Castle Mutation, the Fourth Sacrifice

When God closes a door for you, don't be discouraged or disheartened; He will surely open a window for you.

How were you caught?

After fleeing back to the temporary shelter, he hurriedly took off the Criminal Suspect Outfit that was making him lose his dignity, Fireworks of Romance began to question the two people in front of him.

"Given the previous situation, you shouldn't have been caught so easily, right?"

"I did it on purpose because I needed to gather information; I didn't know anything about her."

He pulled a syringe from his Inventory, rolled up his sleeve, and injected it into Fengxi’s Bone.

After noticing that the other two were looking at him, he raised the empty syringe in his hand, his expression concise and to the point.

"Life-saving supplies, standard-issue medicine."

"... Relevant Department?"

Fireworks of Romance paused for a moment.

"Night Evolution Breath is my colleague."

After that vial of reagent was injected, Fengxi’s Bone's complexion improved significantly.

"Like him, I am also an Investigator, but I am one level below him. The duty of Investigator is to explore all available information to help those who come after. The difference is that he is in charge of information about Dungeon, while I am specifically responsible for investigating those Otherworld Player."

"[Night Evolution Breath], [Fengxi’s Bone]... So, have you found anything out?"

With a slight pursed lip, Fireworks of Romance found a place to sit down.

"Logically speaking, shouldn't we be on the same side as those Otherworld Player? Why are they attacking us? These Anomaly all come from other worlds, right? Wouldn't it be better if we joined forces to solve Anomaly?"

"It's very simple, it's about profit."

Fengxi’s Bone spoke in a flat tone.

"Imagine you have two options in front of you: one that allows you to earn double the money, and the other that allows you to earn ten times the money. Achieving the first option is difficult, but achieving the second option is much easier, at least significantly easier than the first. Even if you fail with the second option, you can still achieve the first. If you had to choose, which would you pick?"

"Is there even a choice? It's definitely the second one!!"

They took the Fireworks of Romance scenery for granted.

"That's right, those Otherworld Player made the same choice."

Fengxi’s Bone's expression was slightly cold.

"They're working with us to Walkthrough these Anomaly, but even if they succeed, what then? It's just a drop in the ocean for them, because there are far more ghost stories in their world. But if we fail, the Anomaly from their world will flood into ours, which will effectively relieve their stress."

"Hmm... Better to die for your fellow Daoist than for me?"

Fireworks of Romance nodded thoughtfully.

"You can understand it this way. Even if you fail, it's not a big deal. If you succeed, you can gain even greater benefits. For the sake of the continuation of your own race, making this choice is actually understandable."

Fengxi’s Bone shook his head slightly.

"You need to understand one thing: those worlds that choose to launch this war against other worlds are basically those that have failed to resist the Anomaly, and are left with only a small number of people barely clinging to life and on the verge of extinction. In such desperate worlds, it's not surprising that those Otherworld Player might do anything crazy."

"But if you say that, then it's not fair at all."

After thinking for a moment, Fireworks of Romance frowned.

"Those Players from other worlds must be among the top beings in their respective worlds, right? Does our world really have anything that can resist them?"

"I've heard that Players from Otherworld all have some kind of restriction on them... These are classified matters for higher-ups, and I don't know much about them."

Fengxi’s Bone shook his head.

"I once heard the director say that these Otherworld Player are divided into several types. Those with attachments are alright, but the most difficult to deal with are those who are the only ones left when almost everyone else in the world has died. These guys have no attachments and are incredibly powerful. If they were to cause trouble in our world, the consequences would be catastrophic."

"... Forget it, if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. This kind of thing has nothing to do with me."

After thinking for a moment, he waved his hand, Fireworks of Romance completely indifferent.

"Instead of worrying about these things, I think you should focus more on yourself. Those two bosses were already difficult enough, and then you gave them a wide-area control Skill... By the way, are you alright??"

As she spoke, her gaze inadvertently drifted to the pale-faced Between Heaven and Earth’s Mountains and Seas, and Fireworks of Romance quickly asked him a question.

"Ice Cream can only temporarily stop the worsening of the injury; it has no healing properties. How are you feeling right now?"

"It's alright, you'll be fine after a short rest."

Leaning against the box behind him, Between Heaven and Earth’s Mountains and Seas, his face rather pale, shook his head.

"My Skill are mostly Support- oriented, so... wait, did you hear anything?"

His expression suddenly tightened, and he abruptly sat up straight Between Heaven and Earth’s Mountains and Seas.

"Sound?"

"Yes, it's that kind of thing that crawls on the wall like a snake... We need to get out of here quickly!!"

She hurriedly pulled a scroll from her Inventory, and just Between Heaven and Earth’s Mountains and Seas she was about to unfold it and throw it away, a blood-red tentacle shot in from the window like lightning and wrapped around her body.

"!!!"

Ignoring his injuries, he gritted his teeth, sat up from the ground, and with a flash, Fengxi’s Bone appeared behind Between Heaven and Earth’s Mountains and Seas, a knife he had taken from his Inventory, and slashed at the tentacle.

As the blade fell, the tentacle was sliced in two, but in the next second, even more tentacles swarmed in from outside the window.

Fengxi’s Bone only managed to cut off two tentacles that were wrapping around him before more tentacles had already entangled his body. In the blink of an eye, he was pulled out of the window by those tentacles.

"Those tentacles hanging over the castle..."

Seeing the sudden turn of events that occurred in just two or three seconds, Fireworks of Romance felt a chill run down her spine. Without thinking too much, she grabbed Between Heaven and Earth’s Mountains and Seas's hand, who had fallen to the ground, and ran towards the door.

When she kicked open the door, the scene before her eyes stunned her completely.

The sky outside had turned completely blood red, as thousands of tentacles were crawling and slithering around the castle. These tentacles found every gap and poured in from outside the castle, Greed preying on any living creature inside. In just a second, she saw several Maid scream as they were grabbed by the tentacles and dragged out of the castle.

The castle had by then become a Hell on Earth; who would care about these two fugitives now?

Even looking directly at these tentacles for less than half a minute caused my Sanity to plummet. So what about close-up... or even direct contact with them?

In that brief moment, Fireworks of Romance felt her cheeks begin to itch, as if something beneath her skin was trying to crawl out!

If this is all I've seen from close range these suddenly rampaging tentacles, what about Fengxi’s Bone, who was swept away by those tentacles and thrown out of the window earlier?

"They've gone mad, they've all gone mad... That bastard from the March-shi, could he have really killed Anna and caused the castle riot?!"

Looking back at the pale-faced, stumbling figures Between Heaven and Earth’s Mountains and Seas behind her, Fireworks of Romance gritted her teeth.

Faced with such a large-scale, collective attack, the [Criminal Suspect Outfit] is basically useless. Using the Hourglass to shrink your body size might allow you to evade the tentacles, but self- mutated will be inevitable, because shrinking your size means you can't run far at all. Although you have an invincible Skill, it can only help you protect yourself.

So, what should I do now?

Feeling the increasing strange itching sensation on her cheeks, Fireworks of Romance suddenly felt quite helpless.