Chapter 118 - One Hundred Sixteen - ’Fluffy Warmth

Chapter 118: Chapter One Hundred Sixteen - ’Fluffy WarmthMizushima Kawa Sora saw her fingernails starting to grow and fine hairs sprouting on the back of her hand. The door to the room was already open, the moonlight pouring in as if welcoming her to step out.

Following the prompts, she arrived at a comparatively larger room which had densely packed but indiscernible names on its walls. Red candles burned on a stand, making a crackling sound.

Inside, her werewolf teammates had already gathered.

This was where the werewolf camp’s players met to discuss their plan of action.

"...He didn’t come?" one person spoke up.

"It doesn’t matter, we don’t need that guy’s opinion."

"Why don’t we strike during the day?"

"This town isn’t that simple. I think it’s more than just a fight between camps. I worry that unless we can unveil the secrets of the town, what awaits us might be total annihilation."

"So should we leave someone to decipher it? I told you, I think I can do it alone."

"I’m not comfortable trusting our chances to a stranger."

"...Hmph."

"Are we going for a continuous strike tonight?"

"A continuous strike, yes, but I’m worried it’s going to be yet another one of his clones."

"He must die... Killing once is still killing, multiple times is also killing; I don’t believe he can keep on living forever."

"That... maybe we should try attacking someone else, there are plenty of the clergy out in the open..."

"No, you don’t understand, in this game identities and camps don’t matter; what matters is..."

"Stop talking about useless things, continue the strikes tonight. It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t die, tomorrow we’ll stir up trouble and find a chance to push one of the good ones out, we can still fight."

"Hmph... Being partnered with you, I don’t know if it’s good luck or disaster."

"Quit the chatter, let’s get ready to attack, I estimate he’s already on guard."

"So what, it’ll be just like the first night, it’ll be easy..."

The night was silent.

No lights on the street, only waves of wolves howling, echoing through the deathly silent town.

Mizushima Kawa Sora and her teammates walked down the road, their footsteps making no sound. The tightly shut doors of the surrounding houses seemed to dim instantly as they set their sights only on the house marked "Number One."

Their forms were enveloped in a thick black mist, impenetrable, ensuring the attacked couldn’t see their figures. Their voices had also been altered, completely unrecognizable from before.

—Now was the werewolf’s turn to strike.

The one struck could retaliate, but it generally wasn’t very effective. The space inside the house was cramped, the attackee couldn’t leave the room and had to face a number of players greater than themselves, almost powerless to resist.

In fact, that was indeed the case.

The first night before, their attack had indeed been incredibly easy.

"I’ll restrain him first," Mizushima Kawa Sora whispered, "then you guys go on, he can’t leave the room, easy to handle."

"Okay, I’ll take care of restraining his movements," a teammate responded.

Facing this quiet door, a pitch-black long blade appeared in Mizushima Kawa Sora’s hand. She used the hilt to press against the wooden door; with a flash of red light, the lock vanished, making it easy to enter.

"Creak—"

Her attention was immensely focused in an instant. Despite having succeeded once, she did not believe the opponent would just wait to die. He was very cunning, going by how leisurely he had looked for clues during the day, he must have been well-prepared... Tonight’s attack would definitely be very challenging, possibly requiring the use of her last resort to succeed.

The door made a slight noise as her figure flashed into the room. The Mentality Light Wave instantly spread out, completely enveloping the room, ensuring Mentality Disturbance was constantly present, and the next moment, her Black Blade was thrust straight toward the bed!

"Swoosh," the Black Blade plunged into the bed, Mizushima Kawa Sora’s figure trembled, and the bed that was pierced made a creaking sound as it collapsed.

"... Not on the bed." The room was pitch black, and a red light flashed in Mizushima Kawa Sora’s eyes. Thanks to her werewolf identity, she had slight night vision abilities, yet she saw no one in the room.

The room’s arrangement was incredibly simple, which also related to its small size. Besides a mahogany table with an extinguished candlestick on it, there was only a stool, a wooden bed, and a very obvious sliding door cabinet.

Not on the bed, not under the bed, nothing under the table either, Mizushima Kawa Sora even looked up to check in case that guy was hiding on the beam, but saw no one.

Then, the only place left to hide was...

"Pfft." Someone chuckled lightly, "If he’s not somewhere visible, where else could he be? Su Ming’an, you’ve chosen the most foolish hiding spot."

"Surround the cabinet," another person said, apparently also drawing a weapon aimed directly at the cabinet door.

