CH 78

Chapter 78: Castle Cry (V)

There was a loud bang and Qi Leren fell to the ground, so overcome with pain that he couldn’t move. He almost thought he was going to die, and more planks and debris poured down and hit him. There were countless dust particles floating in the air, floating up and down in the lightning and thunder, sometimes gathering and dispersing.

Qi Leren couldn’t even take a deep breath from the pain, and his eyes adapted to the darkness. He gradually saw what was in front of him clearly. The light of the flashlight in the hole was not very bright, which made him feel as if he had fallen into a dark and cold deep well. He could only lift his head to see the light above his head.

The hound with burned fur was looking at him, and its ferocious and horrible head leaned into the hple. The foul saliva dripped between the dog’s white fangs and landed on the floor beside Qi Leren’s ear, smelling foully of meat that had been rotting for a long time.

Qi Leren did not dare to move, nor could he move. He felt that his soul seemed to have escaped from this body and flew out.

Don’t come down, don’t come down, don’t.

The horrible hound seemed to hear his prayer. After snooping around for a long time, it gave up jumping, growled and left slowly.

He survived…

Qi Leren took a deep breath, and his nasal was immediately itchy with dust. He wanted to cough, but as soon as he breathed in, his lungs convulsed with pain. He couldn’t help but curl up to cover his cough, and all his internal organs protested as if they were pinched together. When he calmed down, he was already sweating all over.

Is this a fucking D-level difficulty? Qi Leren couldn’t help cursing in his heart, and collapsed on the ground again to recover his strength slowly.

He didn’t know if this fall has caused internal injuries. Although his hands and feet were still fuzzy, there shouldn’t have been any fractures. This was a blessing in misfortune. He really did have bad luck. Qi Leren thought hard and turned to look at the window.

This window was also crucified by iron bars, and lightning cast a criss-crossing shadow on the floor, which also lit up the iron easel in the center of the room.

This should be a studio, Qi Leren thought, looking at the easel and the brass frames on the wall. It was a pity that they’d all been burned down.

Faintly, he felt that there seemed to be some strange power hidden in this room, as if…

He raised his arm, which was still aching, and pulled out the pendant from his neck. There was a black fog floating in the gem on the pendant, which was much thicker than before. Qi Leren narrowed his eyes; this black fog represented the concentration of demons around him, including the seed of slaughter on him. Right now the seed of slaughter was still alright, which meant that the demon energy here was very strong.

It was strange, how could there be devil power in this copy mission?

Qi Leren sat up from the ground with difficulty. When he got up, he almost thought that his spine was broken. Fortunately, he was only a little sore and hadn’t suffered any fatal damage. He breathed a long breath and felt alive.

The seed became active under the catalyst of demon energy, and the coldness spread down his spine. Qi Leren hesitated and took out the bottle of holy water from his inventory. The transparent liquid emitted a faint light, just looking at it giving the sense of holy power, he opened the lid and took a sip of it, and the power of the devil in his body immediately melted away. The seed of slaughter was hurt by his unwillingness, and then curled up in the back of his neck, dormant again.

His whole body’s pain seemed to be relieved, and Qi Leren finally stood up. He glanced at the holy water again and couldn’t help recalling the story Chen Baiqi had told him in the pure white moonlight on the sea cliff of Undead Island.

Where would he be now? In Neverland, that was covered with cold and snow all the year round? Would he come back?

Forget it, even if he came back, even if they meet each other, he was afraid Ning Zhou couldn’t let go. Falling in love with someone so quickly, so strongly and so irresistibly, only to find that this love was sinful… Ning Zhou, who grew up in that environment, would only suffer more than him.

Qi Leren sighed disconsolately, and had no choice but to think of it again. On that day, after listening to Chen Baiqi’s story of Ning Zhou, he had had insomnia all night. Although he couldn’t be blamed for this incident, he could only say that it was a tragedy brewed by the mistake of two people hiding from each other. However, even though Ning Zhou was so pained, he had still sent this holy water that he had learned Qi Leren needed. He still felt guilty for a long time and felt indebted.

It could only be said that this was a cruel joke of fate.

At present, the crisis was everywhere, and Qi Leren didn’t think much about this. He concentrated on studying the surrounding situation.

What was unusual about this studio? Why was there such strong demon energy?

Qi Leren dragged his aching body around the room. When he walked to the window, he saw that the floor under the easel was slightly tilted, lit up by the lightning from time to time. He stepped forward and squatted down carefully. This action made his face twist with pain. He tried to pull up the floor. Unexpectedly, this loose floor was easily pulled up by him.

There was a small iron box between the beams under the floor, and the surface had rusted. It could be vaguely seen that the relief above was a strange totem, just like… Qi Leren recalled the seal tower in the Witchcraft Sacrifice mission, where there were similar totems on the tower. Combined with the strong demon energy in this room, was this related to devil worship?

Qi Leren didn’t dare to touch the tin box directly, and wrapped his hands in cloth and took it out.

The system prompt followed: [Obtained 1/6 of the devil’s sacrifice].

Sure enough, it was something related to demons.

Qi Leren opened the box, and what was hidden in the box was a dark blonde hair, long and curly. Instead of being cut neatly, it was pulled out rudely. Some hairs had traces of breaking, while others did not. They were intertwined like a dark golden grass.

Qi Leren closed the box and put it in his inventory, thinking.

Even if this task was related to demons, it can’t be the demons in the Nightmare World, because this copy story took place in a copy similar to the real world, and this castle was built during the Republic of China. If this could also be connected with the three devils of Power, Slaughter, and Fraud, it would be outrageous.

It was a coincidence that one sixth of the “devil’s sacrifice” was discovered, so what was this object trying to tell him?

While Qi Leren was thinking, the easel not far away gave off a dim light.

Qi Leren raised his head and looked nervously at the easel. A phantom appeared beside the glowing metal easel, which seemed to be illusory and ethereal across a layer of fog. The phantom was a young woman with long curly golden hair. She sat in front of the easel and painted with a palette and brush.

It was her!

Qi Leren suddenly recalled the lady in the portrait.

She looked quiet and didn’t seem to have any mental illness inherited from her family.

A gleam of light appeared in the closed door, and a ghostly hound came into the studio through the wooden door.

“Redmond, come to me,” the woman who was painting called it softly.

The hound came to her side with gentle footsteps and laid down at her feet. The woman stroked its fur and whispered, “He’s coming back soon. When he comes back, I’ll give him a surprise. He’s going to be a father soon!”

The hound wagged its tail, looked up at her, and whined in its throat, as if responding to her words.

The woman stroked her lower abdomen that was still flat and whispered, “I will love him (her) and never let him (her) be like me…”

The hound seemed to feel her melancholy. It looked up and gave a cry. The woman smiled, hugged its head and kissed its ear. “I love you, too, Redmond. You’re my patron saint.”

The dim light of the phantom gradually faded and finally melted into the thunder and lightning.