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Chapter 540 - 537: “At this time, Su Rin is still on her way riding a horse.”

Chapter 540: Chapter 537: “At this time, Su Rin is still on her way riding a horse.”

"Ding——!"

A bell tolled, and the originally bright hall suddenly dimmed.

Eni withdrew her leg, and a few of the onlooking Players also fell silent.

Nine gold candlesticks were placed in front of the people, their flames flickering like ghostly shadows.

This final line-up of nine was indeed startling, causing many betting pools to collapse and go bankrupt.

Not to mention the elimination of the second-tier Eni, Flora, Lv Shu, Yamada Machiichi, Luna, and others, even the much-anticipated first-tier Edward, Atlanda, and Alger were not present.

Apart from Su Ming’an, Noel, and Mizushima Kawa Sora, Lu and Bei Wang, these five top-ten peak Players were within their expectations, Anger, Joy, and Sherry were all ranked quite low.

...Yet here they were, all gathered together.

"Tap, tap."

Steady footsteps suddenly came from above, this ancient castle had four or five floors and covered a vast area, and that sound was coming from the stone staircase.

Since the oil lamps had all gone out and only the weak light from the fireplace and nine candlesticks remained, they could not make out the person’s appearance, but it was likely the Rules Presenter.

"...Judging by the vague figure, it’s not Boss Rabbit?" Sherry whispered.

Boss Rabbit had always been the one to issue the rules to them, but now it seemed like someone else had taken over.

The Shadow’s patrol task had already reached one hundred percent, so naturally, he would no longer disguise himself as Boss Rabbit to announce the rules.

The person walked along, footsteps echoing one after another, neither hurried nor slow, like the last high-class entrant in a ball, appearing very grand and imposing.

The nine Players in the hall, the four Guides... and the hundreds of millions of spectators outside were all staring tensely and expectantly at that dark section of the staircase, waiting for the person hidden in darkness to step into the light.

Suddenly, a blinding halo of light shot out from Su Ming’an’s wrist, striking the person’s face and causing them to recoil sharply.

"——Good morning, dear Anjiang! The Alyn evolutionary model three Artificial Intelligence wristwatch is here to tell you the time punctually, it is now January 11, 2022, midnight! Today, I have loaded the hometown tune ’Luck Is Coming’ for you——"

"Bang!" Su Ming’an flipped his wrist and tapped the wristwatch on the table surface, silencing it immediately.

"I wanted you to light up, not to talk," he said.

He just wanted some light, but this wristwatch even called out "Anjiang"... Despite being a learning AI, it didn’t pick up good habits; it had learned all sorts of odd nicknames.

Doctor Xu, who made the wristwatch, had intended for it to accompany him through various World Replicas, allowing the AI to grow and evolve gradually, and yet what this wristwatch picked up was "Anjiang".

Su Ming’an lifted his hand, and the strong light shone on the person again, fully illuminating their appearance.

The other Players were baffled—this Rules Presenter had made such an entrance obviously to show off a high style, but as soon as Su Ming’an shone the light, that entire high-class entrance was ruined in an instant.

They looked toward the person enveloped in light and saw that they were wearing a pure-colored black robe.

Seemingly dazzled by the strong light, a pair of pale, slender hands covered the face, appearing somewhat light-sensitive. Like a mouse forcibly dug out from underground.

"——It’s you!" Joy, with her squinty eyes, widened them for once after seeing the black-robed person’s features.

She recognized this black-robed person—it was the same individual who had intentionally lured away the Guides out of their senses and commanded the Curse Black Beast to kill in Qiongdi.

Su Ming’an also recognized the black-robed person.

He and this black-robed person had clashed in the cave a few days ago; the black-robed person was capturing the Guides to use them as energy sources for the Curse Black Beasts, driving these dangerous monsters.

For some reason, the black-robed person’s Initial Favorability towards him was 95 points, but since he had mistaken the other for Su Rin at the time, it dropped by 5 points.

The moment Su Ming’an shone the light, the black-robed person quickened their pace, swiftly reaching the fireplace.

He wore a pitch-black mask, and no one could see his face.

The warm light of the fireplace danced upon his black mask, giving off a sharp metallic sheen.

"You can put away your light now, outsider, before I get angry," he said to Su Ming’an.

Su Ming’an shut off his wristwatch.

