Super Righteous Player
Chapter 238 - 236: The White Guillotine_1

Chapter 238: Chapter 236: The White Guillotine_1

This could be a recurring nightmare that would terrify the average person.

But for Annan, it instead piqued his interest—

The "Huh" he had heard when he first came out of the "prison" was produced by the current him.

But how did this nightmare know that he would be here at this time?

Could this really be a dream of the Cycle?

If it were a nightmare caused by the influence of a Doppelgänger, that would be one thing... but this was clearly the Pale Princess’s nightmare, right?

The Pale Princess had no abilities related to time and mirrors...

Or could it be... that the "mutation" of this nightmare was towards time and mirrors?

Because he had come into contact with Benjamin from the future... or because he possessed a mirror personally given by the Doppelgänger?

Many possibilities emerged simultaneously in Annan’s mind.

But they also made him bolder.

If the candle was indeed lit by his future self—

Annan ran quickly to the end of the corridor.

His steps briefly faltered.

In front of him was the same lengthy corridor that required a full-force sprint for more than ten seconds to reach the end, just as before.

This time there was a table in the middle of the hallway, with a letter and a pile of white candles of uniform thickness and height on it. The only lit candle had been ignited not long ago, burning away just a quarter of its length.

At this sight, Annan felt slightly disappointed.

In Annan’s view, if this truly was an infinite nesting doll scenario, his future self would definitely be here holding a candle, waiting for him to come over and join forces to clear it.

After all, only Annan himself understood himself best...

...Hm?

Annan slightly furrowed his brow.

That’s not right.

His earlier choice to run this way, to look for the "third Evelyn", was only because he feared that without communication, he couldn’t convince "the first Evelyn" that "I am you".

He could very well turn into a monster that looked like Evelyn—even to take a step back, before the first Evelyn, or the first Annan saw what Evelyn looked like in the lake... Facing his own scarred, wet, and silent approach, she could truly perceive him as a monster and kill him.

Annan had such confidence in himself.

That’s why he chose to look for the third himself.

If the third himself existed, he would know that the second himself could now trust "this is a nesting doll scenario".

So the second himself was different from the first, he was trustworthy.

Then why didn’t he appear here?

Was it because it was unnecessary, or... because he couldn’t?

Annan frowned tightly and walked up to the table, opening the envelope.

The envelope contained a few short sentences, which, by the fluent cursive alone, Annan could confirm weren’t written by him:

"Pursuit of love with no origin,

"Imprisoned in the shell of life,

"Following the waltzing wanderer of beauty and freedom—

"The Pale knows your intent,

"Pass through this door,

"And offer your fragmented soul to the Pale."

With this, the words in the envelope declared their end.

...Is this what it meant by "successfully completing the sacrifice ritual"?

Annan was somewhat dazed.

The letter contained too much information.

The waltzing wanderer, the fragmented soul...

Could it be that Evelyn was actually dead?

Then what was the situation with Evelyn in the real world...

Annan also suddenly realized another very important matter:

Whose nightmare was this?

This instance was of hard difficulty.

That meant, its master should be a silver-tier Transcendent...

Obviously, Evelyn wasn’t one.

At least the current Evelyn wasn’t... she hadn’t even reached the apprentice path, or in terms of attributes, she wasn’t even level 1.

However, Annan’s pause for thought here wasn’t futile.

He clearly saw the candle burn down about one-eighth of its height.

—The candle is burning too quickly, that’s unnatural.

That was Annan’s first thought.

His second thought followed:

He had paused here for only half a minute, and the candle had already burned away an eighth.

——Understood, this candle should take four minutes to burn down completely.

That means another "Annan from a certain cycle" left here just a minute and a half ago!

...But why would he hide from himself?

Without hesitation, Annan removed the candle from the holder and fixed it on the table.

He picked up the sharp candlestick as a weapon and rushed to the end of the corridor——

Then, he opened the door.

But the moment he opened the door, Annan froze.

At the end of this basement, at the end of the winding, unnatural path, within the room...

There were densely packed, seventy to eighty white candles of identical height and thickness——each candle burning at different lengths.

In the center of the room, surrounded by candles and illuminated as if in broad daylight.

——Was a guillotine.

Moreover, it was an ostentatiously decorative guillotine, built atop an altar stacked layer upon layer like a cake.

It had a pure white wooden exterior, engraved with white runes, and studded with gems of various colors. The slanted blade, hoisted to its highest point by rope, was crystal-colored...and on both sides of the blade hung bridal veil-like white gauze.

In front of the guillotine, there was a white lace basket. It looked like it was meant for flowers...but Annan knew it was probably meant for heads.

From a distance, one might think it was a giraffe bride draped in a wedding dress.

Annan carefully searched the room but found no exits. There was no blood on the blade, and no head in the basket.

——But this was clearly a dead end.

There was nothing else in the room to examine.

As Annan stood in front of the guillotine, pondering whether to try lying down on it...

A somewhat unfamiliar, yet also somewhat familiar shout suddenly came from behind him:

"——Annan, don’t move, don’t turn around!"

It was Evelyn’s voice!

Or rather, it was his own voice!

Annan was very clear about that——but, dammit, where did you spring from?

But since the other person had already spoken, Annan could only stand silently in place.

What’s going on?

Could it be that my future self’s task is to kill my current self?

And that "myself" behind me continued to issue demands:

"Get on it yourself, hurry up...ugh, no need to stick your butt out. Hmm, to make you trust me, I’ll give you a keyword, ’player and designer.’ Alright? Hurry up and lie down, don’t waste time..."

Waste time?

Annan pondered, and complied with the voice behind him, lying down on the guillotine. He stared fixedly at the white flower basket before him, lost in thought.

...You’re not going to make me cut the rope myself, are you?

At that moment, Annan heard the unmistakable sound of a rope being cut.

Then came the sudden sound of the blade dropping——

"Ouch..."

Annan heard a pained cry from Benjamin, suppressed to the lowest level.

The next moment, Annan suddenly opened his eyes.

He realized that he and Benjamin were both lying at the bottom of the stairs——with the lamp lying beside them. He had already been soaked through before, and now his hands and clothes were covered in dust...which had all turned into mud, creating an extremely uncomfortable sensation.

Thinking this, Annan reached out to help Benjamin up.

He instinctively didn’t touch Benjamin with his muddy hands.

But at that moment, Benjamin instead grasped Evelyn’s hand firmly and staggered to his feet.

"Ouch... this..."

He groaned in a low voice a couple of times, then reassuringly said, "It’s alright, it’s alright, nothing’s broken..."

...So you’re suggesting that I slipped and dragged you down with me?

Annan quickly grasped the implications of the young Benjamin’s words.

If not, he would definitely complain about how slippery the floor was——he didn’t dare to complain too much but reassured Evelyn first and foremost, probably because it was Evelyn’s fault.

Was it just now, when my consciousness was blurred, that I lost control of my body?

Annan instinctively opened the mission panel.

As he expected, the mission had changed back:

[Main Quest: Return to the Dream]

[Earn Benjamin’s Trust]

[Complete the Sacrifice Ritual Successfully]

[Do Not Go Home]

Annan instinctively grimaced, not from pain, but from annoyance——although he might not have that function just yet.

...So it’s just a matryoshka doll, huh?

How exactly does this nightmare end?