Chapter 66
Chapter 66
But their eyes had been deceived, leaving them blind to the truth beneath it all.
A chill suddenly ran through Tang Weiqi. He watched Xiao Huai in silence, waiting for him to speak.
Xiao Huai straightened and looked down upon everyone present.
“Now it’s time to lay out the real world in full and restore the truth.”
His eyes lowered as he calmly asked, “Who among us do you think wanted to win the most?”
Everyone fell silent, recalling every detail from the workshop. Who had worked the hardest?
Xiao Huai merely spoke a name they had all forgotten.
“Liu Tongtong. She wanted to win more than anyone because if she failed, she would become a monster for good and be trapped in this world. So back at the beginning, when all of us had access to rough diamonds, she chose to steal them and eat every last one. But have any of you wondered why she had to eat those rough diamonds?”
Because she wanted diamonds to grow from her skin. She wanted to become a diamond fiend completely.
This was a buff the instance granted its players, not a debuff. A buff.
Diamonds cultivated from a human player’s skin were the most beautiful diamonds of all.
“The truth is, players never had to do anything at the manor. All they had to do was eat the diamonds, let diamonds grow from their skin, and submit them on the final day. That alone would count as completing the mission. It was absurdly easy, practically a welfare instance.”
“Back then, the players might not have been objects of hatred at all. The diamonds that grew from their skin may even have made the residents of Diamond Town envy them.”
Xiao Huai paused and looked at Manager Tang. “But someone discovered a loophole. He enjoyed everything this place offered and longed to stand above everyone else.”
Once a man who had been looked down upon in the real world experienced others bowing at his feet, he would go mad with the desire to be remembered and worshiped forever.
The Wraith Child’s crystal ball appeared in Xiao Huai’s hand. The instant Manager Tang saw it, his pupils contracted violently.
“How do you have that…? You thief!” Manager Tang’s eyes filled with bloodred veins. Sharp crystals burst from his body as he charged like a rabid dog.
Rumble!
At that very moment, the entire building began to shake.
Red lights flashed throughout the Diamond Factory. Countless alarms echoed through the space, plunging it into utter chaos.
A burst of electronic static came from the radios. “This is bad! All the patients in the severe ward have escaped!”
The guests panicked and tried to flee, only to freeze in astonishment at the sight before them.
Hundreds, even thousands, of black rough diamonds appeared behind Xiao Huai. Every facet caught the light, radiating a dazzling brilliance.
Everyone seemed to fall into a trance, staring at Xiao Huai in helpless fascination.
Xiao Huai bowed his head. The hair falling across his forehead concealed his eyes, and no one could see what expression he wore.
Dense clusters of eyes began growing across the palms and backs of his hands.
His thick black lashes trembled. Then he raised his eyes and stared coldly ahead.
Without warning, a horde of monsters stormed into the exhibition hall. They did not attack the humans. Instead, they rushed straight for the diamonds on display.
The monsters had pallid skin riddled with cavities, as though pieces of flesh had been gouged out while they were still alive. Eyes scarlet, they charged into the Diamond Exhibition Hall.
Everywhere they looked stood the diamonds that had reduced them to this miserable state.
They roared, tearing into each diamond with sharp claws and fangs.
Again and again they struck, and endless cracks rang out.
As though smashed by massive hammers, the diamonds split into countless pieces that sprayed in every direction. The force of their destruction made the entire hall seem to tremble.
Shattered diamonds littered the floor, their broken light glittering with the beauty of fallen stars.
Yet all the guests remained rooted in place, gazing foolishly at Xiao Huai. Flying fragments repeatedly scored fine cuts across their skin. Warm, sticky blood trickled down.
Only the players remained unaffected. Tang Weiqi was too stunned to utter a word.
When he finally came to his senses, he shouted in alarm, “You’re actually trying to destroy this instance?!”
Xiao Huai cast him a cold glance. His lowered lashes hid the chill in his eyes. Then he began coughing violently, his vision turning hazy.
The next second, he appeared before Manager Tang at a speed nearly impossible for the naked eye to follow.
Manager Tang had long since transformed into a monster. He wanted nothing more than to tear Xiao Huai apart with his teeth.
But when he saw the green eyes on Xiao Huai’s hands, his heart lurched in terror. “How do you have those on your body?”
Xiao Huai tilted his head. Instead of answering the question, he gave him only a few words.
“A favor was entrusted to me. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
With a wet rip, Xiao Huai’s hand punched through Manager Tang’s chest. Warm, viscous blood closed around it.
A blackened heart throbbed ceaselessly in his palm, each beat landing with a heavy thump.
Before Manager Tang could even react, his heart had already been torn away. He crashed to the floor in agony, his eyes twisted with venom and resentment even in death.
[Warning! Sanity has fallen. Current Sanity: 5. You have entered a pseudo-monster state and will experience extensive hallucinations. Exercise caution!]
[The instance is approaching its collapse threshold. Players, exercise caution. Any manner of unexpected incident may occur!]
The system’s shrill announcements rang repeatedly in their ears.
Its final warning was issued to every player.
[Warning! Diamonds are being destroyed! This is a violation of the rules and will incur punishment from the Count. Exercise caution!]
The Count lunged at Xiao Huai like a phantom. A two-meter blade appeared in his hand and came crashing down without mercy, whipping up a hurricane in its wake.
The other players fled in terror.
Xiao Huai’s vision had already drowned in a bloodred haze. His five senses were fading.
Yet instinct guided him two steps to the side, allowing him to evade the blow.
The great blade struck the floor, and the gale from its passage sliced a bloody line across his cheek.
With the heart that served as the source of corruption for this entire world clenched in his hand, Xiao Huai trembled in waves. Sweat soaked his black hair and plastered it to his face. One scarlet eye remained half-closed, while the other had been tainted by the source of corruption and turned a glaring black.
In that instant, Xiao Huai seemed to glimpse a transparent thread, like the string of a puppet.
His pupils widened slightly.
He understood.
Xiao Huai drew a deep breath, feeling Joseph’s power coursing through him.
He had borrowed all of Joseph’s strength not only to destroy the source of corruption, but also to withstand the punishment for breaking the rules.
As though answering a summons, every black diamond gathered around Xiao Huai.
The punishment was not over.
The black diamonds transformed into countless pointed blades and shot toward the Count. Planting his feet, the Count swung his great blade and smashed them all apart, sending glittering fragments flying.
Just when everyone expected Xiao Huai to flee, he pushed off lightly from the tips of his toes and sprang into the air like a weightless butterfly.
A dagger forged from genuine black diamond appeared in his palm.
Wielding diamond as his blade, he slashed at the empty air above the Count’s head.
Old Mo’s pupils dilated, and he could not stop a curse from escaping his lips. “He’s lost his mind…”