Chapter 236 She Completed Her Mission
“Heh…ha…”
Isabel gasped for breath and tried to move forward by holding on to the wall.
She had long lost count of how many times she had died, and could no longer tell which level of dream she was in.
It hurts so much...
Every death brought her severe punishment.
Initially, it was just a slight fever and weakness. Although painful and uncomfortable, it was possible to conduct an investigation.
After being pushed down the stairs and dying for the first time, she woke up again to find herself tied up and sitting in the hall.
Besides himself, there were six other people present, some of whom cursed loudly, while others remained silent.
A young man with brown hair and deep features found a violin from somewhere and was watching the storm in front of the window, playing discordant noises as he pleased.
Yes, it was noisy—at least by Isabel's standards, she had played better than this in the three months since she started playing the violin.
Because it wasn't a song at all, but an improvisation, but the performer lacked the musical theory to improvise. The result was just a torturous mess.
This finally made her unable to bear it any longer and she spoke out to stop it.
"Lulu... Your Highness, is that right?"
The man turned around with a cold and arrogant attitude and bowed respectfully to everyone at the table.
His knuckles were distinct, and the bow in his hand was like a sword.
Even though the crowd cursed him louder and louder, he still turned a deaf ear to them.
"You go down first. I'll have to wait a little longer. But don't worry, I'll be down before the time is up."
He didn't introduce himself, but Lulu easily guessed his identity - her intuition was certain that this was Sherlock, and not Merlin in disguise.
"What should I do... to help you?"
"Dai Ya" at the table asked seriously: "I checked Room 201 on the upper floor..."
As she spoke, she tried to ignore the cursing and bickering of the people around her and told Sherlock everything she had seen.
Sherlock was somewhat surprised by Isabel's strength and initiative, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly, revealing a rare smile of approval.
"When you go down, confirm who died on each floor. Then remember these people. After you find the fox, tell him what you saw and tell him my strategy."
Sherlock said calmly, "I choose to wait here. I'll see how many people end up on my level. I'll know how many levels I should descend. I'm confident I can recognize Merlin; he can't fool me."
"Of course, I could fail. For example, if someone above me misjudged the floor and didn't come down until the very end, I'd be eliminated along with them.
"—In short, those waiting on the ground floor might see that more than two people are missing, or that everyone is present. But it's impossible to see only one person missing.
"If this happens, there are two possibilities—because I chose a very safe strategy, Merlin will most likely disguise himself as me to counteract the situation I've created. If that's the case, then the missing person must be below my level.
"Tell the fox what I have said, and he will understand."
After the detective finished speaking, he raised the gun and pointed it at Dai Ya, pulling the trigger without hesitation.
——And from this death, Isabel began to feel pain.
The fever intensified, and she began vomiting. Her heart was beating wildly, but because it contracted before fully relaxing, it couldn't pump much blood. Her temperature continued to rise, and her consciousness began to blur.
"Three people died," she repeated. "A woman, a monkey, and an old man."
She was so weak that she didn't have the strength to pull the trigger.
Looking at the body of the vicious man on the ground, she found the gun he was carrying.
Isabel knelt on the ground, buried the muzzle of the gun deep in her throat. She put her small index and middle fingers together and used her body weight to press the trigger.
Take yourself to the next level.
And from here on, she discovered with horror... her skin was cracking.
Her skin turned pale, with tiny cracks and lines, and an ominous purple glow seeped out from it, mixed with a little pink gradient.
The girl's bell-like laughter became clearer and clearer, as if ringing in her ears.
As her memory began to fade, Isabel began to repeat to herself everything she had seen.
"Merlin's story... fairy tale book, little bear... dead end..."
She stumbled around searching for the body, chanting in a dry, hoarse voice, "Level B, detective... Either two are absent, or all are present..."
"Three people died on the second floor below ground... a woman, a monkey, and an old man."
"——Sister, let's play together?"
The girl's voice rang out from her ear, interrupting Isabel's recitation.
"Stop making noise!"
Isabel got angry, which was rare.
