Chapter 53
Chapter 53
By dinner, the King’s complexion had improved considerably, and the livor mortis on the back of his neck had vanished as well.
Ning Wang commented, “Looks like it was pretty nourishing.”
Ning Shuo made the same kind of jab. “Looks like he was pretty weak.”
One was talking about Xiang Henian. The other was talking about Camberny.
After they returned to their room, Ning Wang asked, “Why didn’t we make a move today?”
Ning Shuo’s eyes curved with his smile, making him look exactly like a smiling fox. “Ningning, because we have to wait until that Corrosive Matter is at its strongest before we can start fighting Camberny.”
Ning Wang looked out the window.
The night was just right. Beyond the window lay only pitch-black darkness.
Ning Wang said, “You’ve already got an idea what the Corrosive Matter is?”
Ning Shuo flipped through the Leather-bound Notebook. His gaze fell on the words “before death,” his eyes gentle. “Since it’s the most threatening thing in the entire Script, that means it’s stronger than Camberny.”
“For all we know, even Camberny is afraid of it.”
“Camberny is the highest-level NPC in the Script. What would he be afraid of?”
Ning Shuo smiled. “Tomorrow, it seems, there will be an east wind.”
Ning Wang looked out the window.
Out there was a Rose Field stretching all the way to the boundless horizon, with corpse after corpse buried beneath it.
Those were the countless evil causes Camberny had planted with his own hands.
Ning Wang pinched the rose petal marked by Corrosion. “No wonder we only get attacked during the day. That’s when their power is stronger.”
“Ningning is so smart.”
“Stop using that tone like you’re coaxing a child.” He lay beside him, bored out of his mind as he stared at Ning Shuo’s hand. “Technically, the two of us are the same age. Why do you always treat me like a kid?”
Ning Shuo reached out and rubbed Ning Wang’s head. “Isn’t Ningning the one who likes being spoiled like a child?”
Ning Wang stared at him and curled his lip. “You spent two years in another world, and now you’ve gotten fond of being the one doing the spoiling.”
“You always have to go to so much effort for me. It doesn’t hurt for me to coax you a little.”
How direct.
Ning Wang looked at that face identical to his own.
Xie Ning had been narcissistic since he was little.
If the full score was one hundred, he had a thousand points of confidence in himself.
This included, but was not limited to, getting up every morning and immediately looking in the mirror to admire his world-shaking beauty, as well as going to Jinxiu Workshop every day to buy pretty clothes, then coming back to admire himself in the mirror again.
Of course, he did not spend the entire day looking in mirrors.
After Ning Wang grew up, he rarely did things like that anymore, but whenever he passed something reflective, he would still stop and glance at himself a couple of times, then sigh over how truly favored by heaven this face was.
During the time he had been traveling with Ning Shuo, the number of times either of them had looked in a mirror could be counted on one hand.
After all, they could just look at each other. What did they need a mirror for?
Ning Wang looked at that face and thought that Xie Ning really was good-looking.
Ning Shuo… really was good-looking.
Ning Wang pulled the hand off the top of his head and played with his fingers. “Tomorrow, I’ll do it.”
Ning Shuo raised one brow. “I haven’t even said anything yet, and Ningning already knows?”
“Of course.” Ning Wang smiled too, wearing the exact same expression as Ning Shuo, making Ning Shuo go momentarily dazed. “We’re the people who understand each other best in this world.”
…
On the third day, another person died.
She was one of the few girls among the Player group, and she died the same way Li Ge had.
She had also been one of the few who had not helped yesterday.
Ning Shuo remembered her. She had bangs, a ruddy plateau flush on her cheeks, and she always smiled very shyly.
Qi Yang would look after her sometimes too.
Ning Shuo had noticed her hesitation on the first day, when she had wanted to expose Zhang Qicheng but had failed to say it aloud. He figured she was a very timid girl, one who had worried about being retaliated against by the three-person group afterward.
Unfortunately, even so, on the second night, she had still fallen into the trap.
The one who shared a room with the dead girl was now the only girl left besides Luo Li. The dead girl’s eyes were wide open, just like Li Ge’s had been. Presumably, Camberny had deliberately arranged it that way.
