Chapter 2 Chapter 2 - She emerged unscathed from the Hellfire...
She stuffed the feather into her pocket and Lin Miao focused her attention on the so-called "card pool".
The decisive moment for the gambler has arrived!
She clenched her fist and touched the card draw button with a fearless attitude.
A purple light leaped past, and a description popped out first.
"Skill Extraction: All Things Stop War"
"While this skill lasts, you will be immune to all magical attacks, becoming a bug-level existence that forces all forces bypass! (Note: Valid for 15 minutes, cooldown for 24 hours)"
After the text disappeared, a small protective shield icon emerged from the card pool and was arranged on the left side of the pool.
Given her zero combat power in this magical world, this was undoubtedly a very practical defensive skill. She silently read the small print, reminding herself of the importance of seizing the right moment.
Lin Miao clicked the button again.
"Skill Extraction: "Dream Mind""
"After activating this skill, you can enter the dream of the designated target. Boldly unearth their hidden memories and secrets! (Note: Only one target can be selected at a time. When activating, you must be no more than three meters away from the target, and they must be asleep. Cooldown period is one week.)"
This time, a pattern of a sleeping person is generated, which is attached to the back of the protective shield icon.
Is this an active skill with many restrictions? She thought hesitantly.
After all, her mission is to gain the loyalty of the three-headed dog, so understanding Cerberus's past and secrets is absolutely indispensable.
Apparently, she was lucky both times, at least she had an entry ticket close to the three-headed dog.
With these two skills in hand, Lin Miao felt more confident and walked towards the castle with his back straight.
*
The metal door is also engraved with fine and dense dark lines, outlining countless symbols.
Lin Miao grabbed the copper ring on the door, but before he could exert any force, the door automatically opened to both sides.
Um?
A faint smell of sulfur immediately hit him in the face. Lin Miao tried to calm his nervous heartbeat and stepped into the castle cautiously.
To her surprise, the interior of the castle was completely different from its plain exterior and could be described as magnificent.
The first thing that caught my eye was a corridor so long that it was difficult to see the end.
Statues in various postures are arranged on both sides of the blood-red carpet. They may be knights in armor and holding swords, priests praying with their heads bowed, angels with wings drooping and prostrating on the ground, or demons holding tridents and playing wantonly. All of them are portrayed vividly.
The door behind him had already closed without him noticing. Once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Lin Miao did not stop and walked forward along the corridor.
As she walked, she scanned the statues and was surprised to find that the eyes of all the sculptures were inlaid with golden gems, shining with a shimmering luster.
Lin Miao's pace became faster and faster, but a strange feeling gradually grew in his heart and he couldn't get rid of it.
She suppressed her anxiety and muttered to herself to encourage herself.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, a golden door appeared before him. Lin Miao hesitated for a few seconds and then resolutely pushed it open.
...Since you're here.
Behind the door is the main hall of the castle.
Velvet carpets, marble walls, twelve life-size mirrors, and seven obsidian steps leading to the huge throne made of pure gold in the center of the view.
Like a moth attracted to a flame, Lin Miao instinctively wanted to approach the throne, and found that he had lost control of his body for a moment.
She took a few steps forward in a daze.
No...don't...
The inexplicable sense of disharmony made her resist from the bottom of her heart, and the panic that had been accumulating all the way reached its peak at this moment.
in the end……
What exactly is wrong...!
As if he finally realized something, Lin Miao suddenly stopped and looked up stiffly.
——Above the hall, a huge golden eyeball was floating, staring at her intently.
“!”
Her breathing stopped suddenly, and her thoughts went blank for a second, then started to work rapidly.
From the redundant information, she accurately extracted the words of Zhiling.
"Cerberus has absolute control over the castle he lives in."
Control... ?
The dark golden pupils of the furious head, the sculptures with golden eyes in the aisle, and the golden eyeballs staring at her at this moment.
“…”
Lin Miao had a sudden realization at this moment.
—Cerberus had been watching her.
A strange vortex formed in the air above the throne, and black mist filled the air, slowly condensing into a human-shaped shadow.
Lin Miao was only a few steps away from him, so she could see his appearance effortlessly.
The man half-leaned on the golden throne, his long black and red hair casually draped behind him, his bare chest was strong and powerful, with a bright flame-shaped tattoo; metal chains were wrapped around his taut waist and abdominal muscles, showing the unique sense of accumulated power of a beast when hunting.
The hands resting on the armrests were wearing black half-finger gloves, with sharp black nails extending from the exposed fingertips; leather leg rings were tightening around his thighs, and his long boots were lazily stepping on the ground.
And his face...
Lin Miao was stunned for a moment.
The narrow and slightly upturned eyes under the solid brow bones, the high nose bridge, and the superior lip shape all show off the man's wild and sharp beauty.
The sharp jawline faded into the neck, where a somewhat worn black leather collar was worn, and even... a small silver bell was hung on it.
