on the back.

Especially after using it for the first time when he recovered to his peak self, and nothing happened, he merely thought that it was an overstatement and the so-called Fate's backlash must have passed without him knowing it.

But now…

"What the fuck?" Looking at the dense black fog emanating from the clock along with two words above it, he almost dropped it to the ground.

He was sure he didn't bring the clock with him. After all, he didn't know what type of inspection he might have had to go through while entering the Imperial Palace. If his clock were to be discovered, it was bound to be confiscated or, at worst, taken away forever.

He didn't want to take any unnecessary risks, so to make things simple, he didn't bring it with him.

But who would have thought that even though he left it somewhere else, it would somehow end up on him.

"This thing won't be a cursed item, will it?" Muttering to himself, Yang Ze almost wanted to throw it away, but thinking about how precious it was, he held back. He simply kept on looking at the clock, hoping to see any further changes.

"What are you waiting for?"

And just when he was observing the clock, the voice of one of the guards sounded in his ears, waking him up from his stupor.

"Umm." Yang Ze glanced at the guard, whose face was filled with confusion, before letting out a sheepish smile.

"I just remembered something. I have a few things I need to take care of before I head into the palace." Although he didn't know what was going on with the so-called Fate's Backlash and what the outcome would be, he didn't want to take a risk. He just wanted to head back to the basement and wait there till it was over.

Yang Ze's imagination was beautiful, but unfortunately for him, the reality was cruel.

The moment he mentioned heading back, the guard's expression changed drastically as her previous confused expression changed to that of a cold one, and her eyes radiated a naked, murderous aura. It was as if the girl in front of her dared to move; she would attack and kill without any hesitation.

Yang Ze too noticed this change of hers, but he couldn't care less about it.

Mere Pulse Opening cultivator… It would be a miracle if she could even leave a mark on him, much less hurt him.

"You can't." The other guard too chimed in, standing right in front of Yang Ze, blocking his path.

"You need to register at the Imperial Palace first before you can head out."

Her voice left no room for discussion as she reached for the small sword hanging on her waist, clearly giving off a warning.

Yang Ze, in response, merely glanced at the two of them, who had immediately turned hostile.

He then glanced at the door behind him that was enveloped in pitch darkness, as well as the clock in his hand, as his mind began to calculate.

He didn't know why they were so intent on sending him inside the Imperial Palace, and the more they acted this way, the less he wanted to.

"Should I make a run?" This was the first thought that came to his mind. He looked at the mountains surrounding the Palace and thought about the best escape route, but then, thinking about how there was Yun Ning keeping an eye on him, he held back that thought.

Even now, he wasn't sure if he was strong enough to escape her grasp. If he made a run for it and failed… he didn't dare to imagine the consequences.

Yang Ze's breathing slowed down as he thought for a while before his eyes flashed in realisation.

'It could work, but I need to stall for time.'

Thinking bout it, he took a step back, as if afraid of the two guards, before raising his hand in surrender.

"No need to get angry." His voice was incomparably soft with the right hint of panic in it as he spoke further.

"When I came to join the Imperial Palace, I prepared a big gift for the Empress in case I managed to enter."

"I just thought that since I am going into the Palace, I might as well bring it with me to show my respect."

"Which is why I was asking to head back."

The two guards merely shook their heads in response as one of them spoke in a cold voice.

"You will have plenty of time to do that later."

"Right now, you only need to enter the Palace and register there. Once that is done and your living arrangements are made, you are free to go wherever you want."

"In that case…" Yang Ze pointed to the pitch-darkness behind him. "Why haven't I seen anyone else enter or exit this place?"

—----------------------

On the other side, at the platform in the Outer City, the recruitment process was at its last stage.

After Yang Ze was sent away, a few more girls arrived to test their luck. Even though they were late, they were allowed to test their qualifications.

But even with this new influx of girls, the total number of girls who managed to pass and were qualified to enter the Imperial Palace remained less than six.

"Okay." Once the last girl was disqualified, the woman in charge stood up while patting her hands in satisfaction.

"If there is no one else, I will announce the result for this recruitment." She waited patiently for anyone who might be late or wanted to join.

It wasn't until a few more minutes had passed and no one came forward that she nodded and announced the results of the recruitment.

"Out of twenty-three people who took part in this recruitment, only six are qualified to enter the Imperial Palace."

"As for the rest…" Looking at the crestfallen girls who didn't manage to get in and were standing there with their heads lowered, the woman let out a gentle smile.

"The rest will be assigned to the different pavilions." Speaking till here, she gave a nod to one of the examiners in the back who came forward with a list.

"Now… I will announce which pavilion you are going to join." With that, she began to announce the names of the girls as well as the pavilion they were going to join.

Other than the families of the girls who managed to get into the Imperial palace, the rest of the crowd didn't show much reaction. It was as if they were used to it.

As for the families of the girls who joined the Pavallions under the imperial palace, though they were somewhat disappointed, there was nothing they could do.

Both Chen Meili and 'Sun Qiao', who were standing amongst the crowd, watched everything with great interest.

Though during the entire time, Sun Qiao seemed to be in a daze, as if lost in her own train of thought.

Chen Meili even shouted at her a few times to bring her back to her senses, but the middle-aged woman only regained clarity for a few moments before telling Chen Meili to shut up and once again entering the dazed state.

