The sulfurous stench lingered in the lavish yet chaotic banquet hall. The mural of The Creation on the arched dome above, once portraying God with a sorrowful and compassionate expression, began to take on a serene indifference. Beneath the enormous, opulent crystal chandelier stood a boy, raising his divine staff high as he faced the grotesquely twisted hybrid of human and fly. His face radiated pity and conviction, yet within his eyes was an unmistakable flicker of fervent excitement and unrestrained madness.
"It must end."
The blue-haired boy as though a god himself, spoke with regret and finality. Golden holy light burst forth from the divine staff in his hand, leaving the creature at his feet with nowhere to escape. Its body twisted and writhed in agony.
[Sigh… Tao Da looks so sad.]
[A normal person would feel sorrow taking the life of their own kind. But we’ve been in this game for far too long.]
[Yeah, a world without laws drives people mad and strips them of their humanity.]
[Humanity? Perhaps many have already forgotten they were once human. The way they deal with their kind rivals the main system’s merciless slaughter.]
[That’s why Tao Da truly is the most suitable wielder of the Divine Staff! Even standing on high, he remains endlessly merciful!]
Merciful?
Jiang Yan stared blankly at the blue-haired boy in front of him.
Indeed, it was mercy.
The mercy of a god looking down upon his lowly creations.
But such mercy had no place in the gaze one directed at their fellow humans.
"Madman."
The word surfaced in Jiang Yan’s mind.
In the depths of his blue eyes, Tao Da's ecstatic and frenzied golden soul was reflected, contorted in a mix of exhilaration and madness. A faint smile crept to Jiang Yan's lips.
But just then, the creature long since having lost its reason and its human form suddenly forced out a few broken syllables from its throat,“H... Help me...”
The rose petals blocking her mouth fell, one by one. She struggled, desperately seeking help from her fellow kind in front of her.
"Help, help me..."
"She spoke!" Jian Hou said, excitedly.
"Geng... Geng Hui?" the chef called out cautiously.
The creature, bound to the ground, made a "spitting" sound from its mouth, and a tear fell from the eyeball on its twisted antenna, landing on the rose petals stuffed in its mouth.
The holy light vanished, and the white bandages wrapped around her loosened. The boy who had been standing before her, ready to execute her in the name of the divine, immediately crouched down and asked with concern, "Do you remember who you are? Do you know where we are now?"
Geng Hui's antennae drooped slightly, as if nodding.
"Thank God!" Tao Shi sighed in relief and comforted her, "Don't worry, stay rational. Once the dungeon is completed and we pass it, you will recover."
"Th-thank you..." Geng Hui struggled to speak, choking on a mouthful of rose petals, and another tear fell.
Tao Shi gently patted her head and used his divine branch to clear the roses from her mouth. He then revealed a reassuring smile.
[Disappointment]
Jiang Yan looked at Tao Shi's soul imprint.
[Anger]
[Frustration]
Jiang Yan raised an eyebrow, and a thrilling, gnawing excitement surged from deep within him.
This was extremely strange.
Since his birth, he had rarely felt any emotional fluctuation, yet now, he felt excitement from uncovering a secret hidden deep within the soul of a young man?
Why?
Was it because he had discovered that the other person like himself and Yu Xiu did not belong to the category of normal humans?
The madman in this world there has never been a role so lacking that it could excite him.
What is causing his soul to tremble?
Is it because this child stands at the top of the game while he is a butcher hidden beneath the guise of an ordinary person. This makes him realize that the blood boiling within the game does not belong to normal humans but to absurd monstrous beings?
Jiang Yan felt puzzled by his own emotions.
Geng Hui regained consciousness, and everything returned to calm.
Dinner was certainly no longer possible. However, just as everyone was preparing to return to their rooms to study, the door to the banquet hall creaked open.
"Your Highness, you've finally appeased your friend! How wonderful! Otherwise, I would have been troubled about how tonight's summer gathering would begin."
A tall, giant maid from the giant race, dressed in a black-and-white maid outfit, stood at the door, blocking everyone's way.
Ding!
[Dungeon: "The Bloody Marriage of the Giant Clan," Dungeon Progress: 40%]
[Total Players: 10, Current Survivors: 8]
[Real NPCs: 4, Uncontaminated NPCs: 4]
[Side Quest: Every night at midnight, vote for one "murderer" and eliminate them.]
The group was taken aback.
Bang!
The door to the banquet hall closed again.
The maid stood at the entrance, looking at the disarrayed group. She smiled slightly, and the white powder on her face fell away, revealing jagged, sharp teeth.
"Everyone, the banquet has begun."
As soon as she finished speaking, the entire banquet hall began to distort, as though it were a painting splashed with paint.
The enormous crystal chandelier on the ceiling emitted fragmented light, transforming into countless sharp needle-like rays. Everyone only felt a flash in front of their eyes. When their vision cleared again, the previously chaotic banquet hall had returned to its original grandeur and order.
"Please take your seats," the maid said.
She stood at the head of the long table, which was covered in red velvet cloth, with red wine and food neatly arranged. She appeared to be the host.
The group regained their composure and sat down one by one.
Geng Hui twisted her body, and her Rococo-style puffed skirt was now a tangle of rags. Fortunately, her current body no longer showed any gender features, and now, to the others, she appeared to be a giant cow without its shell.
After regaining her consciousness, she lost the agility she had earlier. She tried jumping onto the high-backed chair several times but failed each time.
Ding!
