CH 95

Chapter 95: Castle Cry (XXII)

After leaving the room, the three walked silently through the corridor until Dr. Lu asked, “Where are we going now?”

“To the last sacrifice. What other places haven’t been explored yet on the second and third floors?” Su He asked.

“There’s several rooms we haven’t been in,” Dr. Lu answered.

“Let’s just go there and have a look,” Su He said.

Qi Leren is still thinking about Nina. She seems to regard everyone as a good person and blame herself for this tragedy, but ironically, perhaps she was the most innocent person in this story - at least her original intentions were good.

“Do you think that Mrs. Sarah’s madness was caused by Dr. Flajser?” Qi Leren asked.

“Er… This can’t be judged yet, but it looks quite like that,” Dr. Lu said, touching his chin. “From the rules of horror stories, Dr. Flajser being the puppet master behind everything sounds much more interesting than the story of a simple lady who went crazy because of love.”

“Don’t be too obsessed with exploring who’s behind the scenes. Some tasks will have many plausible possibilities. Different players will have different opinions and will disagree,” Su He said.

“That’s true, hey, how much have we completed now?” Dr. Lu asked.

“75%,” Su He told them.

“It seems that the plot has advanced a lot. It should be that each demon sacrifice found has a fixed completion value, and some important events and discoveries have a fixed completion value. Is this how it’s calculated?” Dr. Lu asked again.

Su He nodded with a smile, but did not speak.

“That…” Dr. Lu asked again.

“If it is not convenient to answer, don’t say it,” Qi Leren interrupted.

Dr. Lu gave a long cry: “Right, then I’d better not ask.”

By this time, the three people had walked out of the corridor with the magnificent hall ahead of them, the huge crystal chandelier lit, and bright light on the ground, which set off the magnificent glory of the castle.

A slender figure stood on the platform above the curved corridor, with long silky black hair and a gorgeous and elegant dress. Xiao Hong’s bloody body at her feet made her calm and collected appearance become eerie. She stood under the hanging frame of the family portrait, admiring it with her hands behind her back. It seemed as if she heard the footsteps below. She slowly turned around and looked at them on the ground floor.

Luo Xueyi, wearing the same dress as the crazy lady in the portrait, said with a sigh: “Ah, you have come.”

Under the dazzling crystal chandelier, standing on the platform, she looks like a nun who was about to sing songs for the gods, with lowered eyes and dignified expression.

Qi Leren stepped forward and asked, “Who are you?”

Luo Xueyi smiled mysteriously: “I am the ghost who killed Adeline. I am the countless betrayals that Sarah has noticed from the details, and the jealousy that will never burn out in her heart. I am her. Look, she is burning…”

With her sighing voice, waves of flames welled up under her feet. In the dazzling light, she smiled at them without pain and closed her eyes. The flames were like a lotus flower, which bloomed quietly in the sinful night and devoured Luo Xueyi’s body. By the time Qi Leren rushed up the stairs to save her, she had turned into a mass of ashes, together with the dead half-body left at her feet.

The burnt floor was blackened, and Qi Leren stood for a while. Dr. Lu and Su He had already come up.

“What did she really want to do? Why did she suddenly self-immolate?” Qi Leren was completely confused.

Su He stood aside, thought for a moment, and pointed to the ashes on the ground with his cane: “These ashes may be of some use.”

Qi Leren sighed and bent down to pick them up. Before his hand touched the ashes, it was lifted by Su He’s cane: “Don’t use your hands.”

“Ah?”

Su He lifted a small amount of ashes with his cane, and the black and gray powder rose up and crackled in the air. A fire appeared out of thin air and disappeared into thin air in a few seconds.

“Don’t be careless, these are no ordinary ashes. They should be an item for the boss. Well, has this copy finally remembered that it’s D-level difficulty? It’s quite generous. Miss Luo Xueyi probably came to give the item in person,” Su He said, smiling.

Qi Leren and Dr. Lu couldn’t help but squint at the ashes on the ground. In fact, normal people couldn’t think of the use of such a thing.

“I was worried that Luo Xueyi and Nan Lu would merge into one for the final battle. Now it seems that it won’t be so difficult,” Su He was glad to say.

Qi Leren imagined such a scene and couldn’t help shivering: “Thank God, fortunately not.”

“Luo Xueyi’s words, just what is the meaning of that sentence? I always felt that she had no deep meaning until now.” Dr. Lu recalled the words before Luo Xueyi set herself on fire, and felt that they seemed to have great implications.

