Chapter 96 Chapter 96 What kind of person do you like?
When they reached the end of the foggy corridor, the surrounding mirrors were already covered with cracks.
What was reflected in the mirror was no longer a changing portrait, but a spreading, heart-pounding darkness.
The mirrors at the exit were all shattered, leaving only empty frames hanging in the air, or falling to the ground and merging with the powder on the mirror surface.
Then she smelled a fishy odor that had been fermented and corrupted by time.
A foul smell lingered in the sticky, greasy air. Every breath felt like swallowing rotten meat, and disgusting acid filled my nostrils.
The moment the fog dissipated, a gorgeous yet dilapidated courtyard appeared in front.
The dome above was a starry sky made of magic, now like a torn curtain, with dozens of irregular holes, and traces of burns remained on the edges of those holes.
The smooth marble floor was dotted with cracks, and some were even sunken, blasted into deep pits by an unknown force. The surrounding stones appeared strangely crystallized, flashing an ominous dark red light.
There were more than a dozen bodies scattered in the ruins.
At the entrance lay a man in heavy armor, his limbs almost crushed and his chest pierced by a blow.
The gorgeous armor was silver-white all over and looked somewhat familiar. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that it seemed to be the cavalry style of the Gyeonggi City Defense Force.
"...Dragon Knight," Su Cheng raised an eyebrow. "I've seen some dragon knights on patrol before. Their uniforms are very similar to this, but the emblems are different."
That was when she had just arrived in the imperial capital from the Vatican Temple. The group of dragon knights she saw were all horned dragon knights.
Now this one has a feather-shaped emblem on its chest.
"Is it the Bird Dragon Knight?"
Su Cheng turned his head while speaking.
"Um?"
The black-haired man next to him was leaning against a broken wall pillar, his sharp golden eyes somewhat vacant as he stared ahead, not knowing what he was thinking about.
It was not until he heard his companion speak that he turned his head and tried to understand what she meant.
Kai tilted his head, "Right?"
Su Cheng: “…”
She suddenly found him very cute.
Su Cheng's gaze silently swept across the mess on the ground, from the horrific corpse of the knight to the two bodies stacked together a little further away.
The two men were cut in half like a layered cake, the upper man was split diagonally from the shoulders downwards, and the lower man was cut in half due to the angle.
But it can be seen that the two were killed by the same move, and the cross-sections of their bodies overlap.
One of the two men was wearing a luxurious suit, as if he had just come from a banquet, while the other was dressed in rags, looking like a beggar begging on the street.
Their clothes were soaked in blood.
There were a few more people further away, some dressed as wealthy businessmen, some looked like ordinary craftsmen, and some looked like waiters in a tavern.
Looking around, everyone seems to have an identity, whether ordinary or special, common or rare——
Their figures and skin textures were consistent with their status. The nobles had delicate skin, while the craftsmen and beggars had thick calluses on their hands. However, it seemed a bit incongruous that they died together like this.
After all, it doesn't look like these people should be in the same yard at the same time.
In the center of the courtyard is a fountain, with a bloody white statue rising from the pool.
The statue was a headless human body - the neck section had been polished, and it was obvious that the statue had never had a head.
The headless man sat cross-legged with six arms growing out of his body. Each hand was exquisitely carved, with long and charming fingers, and they were in different postures.
But no matter how the palm turns and rotates, there is always one finger pointing downwards.
Su Cheng narrowed his eyes and looked at it for two seconds. "...Don't you think there's something wrong with this statue?"
Everyone in the yard had been killed, and there were traces of blood and destruction everywhere, but this statue was very clean.
"Yes," Kai came over at some point, "This is the god they worship."
"You mean there's some kind of divine power protecting the statue? But that power doesn't protect the living, right? Otherwise, they wouldn't have been killed by you?"
"No," he shook his head slightly, "but even if that were the case, it wouldn't change the ending—"
Kai said, looking down.
"etc!"
Su Cheng quickly went to block his eyes.
He didn't lean over, but just lowered his head slightly. Given their height difference, she naturally raised her arms subconsciously.
Kai took her hand, "What's wrong?"
Su Cheng stumbled over and was caught by him. "Don't look yet! The hand of that statue wants you to look down——"
Kai blinked, "Huh?"