The wristwatch had no other function, but its brightness was indeed intense; he could almost go blind from a distance, and the robed figure facing the strong light must have experienced quite a bit of light pollution.

He looked at the man in black robes before the fireplace, pondering quietly.

He could now be certain of two things.

First, this NPC robed figure might currently be unable to strike out at players.

Second, the robed figure did indeed hold a high level of favorability toward his impersonation, so high that even being mocked like this did not cause any decrease in favorability...

"—Welcome to my castle,"

The robed figure suddenly spread his arms, and his deep voice rumbling through the spacious hall.

He stood in front of the fireplace, backlit, casting a long shadow in front of him; people could only make out the slightly reflective metal mask on his face, and the silver beast patterns that seemed almost spiritual, affecting their minds, making them feel as if they were witnessing the primeval scenes of humans and hunting, the knives and fire amongst the wormwood and forests.

He appeared overwhelmingly proud, greeting them with the poise and confidence of a host, welcoming his long-travelled guests. The fire flickered behind him, his arms spread out like a black cross standing erect before the flames, reminiscent of a deity embraced by fire in songs of old.

...However, the spotlight that followed him just now had instantly stripped him of all his coolness.

The players looked at him somewhat awkwardly, even Bei Wang, who was sleepy-eyed, had been startled awake by the bright light.

"What was that just now?" he rubbed his eyes, "So bright..."

"—At your age! How can you even feel sleepy!" Lu said.

"..." Bei Wang looked at him with a dull gaze, his eyes seemed to harbor a misty fog, appearing as if he had not yet fully woken up.

"—Distinguished guests from afar, welcome to my banquet," the robed figure ignored the players’ whispers and continued:

"—You are all contestants of the Sacrifice Field, having braved the brambles and thorns to come here, you must have endured hardships. Therefore, I have prepared a grand feast for you..."

Su Ming’an was witnessing a Rules Presenter losing face for the first time.

While players like Lu and Bei Wang chatted among themselves below, the robed figure spoke above; the two conversations were like separate lines that never intersected, reminding him of a public course lecture in college.

"...But before joining the feast, there are some rules you need to know..." When the robed figure reached this point, the players finally reacted and looked up.

A deep blue panel appeared before each person.

...

[Final Silver Star Replica]

[Instance Name: Ancient Castle Mystery]

[Difficulty: 5 Silver Stars (The winner will receive 5 Silver Stars)]

[Number of Participants: 9]

[Recommended Player Skills: Intelligence, Luck, Acuity.]

[Within the castle, there are clean, tidy corridors, and rooms with a cozy setup.

The hospitable people of Qiongdi will prepare for you a pleasant vacation.

As visitors from afar, you will spend three warm, healing nights here...]

...

With a "swish", a black feather suddenly appeared in everyone’s hands.

Su Ming’an glanced at his feather, which bore the bright red number 1.

"Now, you should all have a feather in your hands," the robed figure said:

"Your task is to search this ancient castle, obtain more feathers, and accumulate the number on your feather to 100 points.

On the third day at noon, you can gather in the hall to hand over the feathers you’ve collected. Only when the total number of everyone reaches 100 points will you be victorious.

However, among you, there are traitors who intend to deliberately destroy the feathers. They have replaced the original people and are no longer the ones you knew; they will purposely obliterate the feathers scattered around, preventing you from reaching the total of 100 points in the end.

Please be vigilant against them, and kill them as soon as possible!

A friendly reminder: when someone dies, the feathers in their possession will be automatically destroyed. So it would be best if you don’t accidentally hurt innocent people, lest you find yourselves unable to reach the 100-point total in the end."

After the robed figure finished stating the rules, the group took a moment to digest the information.

They truly hadn’t expected this final replica to involve faction cooperation; they had thought it would be a fight to the death against each other.

"May I ask, how is the initial number on our feathers determined?" Mizushima Kawa Sora asked.

The number on her feather was a distinct 3.

Others nearby had relatively small numbers; for example, Lu and Bei Wang each had 12, Noel’s number was 18, Herbert and Joy had 3 and 4 points respectively, and Sherry’s number was the highest, a full 24 points, while Anger had his feather well guarded and not shown to others.

"Based on your level of kindness," the robed figure answered, "the more pure-hearted you are, the higher the number."

Su Ming’an stared at the bright red number 1 in his hand and glanced at it.

...Humph, they were cheating him again.

