Chapter 94 Angelic Gifts and Death in Cycles
The classical violin melody is melodious. Unlike the typical 3/4 time signature of a court minuet, this "Divertimento No. 17 in D major" uses a 2/4 time signature with more distinct dynamics.
As the melody rises and turns, the elegant scales also repeat continuously.
It felt like being on a tree-lined path in a natural oxygen bar, or as if you were in a noble royal ballroom. The background music purified everyone's every move, making everyone unconsciously sink into the loop.
The rhythm loops, the melody loops.
Death is also a cycle.
"roar--"
Suddenly, a dense layer of ghostly figures let out a rough cry and swarmed toward the carousel as the minuet reached its climax.
Liang Jun reacted much faster than usual. Fueled by adrenaline, she quickly lay down on the pumpkin carriage floor just a second before the shadowy figure made close contact with her.
The ghostly figure howled, brushing past the strands of hair that were still suspended in mid-air, instantly melting those pitiful black hairs into liquid.
Tiny water droplets fell onto Liang Yan's skin.
She lay prostrate on the ground, as if she were in an extremely enclosed little space, with only her own deafening breathing remaining in the whole world.
Seeing that its attack had been successfully dodged, the ghostly figure was clearly enraged.
The black mist began to spread rapidly, instantly giving rise to many independent black shadows.
The music transitions from a climax to a more subdued phase. The addition of the French horn adds a touch of somberness to the otherwise monotonous violin performance.
What should have been a soothing rhythm now sounded like a death knell to everyone.
The ghostly figures, which had previously huddled together and acted collectively, dispersed successfully and, carried by a gust of cold wind, flew towards each seat.
Apart from the princess float, everyone else chose an open-air structure for their rides.
This made it much easier for the ghostly figures to attack, as they surrounded and attacked from mid-air. The rules also state that direct contact is forbidden, so players who want to avoid their deadly attacks can only awkwardly dodge back and forth.
Gu Keke and Jiang Zhiling could only watch helplessly.
Confined by their seats, they wanted to help everyone fight against the shadowy figures, but they were helpless and could only peer through the small window of the float, observing everyone's movements with limited visibility.
Gu Keke and Jiang Zhiling worked together seamlessly, each taking charge of their respective half of the area, and through the window, they loudly alerted the others to the dangers they hadn't noticed.
"Old Ren! Watch out, there's a ghostly figure behind your left!"
"Tang, lie down! It's right above your head!"
In contrast, Jiang Chunhua seemed less excited.
Knowing that she would not encounter any danger in the enclosed float, she sat comfortably in her original position, repeatedly adjusting her somewhat disordered breathing, trying to achieve a state of unity between mind and body amidst the chaos.
The float had enough space that Jiang Chunhua initially tried to sit cross-legged, but after two unsuccessful attempts, she gave up.
Jiang Chunhua squinted contentedly at the two heads huddled by the window, her voice much slower than theirs.
“Ling’er, you don’t need to worry about them.” Jiang Chunhua shook his head and began to ramble on. “Life and death are predestined, wealth and honor are determined by fate. The attack from the shadowy figures outside is so powerful, even with your reminders, they are probably doomed.”
After listening to her from all angles, I still felt that what she said was not quite appropriate.
Jiang Zhiling frowned, glancing back at the other person as if she wanted to say something, but her expression was as unpleasant as if she had swallowed vomit. In the end, she stammered twice and didn't say anything harsh.
But Gu Keke, who has no blood relation to the other party, doesn't care about sentimentality.
She turned around angrily, her eyes filled with resentful rage.
"What time is it now? How can you still be making sarcastic remarks?!"
Gu Keke's tone betrayed her anxiety, "Your life isn't your own, and you're not worried at all! When danger falls on your head, don't come crying to us for help like before!"
She quickly rolled her eyes at the other person, then, not daring to waste any more time, decisively turned back and continued to observe everyone's movements from the window.