"..." Mizushima Kawa Sora gripped her Black Blade, her posture like a cheetah ready to pounce, seemingly about to deliver a thunderous strike at any moment.

In the midst of the silent night, it was so quiet that only the faint breathing of a few people could be heard.

"Hiding on the bed or standing in front of the door still leaves some chance of turning the situation around," a teammate scoffed, "Hiding in a cabinet? Really don’t know what you were thinking, have you given up?"

"... Don’t speak too soon, what if he’s not in the cabinet, the whole audience is watching you be embarrassed," another teammate whispered a reminder.

"—! Seems like a problem," the teammate was somewhat annoyed, also realizing the issue—Was that guy really going to choose to hide in a cabinet? Wasn’t that... a bit dumb?

The teammate seemed eager to verify whether his earlier derision was misplaced, aiming at an empty cabinet and casting shame, quickly pointing a single hand, and the cabinet doors instantly flew open.

"Good evening."

They heard a very familiar voice.

Then, they saw that person actually sitting inside the cabinet, even smiling at them.

"... You guys aren’t sleeping either," Su Ming’an waved with a blanket wrapped around him, "Tonight, I checked on Eni, and Guide Anlienna told me he’s actually a good person... It’s quite regrettable, it seems I can’t escape the destiny of the Tomb Raider Captain, huh."

"Heh," one of them let out a cold laugh, "You really think you’re a prophet now?"

"Isn’t that so, I think the checks I reported were quite truthful," Su Ming’an spread his hands, "I thought I was going to be safe tonight... You see, a prophet that isn’t trusted by everyone is great for resisting blame. During the day, I can easily be slandered, exiled... But, I purposely made obvious eye contact with Lv Shu this morning to make you certain he was the witch... yet you didn’t knife the witch, instead, you came for me, which really saddens me."

The person before them seemed utterly unguarded as he spoke, yet Mizushima Kawa Sora’s vigilance never waned for a moment.

She knew the person in front of her was never one to resign himself to despair, words like giving up had nothing to do with him—this was someone who could use everything around him to keep going. If it seemed like he was cornered sitting in that cabinet, looking easy to deal with... then she might have overlooked something.

... Why did he choose to sit in the cabinet, in a position to converse...

Right.

Mizushima Kawa Sora understood, "Su Ming’an, you want to negotiate with us?"

He deliberately lowered his position, showing his weaknesses without any cover, his courage was huge... He was almost gambling with his life against theirs, betting that their first impulse upon seeing him was not to start a fight.

However, it was precisely because Su Ming’an was now in the cupboard, with no way out, that they could speak to him so relaxedly. Had he been on the bed from the start, a fight might have already broken out.

...He was indeed a terrifying person who could even take advantage of his own predicament.

"Yes, a negotiation," Su Ming’an leaned against the cabinet front, with not even a weapon in hand, looking extremely at ease. "A negotiation between the Prophet and the Werewolf clans."

A slight laugh was heard, but it was quickly suppressed.

"What do you want to say?" Mizushima Kawa Sora asked him.

"Now, turn around, turn right." Su Ming’an pointed outside the door. "See that ’4’ on the house outside? Go into that house and kill her; she’s a real Witch, and the poison hasn’t been used yet. Aren’t you seizing the opportunity?"

"You’re really harsh on your own Light Pursuer." someone remarked.

"No choice, think about it, the Prophet is far more important than a Witch... Although I am a Prophet whom no one trusts, who fights eleven single-handedly every day, it’s just too tragic that even the players from the Werewolf clan don’t believe me," Su Ming’an said with a smile. "But, it’s not important. What I want to clarify is not the identity of the Werewolves, but just the mystery of this town—why not let me go for now, let me solve some mysteries for you, and then come to knife me a few days later?"

With a "whoosh," Mizushima Kawa Sora drew her blade, pressing the blade against his throat.

Her eyelashes, black as crow feathers, trembled slightly, and her eyes exuded a line of blood-red light unique to Werewolves.

"...No need," she said coldly. "Both Edward and I can solve the ultimate answer, you’d better just die."

"Why the hostility towards me..." Su Ming’an sighed softly. "I remember my Charm should be Grade A... How come I can’t persuade you..."

Mizushima Kawa Sora sensed a subtle wrongness, but that strange feeling passed by like a meteor, not allowing her to grasp the specifics.

...The tone of this guy’s speech, why is it so...

"Is this still Su Ming’an’s Cloning?" someone pointed out her inner doubt.