He turned his head to look at Eni’s feather, and his gaze suddenly froze.

Eni was protecting her feather from view, but he had seen it—her feather bore the number 99.

1+99=100, his math was surely not wrong.

...They had already won, hadn’t they?

What was this replica playing at?

"Question, does the traitor know they are the traitor?" Lu raised his hand and asked.

"They know," the robed figure answered.

"You just said someone among us has been replaced by a traitor. Where did the original players go?" Noel asked.

"They have their own methods for a perfect pass," the robed figure responded.

"Does the traitor know the personal information of the player they replaced, do they know their past?" Sherry asked a crucial question that would determine how they could identify the traitor.

"That..." the robed figure’s answer was intentionally vague.

The others wanted to ask more questions, but the robed figure was no longer responsive.

They took a step back, their figure blending into the light.

"There are various interesting things in the ancient castle related to a ’perfect pass’. I look forward to your exploration." The robed figure bowed slightly, "So then—enjoy your vacation."

The fireplace flickered, the flames suddenly went out, and the hall was plunged into darkness, with only nine dim candlelights flickering.

Su Ming’an immediately activated his wristwatch, accurately shining the light on the robed figure who was trying to make a run for it.

The figure wanted to play their shadow-slip trick but was caught in the light completely for the second time.

"Hold on, are you associated with Fengchang? Why are you the presenter of rules for the replica?" Su Ming’an asked.

A few days earlier when Su Rin’s name came up in the cave, the robed figure’s favorability dropped by 5 points, indicating they definitely knew Su Rin and were likely one of Fengchang’s people.

However, the robed figure didn’t respond to his question, running away very fast, like a mouse with grease on its feet.

"Ding-dong!"

The system alert suddenly sounded.

[The game has begun, all contestants will start to be randomly dispersed and transported—]

...

Su Ming’an grabbed Eni, his 1 point combined with her 99 points already spelled victory, and all they had to do was wait for the handover phase at noon on the third day to claim their win directly.

However, it was a dispersed transportation, and when he reopened his eyes, there was no one by his side.

He looked up to see complete darkness.

Once the lights of the ancient castle went out, everything before his eyes was pitch black, so dark he couldn’t see his own hand.

A sudden "crackling" noise arose, as if some twisted creature was crawling closer. Because of The Dark Forest law, he did not rush to turn on the light but stood silently in place.

But the next moment, his Sixth Sense in Shadow State suddenly started to alarm him, as if something life-threatening was swiftly approaching—!

[You must find a light source as soon as possible, or you will be consumed by the darkness!!!]

A vivid red warning lit up, with lettering dripping like blood, highly terrifying against the backdrop of sheer darkness.

Without further hesitation, Su Ming’an turned on the light.

"Click!"

He raised his hand, and the wristwatch’s round light shone bright, akin to a nuclear-powered flashlight from a horror game.

The next moment, that spine-chilling sensation of deadly threat immediately faded away, as if a massive shadow had flitted across the edge of his vision and dissipated.

He turned his head but could only catch a glimpse of a faint shadow, and deep chewing sounds came from the darkness, as though gnawing on human bones.

He scanned his surroundings and found himself in a very large room, resembling a lounge. In the corner was a bamboo woven basket for candles, containing three blood-red candles and a match.

... This must be the initial benefit. If someone didn’t have a flashlight, these candles would be their paltry light source.

If they couldn’t feel for these candles before the threat arrived, they would have been dead already.

[The light source provided to you is only effective for the first hour; please collect more light sources as soon as possible!]

Another vivid red warning popped up.

Su Ming’an pocketed the three candles and the match—these items couldn’t be stored in his backpack.

He started walking but stopped abruptly.

At his feet—a purple-black corpse had appeared at some point, its flesh rotten and covered in spots, its hands and feet long and skinny like spider legs.

The foot he had put down stepped right on the back of the corpse’s hand, "crackling" as if joss paper was burning, his shoe soles getting coated in the thick, dark blood.

"..."

He gazed at the corpse with a grim death expression.

...So this was the "warm and healing" ancient castle vacation.

It was still the familiar world game style after all.

"—Su Ming’an?"

He turned around to see Lu with her sea-blue hair, holding a red candle dripping with wax, coming from a small door.

...

[SAN value: 50 points]

[Number of survivors: 13 people]

[Su Rin’s status: Passionately jungling.]

...

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