Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Chapter 115: "Werewolf Attack SegmentCloning looked at the smiling mayor and became more cautious.

"Well, thank you for listening to an old man, halfway into the grave, tell his story, young travelers." The mayor sat next to him, holding the teapot, bowing his back, showing off his mediocre tea skills, while he slightly sighed with indulgence, "...The curse of Terrily Town, I believe you have also understood. The townfolk... live in fear of the monster day and night, no one knows when death will fall upon themselves..."

"How long has this situation persisted?" Edward leaned back in his chair and asked.

"Actually, things weren’t always this bad." The mayor sighed lightly, "Ten years ago, the situation was terminated—a great deity told us that He would definitely descend and protect us. But for some unknown reason, the situation has repeated recently..."

"Ten years ago?" Edward raised an eyebrow, "Mayor, what is the origin of the curse?"

"The origin..." The mayor’s voice deepened, his facial wrinkles like they could trap flies, "It probably started decades ago after arrived in Terrily Town..."

Edward’s expression became slightly more serious.

"It was an extremely clear day, I was still young, and Terrily Town was peaceful..." the mayor recounted, "But the village’s brought back a child, a wolf child...raised by a pack of wolves from childhood, we saved him..."

"We fed him, clothed him, taught him to read, taught him to be a normal person...we all thought life would continue on until one day..."

His tone slowed down, filled with deep lamentation, as if plummeting into the depths:

"—We finally discovered what kind of monster we had rescued."

"Splash—!"

Moli accidentally overturned the teacup she was holding, spilling tea on Cloning sitting beside her. She hurriedly rushed in, continuously bending over to apologize, "I’m sorry I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to..."

Her hands were trembling, even after she stood up, they kept shaking uncontrollably.

Cloning noticed a layer of fine hair on the back of her hand.

"Moli, how could you be so careless..." The mayor treated her as if he was handling something fragile, not even bothering to offer Cloning a change of clothes, "Be more careful next time, okay?"

The eyes filled with indulgence pulled one into deep waters.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry—" Moli nodded her head like she was crushing garlic, her fingers tightly pinching her skirt hem, her nourishment extraordinarily plain, as if she wouldn’t stop without a response.

The young girl’s voice was crisp, yet it sounded particularly annoying at this moment.

But suddenly, Cloning’s body jolted sharply.

"Outer world’s traveler, our story..." The mayor seemed to want to continue his narrative, but watched as Cloning "swooshed" past him, kicking over the stool and darting out.

"Number One Player, Number One Player? Aren’t you listening to my story anymore?" he called out from behind, but Cloning had already dashed out like lightning.

In front of the shrine, Su Ming’an struck the approaching villager’s abdomen with his elbow, knocking him unconscious right away, the next moment, a blood-stained club was about to strike his head.

With a "thud," he caught the club single-handedly, but the apparently frail villager suddenly exploded with strength that even made his wrist go numb.

The woman nearby, with eyes red, also swung her hoe over fiercely, almost hitting his waist, but in an instant, he exerted force, a spatial fluctuation appeared, and he knocked down the woman in front of him, along with other attacking townfolk.

"Bang"!

He grabbed the club and knocked it on the forehead of the man behind him, watching him roll his eyes and fall to the ground. Su Ming’an moved his somewhat numb wrist, and after ensuring no one could still stand, he looked towards Yamada Machiichi at the side.

"Thank you," Yamada Machiichi said softly.

Su Ming’an didn’t express any willingness to engage with him; instead, he squatted down to check the townfolk.

He had some guesses about this world’s situation but still needed further clues. Thinking that his clone should have mostly finished chatting with the Mayor by now, he shifted his attention—

He saw himself through the eyes of his clone.

He turned around and saw the just-arrived clone, whose eyes still retained traces of fear.

"Didn’t I arrange for you to talk with the Mayor?" Su Ming’an frowned, not knowing why this clone had acted on its own to return.

"But your situation was very dangerous just now," the clone looked at him.

Su Ming’an felt something was off, something about the skill.

He suddenly realized this core skill... sometimes might be out of his control.

The "Independent Personality" mentioned in the skill description was something he still cared about.

...Though having intelligence is good, as it doesn’t require his dual control, it can’t be everywhere at once.

"Remember this," Su Ming’an said sternly, "From now on, unless I change the orders, you must not change them on your own, no matter how dangerous my situation is, even if I’m on the brink of death. If I die, just use Occupation Points to revive me—the precious clues are more important than my life. Do you understand?"

"...Understood."

"Now hurry back and finish listening to the rest of the story." Su Ming’an urged him to return quickly, then turned to look at Mizushima Kawa Sora beside him.

"What do you want me to repay you with?" Mizushima Kawa Sora’s eyes, dark as blackcurrants, stared at him.

"Are you a werewolf?" Su Ming’an asked while looking at the collapsed shrine in front of him.

"If I were, would you kill me?" Mizushima Kawa Sora’s voice trembled slightly.

"I’m a witch, of course I’d kill you."

"...I’m not."

"Good, then can you tell me the clues you’ve found?" Su Ming’an asked, tilting his head.

"...I haven’t found any clues either." She twisted her skirt with her fingers, her voice sounding dull as if covered in ash.

The audience nearly died laughing:

"Then leave this place." Su Ming’an didn’t bother with the girl anymore.

He went to inspect the collapsed shrine, but unfortunately, he didn’t get any reconnaissance tips, it seemed this clue point had already been damaged.

When he looked up again, Mizushima Kawa Sora was no longer there.

Su Ming’an ignored the townsfolk lying unconscious on the ground, left the place, and went to other parts of the town to search for clues. However, those NPCs just smiled at him, stuffing their fresh fruits into his hands with an extremely warm and intimate attitude.

