CH 61

Chapter 61: Witchcraft Sacrifice (XXX)

There was a loud roar, and the whole underground palace shook. Originally, because Qi Leren collapsed from the continuous loading, he sat down on the ground with soft legs. The pendant that Ning Zhou dropped was by his hand. He struggled to command his arm to pick up the pendant and climbed to the corner and sat down.

Not far away the situation had heated up, and the frost had spread to his feet at a terrifying speed, covering the surrounding walls and ground with a layer of frost and snow, while the light on Ning Zhou’s short knife was waving into a silvery satin at an extremely fast speed, and the wall where it passed was cracked and destroyed. Among the dust and ashes, Qi Leren suddenly saw the illusion of a huge blazing angel, holy and majestic, just like when they were in the underground lake…

This time, it was a close battle. As for whether they could win… Qi Leren suddenly felt relief.

If they lose, just bury him here quietly, and let him slumber with Ning Zhou in this quiet underground palace.

The metal pendant held in his hand exuded coolness, and Qi Leren brought it before his eyes. He remembered that it was this pendant that released the Barrier of the Holy Spirit and gave the two of them time to breathe.

The round pendant had been broken, and it was opened with a slight movement of his finger, revealing a small photo of the woman with dazzling blonde hair and blue eyes almost identical to Ning Zhou.

Was it her? The blonde woman praying under the cross in the Barrier of the Holy Spirit, who was she?

Judging from their looks, she was definitely related to Ning Zhou. Was it her sister? But this looked like an NPC, didn’t it …

His body was getting colder and colder, and tired. He had never loaded the file three times in a row. Qi Leren still underestimated the overdraft of using this skill continuously. His head was getting heavier and more painful, and he could no longer think, slipping in and out of consciousness.

The battle in the distance became more and more fierce, and the whole underground palace seemed to be destroyed. There was constantly fine dust and gravel falling from overhead. Qi Leren barely raised his head and opened his eyes. The stone dome overhead had cracked, and more fragments fell down, the dust floating all around.

Qi Leren knew he should avoid it, but he couldn’t move at all.

The head of the flagstone was crumbling, with a ferocious shattering, shocking crack running more and more deeply, soon to hit him.

[Rain-Day Laundry: At present, the remaining sensing frequency is 0/3, and the cooling countdown is 23:59:59.]

Move quickly! Move!

Qi Leren wanted to scramble away a little, even if it was just a little, just to avoid the life-threatening one…

But don’t even talk about moving his limbs, even blinking seemed to burn away his last strength.

His line of sight became blurred, and the voices became distant. He stared at the slate above his head that was like a slow sinking ship, falling a little into the abyss of death. There was another loud noise in the distance, and the overburdened joint finally broke completely. The slate flipped and fell from over his head, about to hit the immobilized Qi Leren.

Sometimes, sudden death is so unreasonable… Qi Leren smiled bitterly in his heart and closed his eyes.

One second, two seconds, three seconds… The expected pain did not come. Qi Leren opened his eyes slightly, and his sight was blurred. He could only faintly see two white figures, holding hands and standing in front of him.

The slate that almost took his life was lifted into the air by incredible power, and was driven to float slowly to the nearby place, and then fell to the ground with a crash.

What was this… What was going on?

Qi Leren blinked hard, trying to see more clearly. The white figures holding hands turned their heads and their faces were blurred like a fog. But Qi Leren just felt that they smiled at him. Then, hand in hand, they disappeared in front of his eyes.

“Ellie, Aisha…” Qi Leren silently read out their names. In fact, he hadn’t done anything for these sad sisters, but they still remembered his insignificant help after their deaths.

Thank you, thank you.

Darkness and tiredness hung over him, and Qi Leren held the pendant, with the farther and farther sound of struggle in his ears, and his consciousness sank into the barren abyss.

In his lethargy, Qi Leren felt as if he was lying on a small boat, and the surroundings were calm. Only slight waves brought about the shaking of the hull, and the regular rocking made his consciousness more lazy, and he wandered in the dream freely without scruple. He felt as if he had forgotten something important.

What was it…

It seemed that… it was an important person.

Ning Zhou!

Qi Leren woke up from a trance, and for a moment he thought he had been lying in the grave for hundreds of years, so tired and cold.

Ning Zhou was cradling him, her long hair messy, and a few strands of hair even grazing gently on his cheek, causing slight itching. She looked down at him with gentle eyes.