[Item: Medical Bandage]
The white bandages wrapped around her smooth, slime-covered body, gently placing her small self onto the chair.
Geng Hui's tentacles shifted, and her round, glossy eyes looked gratefully at Cao Youfeng.
The black-haired boy, with white bandages wrapped around him, nodded and smiled at her in acknowledgment.
[Disappointment]
Jiang Yan turned to look at Cao Youfeng's soul profile.
Ding.
“Ladies and gentlemen, vote to select the murderer of the king.”
With the crisp ringing of a golden bell in the maid's hand, the trial for this murder began.
At the long table, the group's expressions were all different. In fact, the battle that had taken place in the town earlier that afternoon had almost made them forget about this task.
The chef looked the most nervous, sweat covering his forehead, dripping down his rough face.
He didn’t care who the target was; he just hoped he wouldn’t be voted out.
After losing two companions, he now understood all too well what it meant to be [eliminated].
The voting situation was particularly unfavorable for him.
He was a newcomer. Apart from Geng Hui, he wasn’t familiar with anyone, and now that Geng Hui had become like this... he couldn't guarantee whether the woman who had now turned into a worm still had a mind left, or if her head, like her body, was filled with liquid.
Cao Youfeng casually played with the white bandages. "All the players should have their character cards by now, right? Why don’t we introduce ourselves?"
"I’m just a guest here to attend the banquet," Jian Hou raised his hand and said.
As expected, all the players claimed they were merely ordinary guests.
As for the four real NPCs, their identities were all publicly known:
Jiang Yan [Bride], Lu Sha [Guest], Cang Rou [Elf Queen], Ding Wanyu [Giant's Elite Guard Captain]
"Is there any clue pointing to someone among us who has a grudge against the king?" Tao Shi asked.
The group looked at each other, shook their heads, and eventually turned their gaze to Jiang Yan, the king's wife.
Jiang Yan's ice-blue eyes were like two pure, transparent pieces of glass. He shrugged innocently and said to the group, "As you can see, I've lost some memories from the past."
If Jiang Yan hadn't just reviewed his dungeon script, he would have almost forgotten about this detail.
Jiang Yan knew that this answer would be very disadvantageous to him.
Even in the real world, when one spouse dies unnaturally, the police's first suspicion is always the surviving partner.
What's more, the person who is currently closest and most familiar with the king is him, and he is clearly a key NPC in this dungeon. He even had a past record in "Private Hospital on Jianshe Road"...
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the way the others looked at him began to carry a deeper meaning.
Jiang Yan blinked his eyes, showing an innocent yet sorrowful expression, and defended himself, "But! I truly loved my husband, how could I possibly kill him?"
[Ah. I'm soft-hearted now.]
[Don't be fooled by his appearance! It must be him!]
[Isn't it?? In this situation, how can you not vote for Jiang Yan?]
[Brainlessly vote for Jiang Yan! The game ends.]
[I think whether it's Jiang Yan or not, we should eliminate this bug first, and things should go smoothly afterward.]
"Heh! Do you think that's convincing?" Lu Sha mocked.
Clearly, Jiang Yan's explanation wasn't enough to convince the others.
Not only the players present, but even Jiang Yan himself had started to doubt himself!
Amnesia...
The dungeon script told him they were very much in love... but there wasn't a single memory in his mind of their love. In fact, on the night of their wedding, he fell into a coma in the latter half of the night due to the influence of Yu Xiu's drug.
He didn't know when the other person died, and the next morning, instead of receiving a gentle good-morning kiss from his husband, he was greeted by a bed full of blood and the other’s dismembered body.
Could it be that Yu Xiu went too far, and in his unconscious state, he lost control and ended up killing him?
Of course, with his pale fragile body his wings as delicate as tissue paper, he couldn't possibly have overpowered a giant who was as strong as a wild beast. But...
Jiang Yan felt the tentacles slowly rubbing against his waist.
He didn't look at the marks but instead, through the clothes, pinched the other person, signaling an inquiry.
The tentacle, through the clothing, wrote the word "No" on his hand.
Jiang Yan's long lashes trembled lightly.
If not him... then who?
"At the moment, the only suspect left is our little prince here," Lu Sha said, his eyes bloodshot, looking at Jiang Yan with a smug grin.
"I agree," Yu Jia added.
"Absolutely impossible, it’s not Yan Yan!" Jian Hou retorted.
"I didn’t say it’s definitely him, I just said he’s the prime suspect. It wouldn’t hurt to eliminate him first, right?" Lu Sha smiled and looked at the maid. "The person with the most votes is eliminated, right?"
The maid nodded slightly.
"Then I’ll vote for the little prince," Lu Sha raised his hand high.
Yu Jia immediately followed suit.
Seeing this, the three new players and the transformed Geng Hui, now a worm, all cast their votes.
It wasn’t that they were convinced Jiang Yan was the murderer, but it was out of fear.
The fear that if they didn’t vote out someone, they might themselves be the next to be eliminated.
And the fear of Jiang Yan, this "freak"...
The boy with the colorful braids originally didn’t want to vote. His wish was to capture this beautiful butterfly, but then his father whispered in his ear: “Once an NPC is eliminated, they stay in the dungeon forever. Then, they’ll just be an ordinary elf…”
This made him cast his vote for Jiang Yan without hesitation.
6:6, it was a tie.
Jiang Yan finally let out a sigh of relief.
However, just then, the maid standing at the end of the long table slowly raised her hand...
[What?!]
[Oh??]
[Damn?!]