Chapter 54

Chapter 54

His heart lurched in terror, and he immediately lunged for the mirror.

It was fine! He had no idea how those pieces of trash had produced Evil Spirits, but as long as he hid inside the mirror-

The instant his fingertips touched the glass, Camberny hissed in pain and snatched his hand back.

The mirror surface shimmered. The Evil Spirits that had already spread across the entire mirror gathered into a mass and rushed straight at Camberny!

Sizzle-came the acrid reek of flesh under Corrosion.

Camberny let out a scream, but he still seized the brief opening between the Evil Spirits’ Corrosion and forced himself into the mirror, enduring the agony of half his body being consumed.

His mask had fallen away, revealing a pale face.

Livor mortis slowly spread from his temple down to his chin, but Camberny remained utterly unaware.

…

In the corridor outside the door.

Steady footsteps advanced at an unhurried pace. The Evil Spirits on the floor avoided him and slipped into the study.

Song Zhu calmly opened the door to the room mentioned in the Leather-bound Notebook.

Inside were white bones, a fresh corpse with “Evil Person” carved into its face, and the Notary Office.

Clown sat inside the Notary Office, propping his forehead up with one hand as he dozed. Hearing the sound, he rubbed his eyes. “Isn’t this just a simple Zone A Script? What took you so long to-”

When he saw Song Zhu, Clown’s voice cut off.

“…Z? It really has been a long time.”

Song Zhu’s expression did not change. He was still handsome and coolly indifferent. “Long time no see, 003. How unfortunate to see you in such a sorry state…”

003 let out a strange cry. “Ha! No matter how sorry my state is, it’s still much better than yours…”

“…But I’m not here to reminisce with you this time,” Song Zhu said slowly. “I’m here to make an Accusation against the Murderer of this Script-the Castle Master named Camberny.”

He seemed completely unconcerned with whether his Accusation was correct. His movements were as if he had merely come to complete a certain command. “PvE mode. We rise together and fall together. I am representing the remaining ten Players, myself included.”

003 propped up his chin, too lazy to argue with Song Zhu any further. “Accusation correct. Once the seven days are up, the Players who are still alive will be able to leave.”

Song Zhu turned to go. “You can remove that last sentence. Four days from now, all remaining Players will be alive.”

003 had no idea what the commotion outside was about and assumed it was just the boss killing people again. “Z still loves making big claims. But you came alone this time. Did something happen to that lover of yours?”

Song Zhu, who had already started to leave, paused. When he looked back, there seemed to be ice hidden in his eyes. “003, I thought the lesson from last time would have taught you what you should and shouldn’t say.”

003 smiled, his eyes curving. “But I thought the one who should have truly learned his lesson was you.”

“001.”

…

Camberny thought that as long as he hid inside the mirror and waited until night, when they were at their weakest, he would be able to suppress them beneath the Rose Field once more.

At that time, he could deal with that naughty guest however he liked.

Oddly enough, night should have been when the power of sinister spirits was at its strongest.

But as the roses suppressed them, they seemed to share the roses’ fate, flourishing and withering together.

Camberny felt the pain wracking his body.

Night. As long as it became night…

Before he could decide what kind of death to give Ning Wang, the space inside the mirror was suddenly torn open.

A face painted in bizarre colors abruptly appeared before his eyes. “Found you, Murderer.”

…

Only after 003 finished his own duties did he step out of that room.

The Players came to him to make an Accusation. He killed the Murderer. The Players lived through the remaining time. Once the seven days were up, the Script would refresh again.

That should have been the process from here on out.
003 looked outside with a grin, then the corners of his mouth slowly turned down.

…The next part of the process did not include burning roses or ten thousand ghosts running rampant.

003 stared coldly at the scene before him, then tore open a passage.

This counted as an excuse for him to go back.

With such a huge deviation in the Script, of course he had to return to the Main System and report it.

At that thought, 003’s eyes curved, and he broke into a genuinely delighted smile.

Looked at that way, he really had to thank 001.

If nothing had gone wrong with the Script, the Main System would have kept him locked inside this Script forever. It was terribly boring.

…

The ordinary Players had no idea what had actually happened. They only felt as if the situation had suddenly been reversed.

They saw the man with the braid and gold-rimmed glasses push his glasses up.

In a cryptic tone, he told them that divine punishment was about to descend, then headed for the main doors.

The Servants tried to stop him, only to let out a sudden scream.

The Players stared, dumbfounded, at the NPCs whose bodies had been wrapped in some unknown black substance, their skin visibly eaten away by Corrosion, and instinctively backed up.

But strangely, those things would entangle the NPCs, yet they did not harm the Players.

…It was as if they held a grudge against NPCs in particular.

Ning Shuo opened the doors, and the Players saw the sea of fire outside.

Ning Wang found a place where the flames could not reach him.

This “Soil” was not only every Player from the past, but also the original inhabitants of this Script.

That was what made this Script special-it did not reset.

Or rather, what it reset was the memories of the NPCs still alive inside the Ancient Castle. It did not reset the memories of the “Soil” or Camberny.

Those silver-gray substances were the so-called “Soil’s” hatred toward Camberny and the other Servants, though Camberny called them “Evil Spirits.”

Ning Wang looked at the entire Ancient Castle covered in silver-gray matter. On the walls, that hatred was almost black.

When he looked toward the figure appearing in the window, Ning Wang smiled.

And now, the bitter fruit had arrived.

…

When Clown found Camberny, Song Zhu had just rushed back to the room and found Rao Lin, while Ning Wang had also taken off the Gauze Hat and checked Ning Shuo’s temperature.

Luo Li sat on the stairs, watching with detached amusement as that rookie Qi Yang, incompetent as he was, still had the extra energy to comfort another girl.

When Qi Yang turned to look for Luo Li, Luo Li turned her head away to look elsewhere.

All the roses burned to ash. With Camberny’s death, black mist enveloped everyone.

Ning Shuo subconsciously went to look for Ning Wang, but his hand was caught first.

Ning Wang’s voice did not sound anxious. “Ge, be careful.”

Ning Shuo leaned into him with the motion. Recently, he seemed to have developed a habit of doing this. “Does Ningning know where we’re going? We still have four days to get through.”

Ning Wang said, “I don’t know. But if I’m with Ge, it probably won’t be too hard.”

Behind his lenses, Ning Shuo’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Putting everything else aside, he kept feeling like this kid was trying to bait him.

But the two of them were practically one and the same. What was there to bait?

…

The black fog dispersed, and they found themselves standing on a flat cement floor.

A bright moon hung high in the night sky. Ning Shuo stepped on the cement. “Did the System throw us into another Script?”

“How could it?” After Camberny died, all the sick Players had recovered completely, and Rao Lin’s voice no longer sounded as weak as it had that morning. “If it threw us into another Script, there would be a notification.”

They looked around for the youngest girl in the team and saw her shove Qi Yang away. “Why were you hugging me so tightly?”