CH 97

Chapter 97: Castle Cry (XXIV)

“When we reach the rooftop, since it’s still raining outside, that will have an impact on vision and hearing, but you have an advantage; you can sense the demon’s energy, so trust in your perception more. Don’t immediately rush at her after the crazy lady appears. Take her attention and observe, remember to save, and be careful.”

When the door of the rooftop opened, Qi Leren stepped into the rain.

It was raining cats and dogs, and the Qi Leren was drenched in a few seconds. His mind hovered over the tipis Su He had told him before, and he clenched his dagger in his hand.

The garden in front of him did not have the appearance of being taken care of. Shrubs and weeds filled the rooftop garden after decades of overgrowth. Some trees that had floated here from nowhere grew wantonly in this place, forming a small dense jungle. If it was left to grow again, sooner or later, it would exceed the load-bearing limit of the roof and completely crush the roof of the castle.

She was coming.

Qi Leren felt the strange demon power, which emanated from the dense jungle.

There was a clap of thunder overhead, and the harsh lightning kicked off this decisive battle. Under the pale light, the woman coming from the forest was like a phantom, and neared in an instant. The rainstorm washed away her makeup and made her unrecognizable. She murmured in sadness, joy, and sorrow: “Ah, you’ve come.”

Dr. Lu shuddered behind the Qi Leren, and shrank behind Su He.

“Let me have a look at your hearts. Have you betrayed your love?” The crazy lady suddenly appeared beside Dr. Lu, and looked him in the eye. Dr. Lu did not move, as if he had been stunned, and looked at her with a glassy stare.

It was too fast! He didn’t react at all! Qi Leren looked at the crazy lady who had appeared in front of Dr. Lu in awe, and then looked at Su He, who shook his head and said, “The story.”

Qi Leren felt a little comfortable. It seemed that this was an inescapable fixed story element, but even if it was a story, the speed of the crazy lady’s display was really amazing.

The crazy lady sighed and took a step back. She looked at them gloomily in the rainstorm. “You don’t love your lover, but you are loyal. I forgive you.”

She disappeared in a ghostly way, and suddenly appeared in front of Su He and looked him in the eye.

Su He smiled at her, not surprised, not afraid.

“I cannot see your heart,” the crazy lady whispered in confusion.

Su He politely held her hand and left a soft kiss on the back of her fingers: “I hid it in a secret place; even a beautiful and noble lady like you would not find it easily. I would like to dedicate it to my beloved.”

The crazy lady’s empty eyes softened, and she showed a smile, but it looked distorted and weird by this point. She said, “You are a loyal and elegant gentleman, a person worthy of being loved. May God bless you.”

Su He let go and smiled at her: “Bless you too, madam.”

The crazy lady turned around and looked faintly at Qi Leren. He could not see any emotion in Nan Lu’s eyes. Her black eyes were already filled with another woman’s resentment and madness. She opened her mouth and whispered, “Let me see… Look at your heart…”

At the moment when the two people’s eyes met, Qi Leren’s mind couldn’t control the images of the Witchcraft Sacrifice task! Every frame was his perspective, every frame was… Ning Zhou.

Countless times from the past overlapped in this short moment, whether it was the wet forest, the horrible cave, or the  gloomy underground palace, the time spent with Ning Zhou was short and miserable, but it was also deep and sweet. When this strange and warm emotion burned in the soul, the lonely life was suddenly illuminated… Once tasted, it could never be forgotten.

The picture stilled on the Barrier of the Holy Spirit, the sky filled with light and song, and then suddenly jumped to the scene where he and Dr. Lu chatted with the four NPCs under the tree when the Castle task started.

The crazy lady opened her mouth, her inaudible voice clear and horrible in the rainstorm, and the excitement over her prey was unbearable: “Ah, you betrayed… Such strong and hot love, even my decaying body felt the warmth. But you betrayed your love.”

Words as cold as the rain seeped into his clothes, the coolness penetrating into his bone marrow. Qi Leren’s mind shuddered, and all words of defence were instantly frozen in this rainy night.

“Run!” With Su He’s order, Qi Leren, who had been stunned, started to run out. The cold rain hit his face, making it hard to keep his eyes open. The light of the flashlight seemed to stretch out into the night. Qi Leren tried to maintain balance and stop himself from tripping over the ubiquitous vegetation, but the crazy lady seemed to have some magical psychic power. The originally flat ground suddenly bulged where he ran, and the strong branches suddenly broke and fell in front of him.

The crazy lady’s ghost seemed to be everywhere. Sometimes she suddenly appeared in front of him, and disappeared with a strange smile after he was scared enough to have a heart attack. Sometimes she fell far behind him, like a wolf driving lambs. She played with her prey gracefully and calmly.

A few times, she approached Qi Leren, but when Qi Leren wielded the dagger and stabbed her, the blade of the dagger could not pierce her body! Her skin was as hard as stone, and she was not afraid of his attack.