The size of the ghostly apparition appears unchanged, but the number of its continuously splitting individuals continues to increase.
They are like locusts that have swept across the land in a frenzy, leaving nothing but desolation in their wake.
The background minuet music began to fade, and the eerie female narration returned as the music soared through the air—
"The spirits are unhurried, for the guests are immersed in an endless struggle of despair, which is the only antidote to their years of suffering."
"They floated in mid-air, looking down upon us. The guests were bewildered by their sudden intrusion, giving the departed spirits a feeling they had never experienced before—"
As the narration ended, the ghostly figures, acting as "actors," also made corresponding movements in a very cooperative manner.
Everyone noticed that the increasingly dense group of dark shadows no longer attacked the players, but instead floated in clusters above, like crows that brought death, circling overhead again and again.
This may be the only time they have left to prepare for battle.
Old Ren and Tang Cailei, panting heavily, fell back into the sled.
Gu Keke and Jiang Zhiling had helped them, which prevented them from suffering any serious injury, but their physical exertion was truly severe. The two of them felt as weak as if they had run a marathon under the scorching sun, with every part of their bodies aching terribly.
Luo Chuange and Ge Lin sat high on their warhorses, with no decorations obstructing their view in any direction. It seemed that they did not have as many blind spots as the others.
However, their inability to attack and their only option to evade imposed considerable limitations on them. During several evasive maneuvers, Ge Lin lost his balance and nearly fell off his spinning warhorse. Fortunately, Luo Chuange, who was in the same rank, reacted quickly and pulled him back; otherwise, Ge Lin would have already been turned into a pool of corpses by the ghostly figures.
Located in a blind spot for everyone, Wang Jianping and Qi Zhixia could not rely on the help of others and could only grit their teeth and rely on themselves for everything.
The two decided to divide the work. Wang Jianping was responsible for dodging the attacks from the shadowy figures in the air, while Qi Zhixia crouched under the carriage, searching for usable props.
Only now, despite the excruciating pain in her legs, did Qi Zhixia slowly crawl out from under the seat.
"No, this place is completely empty; there's nothing we can use..."
She had only spoken halfway when she noticed Wang Jianping, who was lying half-reclined on the carriage, his face pale.
"Director Wang!"
Qi Zhixia's alarm bells rang. She rushed forward to check on the other person's condition, but in her excitement, she tore open her still-healing wound, causing her to break out in a cold sweat from the pain.
She was in so much pain that she kept gasping for breath. Hearing this, Wang Jianping tried his best to stay awake.
His face was deathly pale, and the pupils around his eyes had turned a muddy yellow, covered with fine blue-green lines.
"How are you……"
Wang Jianping forced himself to sit up from the carriage.
Qi Zhixia propped herself up with her hands and sat down in her seat.
Her grey-blue pupils were carefully scanning Wang Jianping from head to toe when she suddenly noticed his hand, which he was deliberately hiding behind his back.
"Director Wang, what happened to your hand?"
The more he hid it, the more uneasy Qi Zhixia became.
Without any need for discretion, she went straight up and pulled Wang Jianping's hand out from behind him.
Wang Jianping's right arm was still covered with striking blue-green tattoos; but apart from that, what Qi Zhixia was more concerned about at this moment was his almost completely missing right hand.
Only the part of his right palm near the wrist bone remained. It looked as if a sharp sword had cleanly sliced off his palm along the base of his thumb.
But the bloody scene Qi Zhixia had imagined did not appear. There was no bloodstain left at the severed end of Wang Jianping's right hand. Although the cross-section of the human tissue exposed blurry flesh that was difficult for ordinary people to look at, everything else was clean.
Seemingly feeling uncomfortable under her gaze, Wang Jianping subconsciously withdrew his hand. Qi Zhixia could clearly see the twitching tendons in his wrist bones, his constantly swaying severed hand, and the twitching of the broken tendons.
Qi Zhixia's mind went blank for a moment, "This is..."