“Ning Zhou?” Qi Leren called out her name, and his voice was hoarse as if he had not spoken for several years.

“Are you awake? How are you?” Isabel’s voice sounded from the other side, and Qi Leren turned to look at her with difficulty. She looked at him with some trepidation and finally breathed a sigh of relief when he woke up. “You don’t know how scary Ning Zhou’s expression was when she saw that the corridor had collapsed just now. Fortunately, after digging through the stones, she found you safe and sound, which is really great.”

Qi Leren blinked his dry eyes and looked at Ning Zhou. Some of her embarrassment appeared on her face, and her earlobes were slightly red.

His tired body was suddenly injected with an incredible force, Qi Leren couldn’t help laughing, and his smile was a bit silly.

“We won?” He asked confidently.

“Hmm,” Ning Zhou hummed gently. After the end of the battle, she could finally stop worrying about the influence of skills and start talking.

The happiness of the surviving swept through Qi Leren’s whole body. He came down from Ning Zhou’s arms. His legs were still a little weak, he didn’t even have the strength to walk. With the help of Ning Zhou, he walked forward step by step.

The front was a mess, full of collapsed stone and destroyed sculptures. At the end of the corridor in the distance, it was supposed to be a closed dead end, but now it had become a huge altar. It stood tall there, and there were two rows of stone carvings lined up on the way to it. Each one was a young girl, and their appearance was fixed in their last moment before death.

The relaxed mood suddenly disappeared, especially when he saw the stone carving of the Ellie sisters – he didn’t even know where the sisters had died in the underground palace.

“If we finish the sacrifice, we can finish the quest right? Who will do it?” Qi Leren asked.

Ning Zhou shook er head, and her deep and sweet voice was like a graceful cello: “I will not give in to the devil.”

Qi Leren recalled the ethereal and holy sanctuary in the Barrier of the Holy Spirit, and vaguely felt that Ning Zhou should be a person of great adventure and should belong to the Vatican.

“Then why don’t I try…” Qi Leren decided to try whether S/L skills could fool the system.

“I’ll do it.” Isabel stood up. She looked sad but determined. “Now I can’t go back to the village. None of the girls who were sent as sacrifices have ever returned. If I go back, they’ll definitely send me back. After all, I’m already a demon’s witch in their eyes.

"And… if I serve the devil and get strength, maybe I can see my sister again… I want to see her again.

"Thank you, if it weren’t for you, I’m afraid I’d be dead now, not to mention if I would have found my memories from that year, thank you.” Isabel smiled and calmly said goodbye to them.

“Have you considered it clearly?” Qi Leren asked her.

Isabel nodded: “Serving the devil may not be as bad as I thought. If I become stronger, I can protect the people I want to protect, my parents, my relatives and my friends. I don’t want to see anyone die again… I want to give it a try anyway.”

Isabel’s mind has been made up, and Qi Leren has not said anything. If he were Isabel now, he would probably make the same decision. In this Nightmare World, ordinary human beings were too weak. If there was a chance to change their destiny, even if they became demons, there would be countless people willing to try.

“Good luck to you,” Qi Leren blessed her.

The silent Ning Zhou also said: “Remember your heart.”

Isabel’s expression froze slightly, and then she smiled: “My heart has never changed.”

As Isabel stepped onto the altar step by step, a light beam rose from the top of the altar, and an illusory figure could be faintly seen in the light. Ning Zhou’s expression suddenly became solemn and her hand pressed on the handle of her knife.

Who was that? The Devil of Fraud?

Isabel had come to the front of the light beam, and though the figure shrouded in light and looked illusory, she easily associated her with the beautiful woman from three years ago.

The figure gave an inaudible chuckle, and the words were full of bewitching power: “Good girl, come to me.”

Isabel’s face showed a trace of fanaticism. She looked at the beautiful image with longing, and murmured like one bewitched: “I can finally come to you… Although I’m not the most beautiful and powerful one, I still won.”

She walked into the beam and never looked back.

Almost at the same time, the system prompt appeared.

[ Player Qi Leren completed the witch sacrifice task. Mission completion is 50%. ]

[ Reward for survival days is 30 days, and the coefficient of task completion is 1.5 times. Completed hidden task: Dusty Past. Reward for survival days is 10 days. Total reward for survival days is 55 days. ]

[ Data synchronization countdown, ten, nine…]

“Ning Zhou, when we’re back in the Village of Dusk, let’s meet!” Time was short, and Qi Leren spoke quickly.