Su Cheng was very disappointed. "This is the God of Illusions. What if you look down and get immersed in some illusion?"
He lowered his eyes to look at her, his thick black eyelashes flickered, and a hint of smile appeared in his eyes. "...Then wait for you to wake me up?"
Su Cheng stared at him expressionlessly.
"Sorry," Kai seemed to want to laugh, "It's okay actually. I've already checked it out. Did you forget I was here?"
Su Cheng's expression eased slightly, "At that time, you were busy killing people."
"No, it didn't take long to clean up here."
Kai squeezed her fingers, as if to reassure her, and then let go.
"After sensing the presence of that mark on you... I couldn't remove it, but I could barely trace its source, and then I found the gathering point of this Jingyin Society."
The water in the pool below was also dark red, with broken limbs and bones floating on the surface, as well as two masks covered with scars.
"...They worship the God of Illusion. This connection isn't just one-way, right? Take those followers of the God of Jealousy. Only after meeting him in person did I realize he didn't want to pay any attention to them."
Su Cheng thought for a moment and said, "Although he said that some believers can bypass the will of the gods by replicating their actions or embodying the concept of divinity..."
"If you're afraid of offending the God of Illusion," Kai said softly, "it's okay. I did all this."
Su Cheng glared at him again.
"…So if he wants to retaliate, the target will only be me, and I can handle it, so you don't need to worry, either for yourself or me. And I don't think he would do that."
Kai paused. "Killing is quick, but dealing with the remaining magic takes time. I don't think these people are capable of casting that level of ancient magic, so there may be something else behind this—"
He stopped talking again.
Those golden eyes that looked cold and stern were now filled with a helpless smile, "...Don't look at me like that."
The man raised his hand slightly and covered her eyes from a distance.
Su Cheng looked at him with a puzzled look.
The huge shadow cast by his palm completely covered her face, making it impossible for her to see the expression on his face.
"how?"
Confusedly, she pulled down the big hand and pinched the man's little finger through the flexible leather. "You're not feeling guilty, are you?"
Kai's gaze wandered to the slender fingers resting on the edge of her palm. Perhaps because the gloves were a bit thick, she used a bit of force when pressing.
With the help of her fighting spirit, she now has some strength in her hands. If it were an ordinary person, she would probably be in unbearable pain by now.
But he only felt it was some kind of gentle touch -
The big palm wrapped in leather gloves flipped over and completely covered the girl's white hand.
"No."
He sighed and said hesitantly, "I just think you are..."
Su Cheng: “?”
He looked like he was about to say something, but at the last moment seemed to change it to something else.
"……cautious."
The dark-haired man smiled slightly and said, "Interestingly, this often involves other people. But when it comes to your own affairs, you seem to be more impulsive."
Su Cheng hesitated, realizing he couldn't refute it. "It's not entirely someone else—uh, I mean, you came to Jingyin Society because of me."
"Hmm?" He pretended to be thoughtful. "I remember that you entered the Jinzhan Palace for me and provoked the people from Jingyin Society."
Su Cheng crossed his arms, "...I can keep playing with you like this, Captain. I can even say that you taught me fighting spirit, and I can guess what you will say, but I don't want to do this anymore, because this place really stinks. Although I'm almost used to it, it still stinks. Can we explore somewhere else? Or are there more corpses somewhere else?"
"No, there are more here."
The instigator quickly gave the answer.
Su Cheng puffed up his face and turned around, walking towards the end of the courtyard, where there was a staircase leading down. The door at the entrance had been brutally smashed, turning into fragments all over the ground.
Inside was a long corridor with walls on both sides painted in very different styles. One side was made of cold and neat obsidian, engraved with gleaming silver-white runes, while the other side was a rough black rock wall with something scribbled on it with white oil paint.
She looked carefully and found that it was text, but it was written too messily.
Su Cheng: "Is this...ancient human language?"
The man behind him slowly approached, "Yes."
Su Cheng nodded in understanding. "I saw this in the prayer room of the God of Purity... Do you recognize it? What does it say?"
Kai glanced at the wall. "Don't seek truth on rock. Seek wisdom in the shifting sands and clouds."
He said, taking a step forward and looking at another sentence, "Don't trust your memory."