The clone also returned to the Mayor’s room, but the story seemed to have already finished, with neither the Mayor nor the important target Moli in sight.

Only that door, locked, could not be opened even by obliterating it.

Coincidentally, while Su Ming’an was collecting clues, he saw Edward walking by, holding something that resembled a tablet.

He saw Edward give him a provocative smile.

"...Although I don’t know why, you didn’t listen to the Mayor’s story through to the end. But... you missed a very important clue, Su Ming’an," Edward whispered, "This will be your fatal flaw in this game—you won’t beat me."

"The more provocations you make, the lower your odds of winning," Su Ming’an said. "Stop setting flags for yourself."

A cold light flashed in Edward’s eyes, "...Do you really think I wouldn’t dare kill you during the day?"

"You wouldn’t dare," Su Ming’an said with a smile, looking at him. "Because you’ve seen your own cards, you know you aren’t the Prophet, so you admit Lv Shu is the Prophet, admit I am the Witch. If you killed me, Lv Shu would certainly not let you go, whether you win or he wins. With a deity dead, two die, do you really still have a hope of winning?"

"As long as I kill you in front of everyone, what does the victory of the faction have to do with me..."

"—Edward." A cold female voice came from the right; Mizushima Kawa Sora had arrived unnoticed, her steps as light as a black cat’s. "Don’t say things like that."

Edward also realized his gaffe; he closed his mouth, his deep eyes fixed on Su Ming’an, then turned and bumped heavily into Mizushima Kawa Sora as he walked towards her.

Su Ming’an’s eyes slightly cooled.

Just like Eli from the Second World, utterly boring provocative behavior.

The old Su Ming’an wouldn’t get angry, but now he felt a flicker of anger born of disappointed hopes.

He took a half step back, his tone slightly chilly:

"...So, Edward, I’ve never acknowledged that you could be ’Lighthouse’."

...A person who only eyes the position of ’Number One Player,’ ignoring the bigger picture, can’t become the future in everyone’s eyes.

Dare to say you want to kill me alone, ignoring the entire faction’s victory? What exactly had those higher-ups instilled in Edward?

Edward showed him a gesture, thumbs down.

"You won’t survive tonight, everyone recognizes you as the Witch," he said coldly.

"I will live longer than you," Su Ming’an said. "But a Hunter vying for position with a Prophet... Your sense of the greater good has been strongly shaped by them, you are their successfully manufactured ’strongest fighter,’ I admit that."

Anger flashed across Edward’s face. He was rarely angry, but this person seemed to strike at his sore spots with every sentence, easily igniting his fury, making him want to crush this person whose physical strength was far lower than his own, who was only skilled in verbal fights. But Mizushima Kawa Sora extended her hand and pulled him away.

"...Don’t argue with him..." Her voice carried quietly through the air.

Edward cast a cold glance at him, "I’ll see if you can still see tomorrow’s sun—regardless, Su Ming’an, I will ensure you face a miserable defeat before the whole world."

He and Mizushima Kawa Sora walked together into the shadows, merging into them in an instant.

Su Ming’an chuckled lightly, unconcerned with his threats, and turned back to continue looking for clues in town.

In the afternoon, after receiving a basket of fruits from an old lady, he suddenly saw a yellowed note lying in the basket.

"Her?" Su Ming’an placed the note into the clue bar, speculation hidden in his heart.

The residual glow of the setting sun was light, the sunset lingered.

The gallows in the square still hung Andre’s corpse, the evening breeze carrying a faint scent of blood.

A figure shrouded entirely in a cloak appeared at the square, slowly approaching the corpse.

She looked up, revealing an extraordinarily beautiful and gentle face, under thick bangs were eyes with dark bags, now twinkling slightly.

"Ah..." she slowly, slowly approached, her hand painted in brilliant red rouge touched the cold corpse, her face pressed against the corpse’s suspended thigh, her expression filled with deep intoxication:

"It’s really, oh so wonderful, such marvelous material..."

The setting sun grew denser, its thick blood-red hue casting on her face, adding a decadent beauty.

"—Hey! What are you doing! Don’t get close to the exiled criminal!" A townsperson, noticing her strange behavior, immediately came forward.

She slowly, slowly turned her head, the color of the setting sun in her eyes growing more pronounced.

"..." In her hands, the silvery blade gleamed as it sliced across Andre’s body, and the thin skin peeled away under the glow of the sunset.

"You, you—!" The townsperson’s face turned pale with fright.

"Just in time, you’re here. So, together with him, wouldn’t you say?" The cloaked figure’s blade flashed in her hand, "After all, by your so-called justice, one less or one more of your kind means nothing to this town, does it?"

"You, how can you—help, help me—!" The townsperson turned and ran, legs trembling uncontrollably.

A flash of blood in an instant.

The blade swiped down, the thin skin tearing little by little.

The cloaked figure chuckled lightly, seemingly very satisfied with today’s harvest. She effortlessly stripped Andre’s corpse, dragging the townsperson’s body into the shadows of the street bathed in the bloody sunset.

On the square shrouded by the sunset,

Only a lonely, blood-stained gallows remained.

As night gradually fell, a notification appeared on all the players’ system interfaces.

Night arrived, and as the full moon rose, the whole town fell deathly silent. Soon thereafter, howls of wolves filled the air.

"Ding Dong!"

Mizushima Kawa Sora opened her eyes in her room.

The clock pointed at 1:30.

"Ding Dong!"

She heard the system notification, and carefully wiped clean her Black Blade. The blade gleamed, reflecting the red flames gleaming in her eyes.

"Let’s go," she whispered to her Black Blade.

Fourth World·Current Identity:

Number 4, Lv Shu (Witch)

Number 5, Mizushima Kawa Sora (Werewolf)

Number 8, Andre (Unknown) (Exiled)