...Right.

Mizushima Kawa Sora’s eyes brightened—this person’s tone of speech was too frivolous, not at all like Su Ming’an... The way he looked at her was also not as profound and intense, unlike the way he looked at what he called "Lighthouse," but more like looking at an ordinary Player.

She felt a momentary unease as her focus waned.

"Be careful of his true body! We don’t know if the real body can move at night..." Mizushima Kawa Sora quickly gathered her diverging thoughts and focused on her surroundings. She was actually aware of the existence of the Cloning, but was unsure if both could move at the same time during the night.

But if it was a pincer attack from the front and back, there might be some hidden dangers they hadn’t noticed yet.

"Where is your real body?" someone asked him nervously.

"Answer my question first?" Even with the Black Blade pressed against his neck, and one more inch could end his life, Su Ming’an’s smile remained unchanged.

Even though he was in the most dangerous situation, he still casually, as if he were in his own home, smiled at the night-time intruders, his gaze leisurely and relaxed:

"—First answer me, Werewolves, would you try to cooperate with your beloved Prophet? Would you try to provide me with a bit of fluffy warmth?"

"Just kill him." Unable to bear his excessively frivolous attitude, someone turned their head and spoke.

"Wait... actually, I think cooperation isn’t out of the question..." a Werewolf hesitated.

"You want to cooperate with him?" the person said, "Do you trust this guy?"

"Actually, aren’t we being a bit too harsh on him... I don’t think he’s that selfish..."

"This isn’t a matter of being selfish or not." Mizushima Kawa Sora said coldly, "We are enemies, and there’s no turning back."

The Werewolf fell silent.

"...So, it seems the negotiation failed?" Su Ming’an leaned against the counter and looked at them.

"Wait a minute, don’t kill him yet." Someone pressed down on Mizushima Kawa Sora’s blade, gently moving it aside: "We finally got this chance, let’s force his real body out, otherwise, even if we kill his Clone here, we can still see this guy tomorrow, and it wouldn’t affect anything."

Mizushima Kawa Sora nodded her head.

In fact, she had the same thought, which was why she hadn’t drawn her blade.

Cloning was indeed a bug, and even more bug was that, by observing those sum-up posts on the world forums, they had discovered that if the Clone and the real body weren’t killed together, the other side would spend an unknown price to resurrect each other... So it was best to find Su Ming’an’s real body and kill him before he could react.

"No way, Mizushima Kawa, are you really that cruel?" Su Ming’an’s voice came from behind the counter.

Mizushima Kawa Sora, called by name, unconsciously shifted her gaze before realizing.

"Whoosh"—her Black Blade thrust into the counter, grazing past his face.

"...Where is your real body?" Mizushima Kawa Sora stared into his eyes.

"Guess?" Su Ming’an smiled innocently.

"Whoosh!" The Black Blade flashed by, but only grazed a ripple in the air. Mizushima Kawa Sora quickly turned around to see Su Ming’an teleported on top of the mahogany table.

"Edward didn’t come?" Su Ming’an glanced, "So he really is a Hunter?"

"Whether he is or not, don’t you know?" Mizushima Kawa Sora slashed out again while secretly unleashing a Mentality Attack.

But in the next moment, before the other Werewolves had time to move, she felt something sharp holding against her neck.

...His speed was astonishingly fast.

"Edward didn’t come, and you all are gloating?" Su Ming’an’s blade pressed against her neck, "The First Night I indeed let my guard down while speaking with Anlienna, and that allowed you a chance. You don’t really think my Combat Power from the past three worlds was for nothing, do you? With this Combat Power, you still think you can kill me...?"

"Ah—! He talks so much! This Clone is so annoying!" a Werewolf teammate opened his palm wide, and a strong gust instantly pushed Su Ming’an away, rescuing Mizushima Kawa Sora from danger.

She lifted her head, watching as Su Ming’an rapidly attacked again.

...He really was annoying.

Previously she found Su Ming’an’s personality inexplicable, his gaze unnervingly eager, and his act of suicide in front of the whole world made her unable to forget his eyes night after night... But after dealing with such a state of a clone, she started to appreciate that the real Su Ming’an was not like this...

At least he wouldn’t jeer non-stop, stirring her originally calm state of mind into a mess.

She really wished she could cut this Clone down with one strike.

She wanted to move forward to take him down quickly, but felt a shudder all over her body. Before she could strike, she noticed a flash of blue light in the depths of his eyes.