"Hmph!" After being told to quiet down a bit, Chen Meili was obviously disgruntled and even wanted to start a fight, but in the end, she managed to hold back. She just let out a cold snort and kept on muttering to herself.

It wasn't until a few more moments passed that the middle-aged woman finally returned to normal, and the first thing she did was curse in a low voice.

"What a mess."

"Who would have thought Yun Ning would be there?"

Yang Ze gazed in the direction where his main body was, hoping to see if there was a chance he could make an escape from the damned place, but couldn't find anything.

This clone of his only had about thirty per cent of his strength, which would be roughly equal to the mid-stage of Vein Expansion. But it was nowhere near enough to go against Yun Ning.

"If only I had a talent that could let me swap places with the main body." Muttering to himself, Yang Ze decided to upgrade his Sevenfold Illusion talent the moment the cooldown ended.

The brief encounter with Yun Ning, as well as the numerous tricky situations he was facing right now, told him just how important it was to have a form of backup.

As for the ability to swap places with his clones… even if he didn't get it after upgrading the talent, he was going to create one himself.

Ever since the day he discovered he could use Enlightenment in daily life, he had been trying to find various ways he could implement it.

He wanted to see if he could create a new technique all by himself.

"But now's not the time." At the moment, he needed to get out of this tricky situation first. He would have plenty of time to experiment in the future.

Taking one last look at the scene where the families of the girls were being rewarded with gold and numerous other resources, as well as the girls' varying expressions, Yang Ze lifted an eyebrow in realisation before turning around and heading back to the house he was staying at.

"Eh!?" Chen Meili, who was still engrossed at the scene, couldn't help but exclaim when she saw Sun Qiao turning to leave.

"Going so soon?"

"There are still a few things that you should see."

She herself didn't know why she wanted to spend some more time with the seemingly ordinary middle-aged woman.

She was about to speak further, but the Yang Ze had no time for her.

"I just realised something about the talisman making." Making up a half-baked excuse, he immediately rushed out, leaving behind the enchanting figure of a flustered woman who couldn't help but smash her foot in anger.

"Hurry up." Controlling his clone, Yang Ze even used the movement technique to move as fast as possible. Initially, he wanted to find a remote location with no one, but in the end, he decided to just head back to the house.

With him using his movement talent at his full strength, it didn't take him long to stand in front of the house.

Then, without any hesitation, Yang Ze stepped in, closed the door and rushed to the basement.

It was only then that he let out a sigh of relief as his body began to dissipate, and within just a few moments, he disappeared completely, leaving behind the figure of the tied-up middle-aged woman who watched everything in horror.

—---------------

"In that case, why haven't I seen anyone enter or exit this place?"

Yang Ze's true body was standing in front of the door, trying to talk to the two guards who refused to answer his question.

'As expected.' Seeing how the two of them had no intention of answering to him, Yang Ze suddenly widened his eyes in extreme surprise, pointed behind the two women and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"What's that?"

This time, the two women finally reacted.

They immediately turned around, only to see a white rabbit that was the size of a dog that had appeared out of nowhere and was hopping around happily.

"What the?"

At the exact moment the two guards turned around, Yang Ze waved his finger as his body was enveloped by the illusion, disappearing completely, while in his place, his newly summoned clone stood still.

'Tch… Damned Yun Ning.' Yang Ze could only summon seven clones at a time, and if they were destroyed, he couldn't summon them again for one day.

Six of his clones were destroyed by Yun Ning earlier when he tried to escape, forcing him to use his last clone that he had left outside.

"I just hope it works." It would be a lie to say that he wasn't interested in what was going on inside the Imperial palace, but he was definitely not going to enter there with his real body. Letting his clone in would not only keep him safe but also allow him to find out the truth about the place.

Looking at the rabbit that was hopping around, one of the guards took a step forward, directly rushing towards it before cleaving it with her sword.

In an instant, the rabbit was cut clean from the middle before dissipating.

But the force behind the strike was so huge that the moment the sword hit the ground, it made a small explosion, scattering numerous rocks everywhere.

After doing that, she simply put away her sword, walked in front of Yang Ze and gestured to him to step inside the palace.

"Please."

This time, Yang Ze didn't hesitate.

With a simple nod, he controlled his clone to step towards the entrance, but the moment he took his first step, he stepped on a small pebble.

And in that instant, the clock in his embrace heated up slightly as the black fog emitting from it turned even more corporeal.

And then, under Yang Ze's eyes filled with disbelief, his clone tripped…

A clone with the strength in the middle stage of Vein Expansion fell face-first due to a pebble.

It was such a ridiculous turn of events that even Yang Ze couldn't react for a moment.

He wanted to control his clone, but to his dismay, he found it extremely difficult.

In the end, he could only watch helplessly as the clone fell down, with its chin landing on a sharp stone that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

And under Yang Ze's shocked gaze, a clone that couldn't be harmed by even Foundation Forging experts was impaled to its death. Its chin was pierced by the stone, and its neck broke with a snap before it disappeared into thin air.

And in that instant, the dust from all of that made Yang Ze sneeze unconsciously.

*Achoo

And with that sneeze, the illusion around Yang Ze shattered, revealing his true body once again, followed by an absolute silence.

"....."

"....."

"....."

The only thing left was the sound of breathing as well as the increasingly dense black mist coming out of the Clock of Time.