The frightened girl was in a daze. Qi Yang comforted her, saying, “We’ll get out.”
At breakfast that morning, Camberny’s complexion finally had a hint of life to it.
He looked at Ning Shuo. “Will you continue pruning the rose branches today?”
Ning Shuo took a sip of milk. “I’ll be doing something else inside the Ancient Castle today. My younger brother can go in my place.”
“Oh?” Camberny turned to Ning Wang, whose physical condition was visibly much better. “This guest is interested in roses as well?”
Ning Wang smiled faintly, and for one brief moment, Camberny was dazed.
The two people seated side by side had identical faces. Usually, it was clearly easy to tell them apart, yet now he had the distinct illusion that they were the same person.
Camberny laughed at himself and shook his head, thinking that perhaps yesterday’s incident had left him unsettled.
“No matter. It makes no difference who does the pruning.”
He looked toward Rao Lin. “Mr. Willow, are you unwell?”
Rao Lin thought, I worked my ass off yesterday and only scored two points less than Xiang Henian. How well could I possibly be? Isn’t he asking what he already knows? Out loud, he said, “Haha, young people are just a bit weak these days. It’s nothing. I’ll help Mr. Saixi with some work today and sweat it out.”
After that girl died, quite a few people had fallen ill, but being in poor health was still better than going OOC. They might as well drag things out a few more days and try to think of a solution.
After breakfast ended, the King returned to the fourth floor. Ning Shuo’s face was burning. Before Ning Wang left, he lowered his eyes to look at Ning Shuo, who sat in his chair with a hand propped against his forehead. “Still alive?”
Ning Shuo’s smile was a little weak, and a faint sheen of sweat could still be seen on his brow. “Ningning, try saying it a little more nicely. If I didn’t know you, who would realize this is just you being tsundere and showing concern in a roundabout way?”
“I’m not tsundere.”
“Please. You haven’t made much progress in anything else these past few years, but your tongue has definitely gotten sharper.”
Ning Wang: “…”
He curled his lip and tossed Ning Shuo a cold towel. “Your mouth isn’t much better.”
This time, the one watching over Ning Wang was still Xiao Wei.
She handed Ning Wang the same style of Gauze Hat. “Guest, please put this on first.”
“Thanks.” Perfect. He could use it later to make a dramatic entrance.
The main door closed. Just as Xiao Wei was about to give instructions, a sudden pain struck the back of her neck.
She collapsed limply to the ground, and Ning Wang set her down by the door.
He exchanged for a lighter from the System Shop.
When he lit the first rose, Ning Wang’s nose twitched.
Roses blooming from corpses carried the scent of blood when they burned.
-Ningning, if one enters Rose Castle amid the grand welcome of roses, then tell me, do roses have some kind of suppressive effect on those things?
The Ancient Castle lay to the west, and the east wind was just right.
The flames quickly joined into one continuous blaze, spreading westward. The roses, planted far too densely, became a sea of fire. No longer bound by the roses, the spirits swept around the entire Ancient Castle.
Silver-black spirits wrapped the whole castle within the blaze.
A moment later, the main door flew open with a thunderous crash. Ning Wang looked over through the firelight.
Inside the Ancient Castle, chaos reigned. Ning Shuo stood before that chaos, his smile warm and gentle. “Good Ningning. Beautifully done.”
“The Ancient Castle and fire really do go perfectly together.”
Ning Wang had just been thinking that line wasn’t quite edgy enough when Ning Shuo added, “Come, Knight! Now we go reclaim this King’s throne!”
Ning Wang: “…”
He suddenly smiled. Before the firelight, he bent at the waist and bowed to the long-haired young man. “As you command, my King.”
…
Camberny was in the study when he suddenly caught the smell of burning.
At the same time, he felt the air around him choke.
That abrupt sense of stoppage was not acting on him.
It seemed more like it was acting on the entire Ancient Castle.
He rushed to the window and saw flames soaring into the sky.
Amid the firelight, a man in formalwear wearing a Gauze Hat looked toward him through a layer of black veil.
The light gauze stirred, and the man smiled contemptuously. “Idiot.”
Camberny felt anger surge straight to his head. His hand was just about to land on the windowsill when, at the last second, he sensed something was wrong.