"It was my own carelessness..."
He was now speaking with some pain in his voice. Wang Jianping's Adam's apple bobbed twice with difficulty, and his voice was so low and hoarse that it was almost inaudible. "There were just too many ghosts and shadows in those places. I couldn't dodge in time, and for a moment I forgot about the rules I was supposed to follow. I just subconsciously raised my hand to block them..."
Qi Zhixia felt the pain of having her gallbladder and heart ripped out, even though her wound was just bleeding. But Wang Jianping's entire hand was almost completely swallowed up, yet he didn't utter a sound. Only his forehead looked as if it had been washed with water.
As a doctor, he knows best what his current condition means.
Wang Jianping bit his lip, trying to use this brief stimulation to prevent himself from falling into a coma.
He then lay up a little further to prevent any unnecessary trouble for Qi Zhixia should he fall to the ground while unconscious.
Looking at the situation before her, Qi Zhixia looked up at the sky above her.
Five floating ghostly figures connected end to end, forming a circle that perfectly enveloped their carriage. The gap in the middle was filled by three dark figures, ultimately creating a complete and extremely oppressive monster cage.
Perhaps in ten minutes, or even in the next second, this cage will descend from the sky and completely engulf them.
This constant hiding is clearly not a solution; but Qi Zhixia had already checked and found that there was nothing usable under the openwork chair.
She forced herself to calm down and think carefully again, wondering if there was any other way...
It is impossible for a system to create a dead end game where there is no chance of survival.
If that's the case, then the only thing they can utilize that isn't limited by the instance is...
Qi Zhixia's eyes flashed, and she quickly opened the system store.
The shop was filled with a dazzling array of items for purchase, but she didn't linger. Instead, she pointed directly at a specific item with a very clear purpose—
Hunting protective shield.
At this moment, this small prop, worth only 350,000, carries all of Qi Zhixia's hopes for life.
She had already grasped its power back in the previous instance. Although she wasn't close to Liang Xun and Gu Keke at that time, she still learned the key information about this item through trial and error—
It can form a transparent protective shield, protecting everything it covers.
Qi Zhixia had a fair amount of points, so she didn't hesitate and made the payment quickly.
She naturally opened her palm, feeling the metallic coolness slowly descend upon her.
It's a sea-blue Rubik's Cube.
Qi Zhixia didn't have time to examine the props too much. While the system was slowly outputting the prop descriptions, she directly lay down on the edge of the carriage's side panel and placed the sea-blue Rubik's Cube steadily on the carriage steps.
The moment she touched the surface of the step, she observed a thin halo emanating from the Rubik's Cube, which then disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Instead, a system notification sound rang out—
The protection mechanism has been activated.
[Protected object: Horse-drawn carriage.]
This notification sounded like a call of salvation to those struggling to survive in the abyss. Qi Zhixia felt her pounding heart finally return to normal.
But she dared not let her guard down, after all—
No player knows whether the effect of blocking others can be fully applied to NPCs.
Qi Zhixia could only make plans for both possibilities.
After settling the semi-conscious Wang Jianping in, she kept her eyes fixed on the ghostly figure that was still hovering above her head.
The protective shield was transparent, and she couldn't see its boundaries. If they broke through the safe distance between them the moment they resumed their attack, Qi Zhixia would have no choice but to fight with her back against the wall.
She tried her best to regulate her breathing, but she still couldn't hide her nervousness.
-
At the same time, Liang Jun also came up with this idea.
But unlike Qi Zhixia, she doesn't need to buy it again.
Because the hunting shield that had only been used once was now lying securely in his backpack.
Liang Xun felt as relieved as if she had solved the last math problem during the college entrance examination. She let out a long sigh of relief, and after confirming that the eight dark figures suspended in the air would not swoop down in a short time, Liang Xun held her breath and kept poking at her "backpack".
But the window that used to open so easily with a touch is now unresponsive no matter how hard Liang Jun tries, remaining in a state where it cannot be opened.