Kai was silent for a moment. "This sentence... should mean to sow a dust of confusion in the minds of mortals. But the inversion and verb conjugation seem to be wrong."
Su Cheng blinked, "I thought they copied this from ancient books?"
"No, it's more like someone who taught themselves, but didn't learn very well. Once they have to form complex sentences or write poetry... let's just say it's poetry, it becomes weird."
They continued to move forward, and Su Cheng saw many broken doors. One of them was a destroyed storage room with many collapsed shelves inside. Various potion bottles were smashed on the ground. The colorful liquids blended together and dried on the obsidian floor tiles. Some turned into gel and emitted a strange smell.
There was another room that was empty, except for a huge translucent crystal. It looked like a screen showing a movie, and each of its irregularly shaped facets projected a different scene. Some were burning cities and fleeing crowds, some were dragons flapping their wings in the sky, and some were blurry and constantly changing faces.
The wall at the end of the corridor is intact, and the rooms on both sides look like prisons, but there are only a few skeletons inside. The skeletons also look incomplete, and some ribs have been removed.
Su Cheng touched the wall and finally found a very tiny groove on a stone brick.
She tried pressing it.
Lines of glittering words appeared on the wall.
Su Cheng turned around and asked, "...Why did you leave this door open?"
"Everything inside will shatter together," Kai said, standing against the wall. "It's up to you to decide. I think there should be some scrolls about illusions inside. I suspect you'll be interested. If you want, you can try to solve the puzzle."
Su Cheng was about to say that he didn't recognize the words on the wall, but he found that those symbolic things were rapidly distorted and changing.
Then it became the common language.
"I am the final destination of the cradle and the initial warming bed of the grave. I swallowed billions of burning fires, but my belly is still endlessly cold. I accepted all the endless dreams, but my arms have never embraced any tangible thing. What am I?"
Su Cheng: “…”
She hates the Riddler!
Su Cheng: "Time."
The wall didn't respond.
Su Cheng: "Death."
The wall still remained unchanged.
Su Cheng silently took a few steps back and lowered his voice and asked, "How many chances does this thing have?"
Kai shook his head slightly, "I don't know, but relax, even if you really want the illusion scroll, there are many ways to get it, so don't be afraid of messing it up."
Su Cheng thought about it for a while, then returned to the wall and asked tentatively, "Nothingness?"
With a loud bang, the wall slowly opened to both sides.
Inside was a square stone chamber with a desk in the middle and a brass oil lamp on the desk. The flame of the wick was an eerie white.
But when she looked closely, she found that the white seemed to be shrouded in a colorful halo.
On the table stood a pure silver inkwell, the liquid inside having the consistency of a living thing wriggling, and a few quills lying beside it.
The cupboards were filled with densely packed scrolls, some thick, some thin, and many letters.
Su Cheng rolled up his sleeves and began to search.
It would take too much time to search for them one by one, so she thought they should be roughly classified, so she randomly picked out a few.
The files in the first area appear to be various identity files.
Su Cheng looked at a few of them and suddenly realized that this might be a list and the people on the list had been replaced.
Or is it an object to be replaced?
An ally? A supporter? An enemy?
She searched several other classified areas and finally found records related to illusions, which also contained many rituals for summoning gods.
The former is quite interesting, but the latter is just dizzying.
She also found a scroll in the cabinet, wrapped in an exquisite manner and covered with a layer of protective film. This technology is usually used to preserve ancient books.
Su Cheng opened it and took a look curiously.
There is a vaguely sketched face on the scroll.
Su Cheng: "...He looks so familiar, I think I've slept there before."
Kai: “?”
Su Cheng took a deep breath, "That dancer! In Huishan Town, that night I——"
"I remember," Kai interrupted her, "Are you sure it's this person?"
"It's just a portrait. I'm not sure. I just think they look very similar. That person looks even more beautiful—"
The room suddenly fell into silence.
Su Cheng coughed lightly, "I mean-"
The man next to him took the portrait and examined it carefully for a moment. "Do you appreciate this type of painting?"
Su Cheng rubbed his temples, his mind still recalling the illusion he had just seen, "I think he is good-looking, but this appearance is not my favorite type..."
"What's your favorite?"
"You."
Su Cheng said without hesitation.
Then she froze.
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