The stairs of the rooftop garden lit up with fire, and what Su He said before the fight came to Qi Leren’s mind: “The Devil’s sacrifices will be destroyed by Dr. Lu, and the oil I asked you to bring from the kitchen has also been given to him. After you lead the crazy lady to start running, he is responsible for igniting and burning the sacrifices — I’m not sure whether burning the sacrifices before entering the rooftop would cause some uncontrollable accidents, so it’s better to burn them on the spot for the sake of safety. And you, when you run from the crazy lady, look for Xiao Hong’s body along the way, and we will burn him as well after determining the position.”

Dr. Lu opened and shook out the iron boxes one by one, throwing them into the fire. The ignited oil burned in the rain. As the sacrifices fell into the fire, the crazy lady who had been chasing Qi Leren suddenly gave a fierce howl: “No- Stop! You… Stop!!!”

An opportunity!

Qi Leren slammed on the brakes, and the Primary Fighting Skills in the card slot allowed him to twist and throw a miniature bomb at the crazy lady!

At the moment when the bomb flew out, the crazy lady who was holding her head as she screamed suddenly opened her eyes - under the gaze of scarlet eyes, the miniature bomb flying towards her was controlled by the force of her mind and bounced back to Qi Leren’s feet!

There was a loud roar, and the miniature bomb exploded instantly. The huge impact blew this corner of the rooftop garden apart, and the roof that had been weakened over the years was almost overwhelmed. The smoke of the explosion dispersed in the rainstorm, and Dr. Lu, who was watching the situation from a distance, was so scared that his face changed, fearing that Qi Leren would die without a corpse.

On the messy ground, Qi Leren, who was in the center of the explosion, succeeded in avoiding this fatal explosion by virtue of saving at the moment before the crisis.

Not far away, the crazy lady’s shrill cry stopped. She slowly lowered the arms holding her head and looked at him with a crooked expression: "Unforgivable ungrateful people… I will kill you horribly! Tear out your heart and soul!”

As if it were a banshee’s howl, her supernatural voice made the surrounding air shake, and the thunder exploded over her head. In the dazzling white light, she screamed bitterly, and the surrounding plants shook like crazy, and the sound of the leaves almost overshadowed the sound of heavy rain.

This is bad! We must get rid of her as soon as possible!

Qi Leren forgot to find Xiao Hong’s dead half-body according to Su He’s plan. He dug out the ashes from his inventory, and before the second loading time of S/L skill passed, he bravely rushed to the crazy lady and sprinkled the ashes onto her head. The ashes lit, and flames quickly jumped up from the crazy lady. Even heavy rain could not douse the flames on her!

She laughed like crazy. In the strong wind, the rainstorm was ignited, and the burning fire and rain spewed out in all directions under the guidance of incredible power. The shocked Qi Leren rolled on the spot and escaped the wave of fire and rain. The S/L skill’s 30 seconds were running out. Either commit suicide now or…

One tree after another was ignited by the flames, and was pulled up by the crazy lady’s strange power. Countless dirt and stones mingled with rain poured towards Qi Leren, and a flamingo tree was about to hit him. At this critical juncture, Qi Leren put the knife to his neck, and with the stabbing pain in his throat, the pain of being hit by the flying tree was also transmitted to his brain.

File loaded successfully.

After loading the file twice in a row, Qi Leren returned to the crazy lady, not thinking about whether this knife could pierce her body, and rushed up with all his eggs in one basket -

Wind, rainstorm, lightning, thunder… What happened in this castle on this rainy night merged into a horrible distorted afterimage before his eyes, with plants burning, the rainstorm burning, and the crazy lady standing still burning! Fire seemed to engulf everything, dragging everything into a burning purgatory.

The crazy laughter came to an abrupt end as the dagger inlaid with holy runes was stabbed into the crazy lady’s chest. She stared at Qi Leren in front of her, and the appalled expression was unreservedly revealed, making her more like Nan Lu than the crazy lady bewitched by the Devil.

Qi Leren’s heart trembled. Nan Lu, possessed by the crazy lady - was there any of her consciousness there anymore?

The dagger was pulled out of the crazy lady’s chest and a flame flew out after it, which seemed to be burning blood. Qi Leren stepped back two steps, staring at the crazy lady for a moment.

The overwhelming raging flames began to droop, and the horrible fiery rain went out. Just like the end of a movement, everything that was burning warmly gradually died out in the rain. There were only a few scattered flames, burning quietly at the crazy lady’s feet.

The rain weakened, and the thunder sounded farther and farther away. The storm clouds that had been circling here all night  finally began to recede, leaving behind a messy world and a group of people who indulged in stories.

The crazy lady’s chest was bubbling with “blood”, and the burning blood was as dazzling as molten metal, burning like a flame and gradually engulfing her.

“I had a long, long dream…” the crazy lady’s hoarse voice sounded in the rainy night, tired and wavering. “You shouldn’t wake up the dreaming…”

The crazy lady slowly closed her eyes, and the flames from the chest wound suddenly became blazing and dazzling, engulfing her entirely. Black polluted smoke rose from the flames and dissipated in the air, and the demon power disappeared, leaving a golden box in its place.

The rain had stopped.