...It's so astringent.
She thought inappropriately.
It turns out that the human form of the three-headed dog is so ugly.
“Humanity…”
The man on the throne, or Cerberus, spoke, his voice seemed extremely hoarse from not speaking for too long, quickly bringing Lin Miao back to reality.
"You should have been expelled by the magic circle the moment you entered this castle...but you ended up here."
"Tell me...how did you do it..."
His dark golden pupils stared at her dangerously, his gaze like a knife, cutting every inch of her skin.
"As long as you tell the truth... I can consider not killing you..."
The reason why the Furious Chief is called "Furious" is because of his characteristics - he is extremely impulsive and loses his mind.
As the "spokesperson leader" of the three-headed dog, most of the monsters in hell are suppressed by him, which also makes the aura on his body mixed with brutal killing and lingering smell of blood for years.
Now that he has made this statement, silence is obviously not a good option.
"Well……"
Lin Miao's heart was filled with tears. Not to mention that she really didn't know, even if it was as she suspected, that her employer was secretly protecting her, she couldn't tell anyone!
Her pause had obviously exhausted the furious leader's pitiful patience, and the temperature in his beast-like golden eyes was cooling down rapidly.
Lin Miao, who had been secretly watching him, felt that something was wrong.
The moment the temperature dropped to freezing point, the alarm in her brain started beeping. Her instinct was faster than her thoughts, and her consciousness suddenly touched the protective shield pattern in her sea of consciousness.
Activate skill - "All things stop fighting"
Even faster than the surging flames was the triggering of the skill. It was as if a transparent, cool film enveloped her entire body, forming a safe fortress that isolated her from the heat that could have burned her.
——She survived the hellfire unscathed.
Cerberus's eyes narrowed instantly. He stood up and walked down the stairs in a few steps.
The suddenly shortened distance made Lin Miao's heart jump.
The three-headed dog's humanoid form was nearly 1.9 meters tall, a significant height difference from her. As it approached her, the light was completely blocked, and she could only see his collarbone, tattooed with a hellfire pattern, and his full chest muscles. She felt the pressure brought by his powerful physique and fiery breath.
Perhaps knowing that she couldn't answer the previous question, Cerberus changed his way of asking.
"What is your purpose in coming here?"
The woman before him was undoubtedly just a frail human, yet she was able to pass through the castle's magic circle and remain unscathed by his flames. This surprised him, and at the same time, it also sparked some interest in her purpose for coming here.
...Of course, I can't tell the truth about this question.
The skill only lasted fifteen minutes, so she had to convince him to let her stay within that quarter of an hour. Lin Miao gathered her thoughts and quickly organized her words, trying to be as logical and sincere as possible.
"Sir, I am an orphan. With nowhere else to go, I was forced to step into a space rift I accidentally discovered. When I woke up, I was outside the castle. I was so hungry that I had no choice but to step into this place. I didn't mean to offend you, the master of the castle."
"As for the magic circle you mentioned, and why it wasn't harmed by your flames, I really don't understand. But perhaps," she mustered the courage to look Cerberus in the eye, "this just proves how special I am. I'd like to ask you to let me stay here and earn some living. That way, you can slowly explore all the things about me that interest you."
Cerberus stared at her, his handsome, wild face expressionless.
"Ignorant human," he hissed, "Do you know that the person you wish to trade with is a demon?"
"I know. I'm willing to bear all the costs," she replied calmly.
"Then what makes you think a demon would allow a human to stay in his castle just because of a little curiosity?"
He deliberately emphasized the two syllables of "humanity".
.......I knew it couldn't be that easy.
There was not much time left, so Lin Miao decided to give it a try.
"You must be quite lonely living alone in such a big castle."
——It was risky for her to say this, but it was not without reason.
Dogs are social animals by nature, so they are destined to be highly social. They have a strong need for companionship and are afraid of loneliness.
Although she was not sure whether the "three-headed dog" would inherit canine genes, he had been guarding here alone for hundreds of years under the order of the missing demon king, and had never had anyone accompany him. She was willing to take a gamble that he would also feel lonely.
"How dare you!"
Cerberus's reaction was greater than she had imagined; he was instantly enraged. His hand, wrapped in black leather, gripped Lin Miao's neck, and with only a slight effort, he lifted her off the ground.
The feeling of suffocation spread instantly. Lin Miao was on the verge of life and death, but she could still think quite optimistically that it was fortunate that it was not a dog's paw that was strangling her neck, otherwise she would have been able to say goodbye to this world.
Of course, it's not much better now.
"I... haven't finished yet... please let go... let go..." Her face turned red as she tried to pry his fingers apart.
As luck would have it, the spot where she had bitten herself earlier collided with his sharp nails. With a slight "scratching" sound, her already healed wound was cut open again.
A drop of blood fell on Cerberus's knuckles.
His hands shook violently, loosening the shackles on Lin Miao.
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