“It should be some kind of metaphor and hint. It’s also because of her words that I think there’s something wrong with the ashes left by her,” Su He said. “When Luo Xueyi and Nan Lu confronted each other, she said that she was Sarah. I’m inclined to think she was telling the truth, but there is a difference between the two ‘Sarahs’. Luo Xueyi’s Sarah is a calm and pure evil persona, just like the Sarah who murdered Adeline. She was not crazy, but was calm and knew what she was doing, just like when she killed Nina. But Mrs. Sarah of Nan Lu is more like a kind of crazy jealousy over love. It can be said that Luo Xueyi’s Sarah is a personality different from Nan Lu’s Sarah. She knows of John’s betrayal. Because of this jealousy and hatred, Luo Xueyi’s Sarah appeared.”

I thought she would rush in and scream bloody murder at her husband, just like before, but she didn’t. She turned to me… She was so angry, but she was so calm, I suddenly felt that she was really crazy at this time…

Nina’s words once again appeared in Qi Leren’s mind. At that time, Sarah was completely controlled by the evil thoughts of jealousy, so why would she kill Nina for the sacrifice?

“Are you saying that Mrs. Sarah actually has multiple personalities?” Dr. Lu asked cheerfully.

“To some extent, it can be explained this way, but this story is not a horror story with multiple personalities. I think it is only because Mrs. Sarah was influenced by the power of the Devil after that this task was polluted, so she became more and more crazy and horrible. But where on earth did she learn such an evil way of offering sacrifices? This is also a problem,” Su He said.

“Ah, the water is so deep,” Dr. Lu shook his head.

Qi Leren went to the kitchen to find cleaning tools - before he went, he was asked by Su He to bring some oil back - and carefully swept the ashes into the dustpan, and then put them away with great care. It was possible that he would have to rely on these things to save his life in the end.

The three men then continued to gather clues. They found nothing more on the second floor, but something on the third floor.

“This seems to be a bedroom! But the door isn’t locked!” Dr. Lu, who was opening the doors from room to room, turned back and shouted to the two men.

The room faintly carried the Devil’s energy, but it was not very strong. It seemed like an illusion. Qi Leren strode in and rummaged around with Dr. Lu in the bedroom, but found nothing useful. The wardrobe’s door was not tightly closed, and it was full of crazy lady’s clothes.

“Since this door is unlocked, could it be that someone has been here before? Were Luo Xueyi’s and Nan Lu’s dresses taken from here?” Qi Leren asked, recalling the crazy lady’s dress Luo Xueyi wore.

“It’s possible. The wardrobe door isn’t closed now, so it’s a bit suspicious.” Dr. Lu and Qi Leren studied a bunch of the woman’s clothes.

Dr. Lu also proposed to find Johann’s clothes to wear. Maybe the crazy lady would lose without fighting if she thought she was despised by Qi Leren: “What if the boss runs away?”

“Anyway, if you’re the one playing him, I’m not worried,” Dr. Lu said innocently.

Qi Leren said combatively: “Believe it or not, I’ll use you as a shield!”

“No, you wouldn’t!” Dr. Lu was really scared and refused with a face of fear.

Su He, who was standing by the door, also came in and walked around, asking, “Where’s the dressing table mirror?”

“Ah?” “Oh right, where’s the mirror?” Dr. Lu and Qi Leren, who were playing games, didn’t notice this detail. Now they finally felt something was wrong. There was no mirror on the dressing table, which was totally unreasonable.

Why was there no mirror? Qi Leren looked at the dressing table and thought.

Was it that since the crazy lady was disfigured, she couldn’t look at herself in the mirror, or what would be reflected in the mirror… Was that why she put away the mirror?

“Let me see.” Dr. Lu went to the dressing table, opened the drawer, and threw things out one by one. He fumbled and knocked around and finally found that there was a hidden compartment in the drawer.

At the moment when the secret compartment was opened, Qi Leren obviously felt that the Devil’s power had become thick. Dr. Lu found an iron box inside and said excitedly, “Sure enough!”

[Obtained the Devil’s Sacrifice 6/6]

The tin box was opened, and inside the box were cut nails.

“Your love bird has flown away from you. Do you want it to stay on your shoulder forever?” In front of the mirror, which emitted deep and remote cold green light, the crazy lady simply sat. Her gaunt face was reflected strangely in the dressing mirror, and that face poured out attractive words in a bewitching voice.

It was an irresistible temptation for her.