Isabelle's Sword

Lu Yao looked at the cold, smooth eyeball in his hand.

As he stared into the green pupil, a completely different perspective from the room appeared before his eyes.

The streetlights on both sides of the road sped backward.

Isabelle was pursuing her target at high speed.

She turned into a parking alley and stopped to observe.

Under the dim yellow streetlights, the Wild Dog from earlier rapidly swelled. Its forelegs rose upright, and its Fur split open down the middle, revealing a burly man wrapped in white fur.

The man's flesh was mangled, and a thick layer of white beast fur had been stitched onto the surface of his body. His hair was messy and greasy, his thick-bearded mouth exhaled white vapor, and his eyes were bloodshot. He looked like a modified humanoid beast.

Lu Yao suddenly realized that this appearance was basically a high-definition Plus version of the Barbarian Hero.

So that real-world stripping-and-binding pervert really was Demon Jack, the one driving the Barbarian Tribe.

The Fur-Skin Man tore open the drunkard's clothes, exposing his skin to the air. Then, he vomited a pool of blood onto the drunkard. Dipping his claw-like fingers into the blood, he drew strange symbols across the drunkard's body.

Isabelle turned into a Black Shadow and rapidly closed in.

Somehow, she had grabbed a rusty steel pipe. With a loud clang, she brought it down on the Fur-Skin Man's temple.

The Fur-Skin Man was sent flying by the immense force, crashing through the windshield of an abandoned Alto Car and scattering shards of glass across the ground.

Even under that level of impact, the Fur-Skin Man's head only suffered a slight dent. He struggled to sit up.

Isabelle's steel pipe came smashing down from above again, striking his head with precision.

Once, twice, three times.

Isabelle simply swung the steel pipe with practiced ease, beating the Fur-Skin Man into the car. Before long, his arms drooped down and his body stopped moving.

Lu Yao was dumbfounded.

Wasn't she supposed to be a summoning-type necromancer?

Why was she a physical Sword Saint?

Something was off. Something was seriously off. He'd been fooled...

"My lord, this is a Demon Cultist. He should be a Hero."

Isabelle's voice came from the eyeball.

Lu Yao realized, "So the real demon is still hiding in the shadows."

"Yes. He should be watching from somewhere."

Isabelle looked around, searching for the hidden mastermind lurking in the dark.

"My lord, due to dimensional restrictions, I cannot identify a God's identity. I can only detect the Faith Sparks on Demon Apostles, making it difficult to determine the demon's location."

Lu Yao asked, "Is that Demon Cultist still alive?"

"He is, but because he crossed over from a lower dimension through World-Breaking, he has already mutated into a monster. He is merely a walking corpse controlled by the demon God."

"What is the usual way of dealing with them?"

"Execution."

Still watching her surroundings, Isabelle said, "Once they become monsters, they cannot recover even if they return to the lower dimension. Killing them is their final mercy."

"Then do that."

Isabelle looked at the Fur-Skin Man again. "My lord, he is already dead."

On the dented car, only a pitch-black human silhouette remained, like human-shaped ashes left after being burned.

"..."

"My deepest apologies, my lord. It has been too long since I last fought. Although I tried my best to restrain myself, he was simply too weak. That level of force was enough to kill him. Please punish me."

"Forget it... The result is the same anyway."

Lu Yao suddenly felt the viewpoint shake violently before becoming still, as though someone had pressed pause on the image.

He tried calling out, "Isabelle? Isabelle?"

There was no response.

Isabelle's body had entered some strange state of stillness, and the viewpoint had become fixed as well, facing the streetlight.

Lu Yao knew that the demon player had most likely made his move.

He observed calmly, considering his options.

A masked person walked into view.

The newcomer wore a loose black trench coat, its hood concealing half their face.

"Finally caught you."

"You really made me search for a long time. You're quite good at hiding."

It was a light female voice.

"Then I'll gladly accept your Flame of Faith first." The Trench Coat Woman stretched out her hands, pulling a flute from her left pocket and a bag of dog food from her right.

"From today on, be my dog."

"Good doggy. Lick my hand nicely and you'll get food. Come on, come on, stick out that cute little tongue of yours."

The previously rigid Isabelle suddenly sprang into action and grabbed the other woman's wrist. "Got you."

As if she had seen a ghost, the woman trembled all over, scattering dog food across the floor.

"Impossible, impossible! The Beast Transformation Ritual has already begun... How can you still be conscious?"