Liang Jun had a vague feeling that something was not right.
The black shadow overhead began to circle faster, seemingly about to resume its attack.
Behind them, Ge Lin's anxious voice continued to echo.
"Is there really no other way?" Ge Lin's blue hair had been mostly swallowed by the ghostly figure, and he looked unsettled with half his hair gone. "Is this really the only way we can continue to hide?"
Opening the backpack only requires conscious control, so it does not affect Liang Jun's normal behavior.
As she continued trying to open the backpack, she turned back and emphasized to Ge Lin and Luo Chuange, "Use the tools, use the hunting shield!"
Ge Lin was still unable to react at first, but Luo Chuange, who was beside him, understood Liang Xun's meaning immediately and decisively bought the unknown object with all his remaining possessions.
Upon receiving the obsidian-like cube, Luo Chuange was still unsure how to use it when Liang Jun sent him the next instruction.
"Place it between the two of you, in an area where you can rotate together! From the moment you release it until you receive the system notification, keep silently reminding yourself that your two warhorses are the true protected area!"
Luo Chuange trusted Liang Xuan completely. Without any hesitation, he bent down and placed the dazzling obsidian on the rotating plate between them.
Immediately after placing the object, Luo Chuange strictly followed Liang Xun's orders until he heard the system notification sound—
The protection mechanism has been activated.
[Protected Objects: Two armored warhorses side by side.]
A slight look of relief finally appeared on Luo Chuange's face, which had been so tense that it was expressionless.
He reached out and patted the anxious Ge Lin on the shoulder, then loudly reported to Liang Xun not far away, "Captain! We've got it done!"
Liang Jun simply nodded twice without offering any further response.
Luo Chuange and Ge Lin are now protected by the protective shield, and they have begun trying to share this secret with Lao Ren and Tang Cailei.
Gu Keke, Jiang Zhiling, and Jiang Chunhua were perfectly protected by the princess float and were almost completely unharmed by the ghostly figures.
As for the remaining two, Liang Jun believed that Qi Zhixia would definitely be able to come up with the same, or even better, solutions as herself.
It seems that everyone has already prepared for the battle during this suspension period.
She was all alone now.
The backpack was unresponsive, and Liang Jun was unable to retrieve the items stored inside. With no other options, she could only ask the system a question without any hope.
Why can't I open my backpack?
Seemingly surprised that a player would ask it a question, the system briefly considered the question, and two seconds later, its slightly stiff voice echoed from the depths of the mind.
[The system has detected usable items in the current environment, therefore the "Inventory" function will be temporarily disabled.]
This feature will be available again after the player successfully leaves this environment.
Liang Jun's breath hitched.
With the pumpkin carriage roof beyond repair, the hunting shield is the key to a perfect solution.
But now she has been notified that she cannot access it, and at present, the points she has left are not enough for her to spend a lot of money to buy a brand new item.
Seeing that this path was blocked, Liang Jun was no longer prepared to blindly persist; she resolutely decided to seek another way out—
Not only the rules, but also the system itself, as mentioned earlier, has tools that they can use in this environment.
She had just turned the old pumpkin carriage upside down, but still couldn't find any clues.
Could it be...?
A bold idea flashed through Liang Jun's mind—
Is the item not yet available?
As if echoing Liang Jun's thoughts, the stiff narration began again—
"The bells echoed in the hall, pushing the melody of the fairytale ball to its climax. The guests, tormented to the point of near death by the spirits of the dead, finally decided to give it their all."
"The guests' resolute decision seemed to have moved the angels, so the angels dropped tools around them to help these poor guests."
"Will the dead triumph, or will the guests perish tragically—the curtain of uncertainty is slowly rising at the fairytale ball..."
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Author's note: I've had some things to take care of at home these past few days, so I haven't been able to update on time. I'm very sorry!
We'll be releasing the three-in-one version soon, thank you for waiting!
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