Seeing that his "prank" had been discovered, Castin stopped what he was doing and even obediently raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"Hi."

Willy didn't respond to his greeting, but looked the person in front of him up and down, and asked in confusion:

"You're not dead?"

Not only did he not die, but he also became very different from before.

This doesn't refer to his current disheveled appearance, but rather to... other aspects.

Like a rope stretched to its limit, he had originally tied it to his body, relying on it to walk on a tightrope high in the sky, but at a certain moment—

The rope snapped suddenly, and he fell from the sky.

in short.

Willie thought Castin had gone mad.

He had never taken the detective seriously when he was in the church, but now his magic was unconsciously aroused.

Is this game really that stressful?

"What?" Castin listened intently to Willie's words, then waved his hand. "No, it's not time yet."

Why would you think that?

He was slightly excited and spoke very quickly, to the point that he seemed a bit unrestrained.

Willy frowned and tentatively began to speak:

"Because...new players have arrived?"

"Only when all the players in the first round are eliminated will the players in the second round enter the game."

He explained.

"……Yeah?"

Upon hearing this, Castin unexpectedly calmed down, and all the restlessness was like a ball of yarn being combed and tidied up, which he instantly absorbed into his body.

"So they're all dead..."

Vili didn't have the patience to wait for him to think, and immediately asked again:

"So why didn't you die?"

"Um……"

The detective straightened his collar, took out a cigarette from his coat pocket, and with a click, a small light appeared in the darkness, turning into a spark.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

As if realizing something, he covered his cigarette with his hand and glanced at Willy.

"You don't mind, do you?"

Vili was quite bothered, but he had something else he was more curious about, so he just shook his head and casually cast a spell to temporarily block his sense of smell.

"Surviving in this game is indeed very difficult, but luckily I've been pretty lucky."

“After meeting you at the church that day, I found an important list inside to seal the evil god—it contained important items, rituals, and spells.”

Vili raised an eyebrow but did not interrupt him.

"The operation went smoothly that day. The next day, I was also checked for my sidearm, but thankfully not a single bullet was missing."

"But the other players weren't so lucky. In just one night, we lost almost half of our players."

“In the days that followed, the NPCs became wary of me. Even though I knew what the item was, I couldn’t get any clues from them, let alone find out where it would spawn.”

At this point, he glanced at Vili, clearly remembering that the person in front of him was also an NPC.

Vili, however, only urged him to continue with his eyes.

Castin flicked the ash from his cigarette and stared blankly into the hazy gray mist.

"...What followed was a nightmare."

"Players are far too fragile compared to the monsters that NPCs have transformed into. Even though I tried to unite everyone, as more and more people died, no one was willing to listen to me anymore."

“I published the list I had, but they doubted its authenticity—because the NPCs remained silent about the contents, and some even said they had never heard of it before.”

"The players think that the current situation is the same as in the game, where only those who collect all the items and hold the ceremony first are qualified to escape, and I am just using them."

"So in the end..."

Castin gently exhaled a puff of smoke.

"They kicked me out of the players' group."

Their words still echoed in his ears.

"Since you've already become a police officer, it's okay if you live in this small town forever, right?"

"Who knows what you're thinking? I see those NPCs are really friendly to you. You'll be the police station's star tomorrow, won't you?"

"You always follow those NPCs during the day... Have you really never killed any players?"

Castin seemed lost in memories and remained silent for a long time.

It wasn't until the cigarette burned out and his finger was burned that he finally realized what had happened, took out a napkin to stub out the cigarette, wrapped it up, and put it in his pocket.

"...However, the NPCs did not trust me either. They only pretended to see me as a member of the police force because of the rules of the game. In reality, they were always looking for my mistakes and trying to kill me."

“I’m like a wandering ghost… I don’t belong to anyone.”

"I think that's why I didn't die."

"I'm no longer considered a first-round player."

"..."

"Host... he's in such a pitiful state."

Il looked at Castin with sympathy.

Willie made no comment on this, but immediately followed up with another question.

"Then why are you here now?"

"Even though I was the only one left in my group... I still didn't give up hope of escaping."

"I'm here tonight to find some props."

Vili stared at him for a few seconds.

Why were you causing trouble here just now?

As if he had known he would ask this question, Castin answered very quickly.

"I thought the people who came were players, but almost all the players know who I am." He gave a bitter laugh. "I didn't know they were all dead..."

“I didn’t want to hurt them, so I wanted to create the illusion of a haunted place to scare them away.”

There was indeed a player here before.

Vili refers to Chu Lai.

"Didn't you see him?"

"Um?"

Castin shook his head and pointed to the wide-open window.

“I just climbed up from there… When I arrived, this is already the place, and then I heard you push the door open, so I immediately hid behind the curtain.”

His words were logically sound, and everything seemed reasonable, but Willy's furrowed brows never relaxed.

Then it was Castin who spoke first.

Are you trying to stop me from finding the props?

Willy was simply enjoying the role of the player and didn't care where the items went; rather...

He looked Castin up and down, and suddenly a lightbulb went off in his head.

Xie Liqi is being chased by Chu Lai, and his fate is currently unknown. The detective in front of him, however, appears intelligent and skilled, having survived the NPCs' pursuit for so long.

In order to leave this place as soon as possible, why not place more bets?

Castin keenly sensed that the boy's attitude towards him seemed to have changed.

"I won't stop you, I might even help you... as long as you let me follow you, how about it?"

Castin's eyes flickered as he looked at Willy's radiant face.

"OK."

He laughed.

“You’re a very special NPC…we’ll get along very well.”