"Who are you? Who are you?"

Isabelle asked through her eyeball, "My lord, should I execute this Demon? That is also the standard procedure."

"Not yet. Let me think."

Lu Yao said, "Pull back her hood."

Isabelle tore off the woman's hood, revealing pale golden hair and the face of a young woman beneath it.

Barber Lisa stared blankly at Isabelle. She still seemed unable to understand what had happened, her eyes carrying a trace of confusion.

"Now, ask her..."

Faced with Isabelle's questions, Lisa answered readily. It was unclear whether she simply knew she had no room to bargain, or whether she did not care.

Lu Yao quickly figured out the whole story.

Lisa had deliberately pretended to be a victim in order to conceal her identity. She had summoned a Barbarian Tribe Hero and performed a Beast Transformation Ritual in the real world—stripping people naked, painting them with Blood Curse, and hanging them up.

The ritual's two targets, a female college student and a courier, were no ordinary people. They were simulator players.

The key to the ritual was a tiny Beast Transformation Relief. As long as someone remained under its gaze for an extended period, the ritual would unfold. The person being watched would gradually lose their sanity, cognition, and memories, left at the mercy of others.

That relief had been embedded in the Barbarian Hero's forehead, and it had been staring at Isabelle the entire time.

As if recalling something, Lisa showed an indignant expression. "...Why can a high-level player like you still stay in the Safe Zone? Those people on the committee really bully the weak and fear the strong. They only know how to pick on ordinary players like us, while pretending not to see people like you. Is there any justice left?"

Following Lu Yao's instructions, Isabelle remained silent and pretended to be an expert.

The more one said, the more likely one was to slip up.

By saying nothing, it was harder to expose any flaws.

Lisa did not seem surprised by Isabelle's silence.

She took out three items from her pocket. "The victor becomes king and the loser becomes bandit. I understand that much. My luck was bad this time—I ran into someone I couldn't afford to provoke. I admit defeat."

Isabelle took the spoils from her hand but remained unmoved.

"That's all I have."

Lisa said somewhat self-destructively, "I once made it to the Crawling Zone too, but some bastard destroyed my Wonder, so I was demoted back to the Safe Zone. I only wanted to make some extra money with the Beast Transformation Ritual so I could get back there sooner."

"Now all I have is a Barbarian Tribe, and it collapsed because of a drought. I had no choice but to migrate again..."

"Kill me or torture me, do as you please. The committee already has its eyes on me anyway. Being caught by you is no different from being caught by them."

Isabelle spoke. "Turn yourself in. Then this matter ends here."

Lisa immediately took out her phone and dialed 110.

"Hello? Police? I'm the pervert who hung those people up earlier. Yes, that one. I'm turning myself in. I'm guilty, so come arrest me. My name is Lisa. I live in Room 701, Building Three, Nanpu Apartment, Timeless Community. You can check my personal information."

Isabelle turned and left, returning to the darkness.

Half an hour later.

Inside a separate white room.

"I told you, she was a high-level player who shouldn't have been in the Safe Zone!"

"The [Statue of the Flayer] I obtained in the Crawling Zone had no effect on her. She killed my Level 7 Barbarian Hero with three blows from a steel pipe. He specialized in strength and defense..."

Lisa wore shackles woven from vines, her face showing some impatience.

"She was shrouded in Black Mist from head to toe. She looked young, though that might have been Camouflage from some item too."

"Either she's a high-level player from the Crawling Zone, or she's a high-level Apostle... In any case, she was absolutely far beyond the Safe Zone's standards!"

Opposite Lisa stood a wall made of blue bricks.

The surface of the wall rose and fell slowly, like flowing water.

A voice came from within it. "Yuan Lisha, the committee will now announce your punishment."

"...For harming ordinary players in the Safe Zone, illegally robbing faith, and disrupting social Order, you are sentenced to ten years of imprisonment, until you enter the Crawling Zone. The punishment takes effect immediately."

The room immediately turned pitch-black.

Only the screen on the desk gave off a faint glow, illuminating Lisa's unwilling face.

She sighed, sat before the computer, and clicked the only icon on the desktop.

God Simulator.

But the moment the interface opened, Lisa furiously slammed her fist onto the desk.

"I can accept a high-level player! But even some newbie rookie dares to talk down to me, destroying my tribe and passageway! God Yao? That little brat Yao!"