Chapter 67
Chapter 67
He had finally gained the element of surprise, yet he had wasted it on empty air.
There was a heavy thud as a body struck the floor.
None of them could bear to watch.
Xiao Huai crashed hard to the ground, his abdomen pierced through and blood spreading beneath him.
Yet a smile bloomed across his face, as though roses still blossomed in his blood even after thorns had pierced his veins and heart. The sight was so beautiful no one could look away.
“Cough…” He coughed and spat blood where he lay, the flow impossible to stop.
With the only eye that could still see clearly, his red one, he calmly regarded the Count.
The puppet string had been severed.
[Ding! Hidden mission triggered: Rescue the Count’s true personality.]
[Reward: Unknown.]
[Penalty: None.]
Xiao Huai remained on the floor and raised a hand. Though his fingers would not stop trembling, he bent one knuckle as if tapping something.
His voice carried a trace of languor. “The stars… Joseph seems to want to watch them with you one more time.”
The Wraith Child’s crystal ball landed beside him, releasing a memory.
Within it, a young artist with green eyes lay on the grass, leisurely counting the stars in the night sky.
Suddenly, he seemed to hear something. He looked behind him and waved with a smile.
A breeze stirred the blue-eyed man’s hair. The two sat side by side, admiring a night sky that belonged to them alone.
Those stars were the most beautiful diamonds of all, were they not?
It was on that very night that Joseph created his oil painting of the starry sky.
But everything had changed beyond recognition.
The Count froze. He was utterly transfixed. In that moment, starlight fell into his eyes and his memories carried him back to that summer.
He did not know when greed had blinded him or when he had caused the death of his dearest friend.
He had been unable to control his body or even his own thoughts.
But just now, all the restraints controlling him seemed to vanish.
He remembered. Tears traced his cheeks, one after another.
A crack split the icy statue, revealing the humanity that had once existed within.
He dropped to his knees and covered his face as he wept.
Everything had happened in less than three minutes.
The Count picked up the black-diamond dagger Xiao Huai had dropped. Without any warning, he plunged it into his own heart.
With a wet tear, blood sprayed out, and tears fell alongside it.
He held the heart out to Xiao Huai. “Will you help me return it to Joseph?”
Xiao Huai struggled upright. The heart appeared to have been sewn together.
One half was normal, while the other had turned black. The system showed that the heart was not a source of corruption, but it bore a curse.
“It was you. You used half of your own heart to protect half of his.” Xiao Huai suddenly understood.
The Count placed the heart in Xiao Huai’s hands and gave him a smile uglier than tears.
“It was the only good thing I did before I lost my reason.”
He looked up at the countless shattered diamonds. “Once this world collapses, will I be able to disappear forever?”
He wished to atone by vanishing for all eternity, but Xiao Huai did not know whether his wish could truly be granted.
Every NPC in a horror-game instance belonged to the system. Could they ever truly escape it all?
“Who knows?” Xiao Huai’s eyelids felt as heavy as lead. He slowly climbed to his feet and looked at the other pitch-black heart in his hand.
The source of corruption.
But before he dealt with it, there was something he had to finish.
In this world, players would briefly lose their reason and descend into madness before diamonds began growing from their bodies, just as Liu Tongtong had.
That was also why the native residents later came to despise players.
Then, for the sake of his own selfish desires, Manager Tang turned his fellow players into tools for satisfying that greed.
The Wraith Child’s memory crystal contained some of Manager Tang’s story.
Manager Tang… had once been a member of JOKER. Using a special item, he summoned Loki, the God of Mischief.
He begged the god to grant his wish, willing to sacrifice his soul and everything he possessed.
All he wanted was to turn this world into his personal paradise.
Joseph became the victim behind it all. He was cursed, transformed into a monster, and made into a weapon that could slaughter players.
They planted the seed of hatred, teaching everyone to despise every player who arrived.
Time after time, the players who came to Diamond Town were targeted and killed before they could even produce diamonds. Their blood was drained to create a new species.
That was why every player’s corpse they had seen at the manor had been completely drained of blood.
The resentment of those who died at Manager Tang’s hands became a curse that tormented him again and again, perpetuating a vicious cycle.
Black diamonds could restore a person’s reason because Joseph was the source of a stronger curse and corruption. Like the identical poles of two magnets, the curses repelled each other.
Eating rough black diamonds from his body temporarily broke the state of lost control.
Time flowed differently within game instances.
*Diamond Magnate* was a newly released game.
No one had ever cleared it. Though players had tried, all of them had died inside. An instance no one had ever cleared might as well have remained brand new.
Xiao Huai trudged forward. His Sanity fell again, and his wounds were far too severe.
He laughed softly. “Greed gave birth to hatred and prejudice. From them came bloodthirsty monsters, and the fruit they bore became both their pride and the weapon that destroyed everything they had.”
[Ding! Congratulations to player Xiao Huai for discovering Real-World Timeline Fragment (III).]
[Real-World Timeline collection complete! Your settlement score will increase by 5,000 points, and you will receive one chance to trigger a random reward!]
[Fragment III Note: However long the night, the dawn will always come.]
Xiao Huai’s face was utterly bloodless. His right eye had turned completely black, while the iris of his left eye and the blood pouring from his wounds created a vivid, almost bewitching contrast.
He pressed a hand to the wound in his abdomen. Blood slipped rapidly through his fingers with every breath. He looked so fragile that he seemed moments from fading away.
Yet he did not tremble once. Broken fragments covered his path, reflecting light like the radiance the Moon God had bestowed upon humanity, like the first touch between a god and his believer.
Beneath his feet, every fragment spoke of destruction.
He crossed every obstacle and came to stand before one man.
The moment their eyes met, an invisible force seemed to block out every sound around them. Only the two of them remained in the entire world.
Xiao Huai placed one hand behind his back and bent slightly forward. With the other, he touched the rose in the buttonhole of Lu Yuanshi’s suit.
In that instant, no shadow lingered in his eyes. He was like a phoenix reborn in fire.
Or a flame burning through a winter night, devoid of gloom and cold, holding only a fire that blazed from within his flesh and bones.
The rose flared to life in his hand. Beneath the shroud of flame, its petals turned to ash, and a bloodred diamond appeared in their place, dropping into Xiao Huai’s palm.
It was the only diamond that had grown from Xiao Huai’s body, born over his heart.
When he removed it, blood stained his suit red.
The rose itself was nothing remarkable, merely a magic prop.
But the man performing the trick was a magician who had created an entire nebula.
He scattered stardust through the darkness, striking hard against the other man’s heart.
A faint smile touched Xiao Huai’s eyes as he placed the diamond in Lu Yuanshi’s palm. Their fingertips brushed lightly, skimming like a dragonfly over water, barely meeting before parting again.
He looked toward the last diamond to be destroyed, his eyes holding a light that seemed capable of dimming all the stars.
Xiao Huai’s voice reached Lu Yuanshi’s ears, and the frigid air took on a warmth that belonged to him alone.
“I set a fire, and the entire wall of roses turned to ash. Only one flower remained, never to wither.”
When every diamond had shattered and only one remained…
Was it not the most beautiful of them all?