But just shouting made her head hurt even more. The needle-like pain made her stop and hold her head to gasp for air.
——Now, no one can help me.
On the contrary, I still carry the hope of victory.
Looking at the corpses, Isabel had already guessed the pattern of their whereabouts.
Without his own intelligence, Aiwass might have fallen to the wrong level due to incorrect intelligence... Sherlock might also die...
She should have felt powerless.
She had always been like this...always protected by others. She had never been responsible for anything important on her own, nor had she ever taken on the responsibility of another person's life.
"……Ha ha……"
She gasped softly, and the cracked lines on her skin flickered as if she was breathing.
...Speaking of which, is this a matter of life?
Isabel's consciousness began to blur.
This seems like a promotion ceremony...it doesn't matter if I lose...
Stop right here. It's too painful. If I continue, I might die from the pain.
——Although she knew that no one would blame her even if she failed.
But Isabel was still unwilling to give up. The green flames reflected in Dai Ya's eyes like an illusion, and she seemed to have regained some strength and became more aware.
The closer she got to her limit, the more motivated Isabel became.
The more pain she suffered, the stronger she became.
Still don't want to admit defeat——
"Merlin's story... Teddy Bear... Ha... 201..."
Isabel moved by holding onto the wall, muttering something in a low voice, as if she were talking in her sleep.
At this moment, she saw a strange hallucination.
A blonde girl threw the ball in her hand towards Isabel.
"Come play ball, sis?"
She looked forward to it, and her voice, with an ethereal echo, rang out: "Let's play ball together?"
Isabel subconsciously reached out to block the ball, but the ball knocked her already exhausted body down, sending her crashing to the ground.
The ball and the little girl turned into phantoms and disappeared, but the feeling of being hit by the ball was so real.
In her heart, the little girl's voice sounded again: "Sister...will you leave me?"
The voice became panicked.
She was so lonely and scared...Isabel's heart couldn't help but soften.
She couldn't help crying, as if for herself and for the girl.
But she cried for a while and then stood up again, silently wiped her tears, and continued to walk forward, towards a darker place.
She passed corpse after corpse, some who had been alive and now dead, others who had died once and then died a second time.
Her mind grew hazy, and she had long forgotten whether she was in the ascension ceremony or still in a dream. The increasingly vivid pain continued to torment her, making the experience seem so real. For a moment, she even forgot her name was Isabel.
“Remember these people.”
A cold and arrogant voice sounded: "Just tell the fox what I said, and he will understand."
"He'll understand..."
Isabel murmured, her copper-coin-like pink-purple pupils reflecting the light.
Her skin was cracked over large areas, and pink blood slowly flowed out as she walked.
Some living people also met her on the road - seeing this little girl with a high fever, everyone wanted to take her away.
But after they approached Isabel, their bodies became blurry and transparent.
They ran towards Isabel anxiously and distressedly, but before they could pick her up, they became invisible. And after Isabel passed through them and left, they stood up again as if nothing had happened. It was as if they had never seen her.
Not just the living—even the world around her was occasionally becoming blurry and transparent.
She remembered the bodies on each floor, but she couldn't remember how many floors she had descended. Her memory was still functioning, but she could no longer think.
Finally, she saw the candlelit long table again. She saw the familiar detective and the sinister man sitting at the head of the table.
It was like a painting, imprinted in her heart.
Isabel burst into tears in an instant.
Just one glance and her intuition told her that this person was Aiwass.
“…Aihua…”
Isabel stumbled over and ran into his arms.
——Although they looked exactly the same, this was definitely not the ferocious-looking man. Her eyes told her so.
She had forgotten that she should call him Fox, but her instinct told her not to say his name.
"There's Merlin's storybook and a stuffed bear in room 201. I picked them up and ended up at a dead end...
"I met the detective on the underground floor. He asked me to tell you..."
Isabel's voice became smoother: "The deceased are..."
She recited the names of those she had memorized in one breath, and everyone listened quietly to the information she brought.
——Her mission was accomplished.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com