Ning Zhou’s figure has been wrapped in the transmition beam, together with the blackbird on her shoulder: “Mm.”

Qi Leren laughed happily: “The steel bridge on Sunset Island.”

“OK.”

[ … Three, two, one, synchronization completion. ]

The teleportation was completed, which was different from the first time he came to the Village of Dusk. This time, Qi Leren was directly sent back to his home on Sunset Island.

During the mission in the main world, although his survival days would be frozen, other people’s time was moving. Including the time he took to go to Makah Village, he had actually left the Village of Dusk for more than a week, and a thin layer of dust had formed in his home.

Qi Leren immediately rushed to the bathroom, reflecting his familiar face in the mirror. Not the girl in the quest, but himself.

He suddenly became uneasy. Would Ning Zhou be disappointed when he saw the real him? Could she accept it?

This uncertainty made Qi Leren anxious. After washing his face, he smoothed his hair nervously, and even fussed over a small section of cocked hair.

Tidying up his clothes and taking a deep breath, Qi Leren stood in the entryway and opened the door.

The setting sun suddenly came into view, and the familiar air with oil and the salty sea breeze entered his nose, bringing a familiar taste and a strange longing.

He began to walk to the steel bridge.

At the twilit seaside, seagulls hunted in groups along the coast, making a loud singing sound.

The sea breeze blew his hair tips and his heart.

Qi Leren felt uneasy and happy, thinking about all kinds of things Ning Zhou had done in the quest. The hidden happiness made him eager to share it with someone. After meeting Ning Zhou, he would have to talk to Dr. Lu and tell him that he was leaving the club!

With every step, the excitement was unbearable. Qi Leren’s pace became faster and faster, and more and more urgent.

Every point and every drop of memory was sweet, even if it was that he was scared and flustered, even wandering on the edge of life and death, but everything was worth it, because in the end he got Ning Zhou’s heart.

Recalling Ning Zhou’s tears and kisses in the Barrier of the Holy Spirit, Qi Leren blushed unconsciously.

At that time, he had forgotten to feel it at all, but it didn’t matter. There must be a chance in the future…

Without realizing, he had changed from fast walking to trotting, and finally he simply ran. The Sunset Island shrouded by the sunset and the shadows stretched by the setting sun retreated rapidly in his field of vision, and it was difficult for him to control this excitement as he ran towards his destination.

The steel bridge was just around the corner, and Qi Leren finally stopped, panting and scrambling to tidy up his clothes and hair, surrounded by people coming and going, and no one noticed that he was so nervous that he was about to explode in this lively place.

Ning Zhou probably hasn’t come yet, right? Qi Leren said to himself, looking anxiously in all directions, looking for Ning Zhou.

Sure enough, she hadn’t come yet.

Qi Leren couldn’t be said to be glad or sad. He raised his foot and walked from this end of the steel bridge to the highest point of the arch. He wanted to stand there and find Ning Zhou first.

At the top of the bridge, a tall man in a black trenchcoat stood there with his arms crossed, his back turned to him, as if he were looking out at the estuary connected by the river.

Qi Leren stood on the other side. The trenchcoat on the man looked very similar to the coat lent to him by Ning Zhou, which made Qi Leren slightly uncomfortable, and he couldn’t help but look at the man’s back.

People came and went from one end of the bridge to the other, some talking and laughing, and some alone. This ordinary secular picture finally made Qi Leren feel like he was living in reality, instead of being bound by the cold and horrible underground palace like those dead witches.

Ning Zhou would come soon. How would he greet her? As he waited, Qi Leren had already thought about the scene when they met, until…

The sound of flapping wings sounded in his ear. Qi Leren looked up and saw the familiar big blackbird falling from the sky. It landed on his shoulder and shouted to him cheerfully: “The delicious food, the delicious food!”

There it is! The Goddess is here!

Qi Leren ignored the bird and looked nervously in all directions.

At the moment he looked up, the man in the black trenchcoat turned his body and looked at him in amazement.

Those familiar blue eyes suddenly crashed into Qi Leren’s.

Sharp outline, handsome face, and blue eyes that he would never forget until he died…

Qi Leren just looked at him, with the comings and goings of people laughing and passing between them, together in the happy mood. In this moment, all kinds of strange things he ignored in the quest emerged one by one, mocking him mercilessly.

At this moment, the two people on the verge of collapse asked the same question in astonishment: “You’re a man?”