Inside and outside the instance, everyone's attention was focused on Jiang Yan, waiting to see him cast the final, insignificant vote.
Yes, insignificant.
No matter what Jiang Yan’s vote was, Geng Hui was the one who was doomed to be eliminated.
So, at this moment, Jiang Yan’s hesitation was utterly meaningless and left everyone utterly confused.
Jiang Yan knew this, but...
Jiang Yan’s glass-like blue eyes reflected Geng Hui’s image.
At this moment, this girl had already fallen into the terror of being sentenced to "death," losing her human form, and starting to wildly twist her worm-like body. Sticky fluid kept spilling from her decaying, filthy pink puffy skirt, as if she were about to melt.
Her tentacles, adorned with eyeballs, swung wildly, and her throat continuously simulated human voices: "No, not me... No..."
Jiang Yan didn’t doubt that if it weren’t for the giant’s green mist surrounding her, she would have directly gone berserk, just like when he first opened the banquet hall door, and started devouring her kind.
It wasn’t her.
Everyone knew this.
[What’s going on??]
[Voting! Why the delay??]
It’s really amazing that this vote is taking so long.
[It’s really torturous... Honestly, does the time in this instance work differently from outside? I’ve been watching for several days... they’ve been at it for an entire night!]
"Yan Yan?" The giant’s long hand rubbed Jiang Yan’s head.
Jiang Yan, stop stalling! Cast your vote! No need to act cute anymore! Just give the girl a quick end!]
Jiang Yan looked at Geng Hui, his raven-black lashes slightly trembling, and slowly raised his hand: "I vote for... Jiang Yan."
Everyone went silent. Even Geng Hui, who was in a frenzy, was stunned, staring blankly at Jiang Yan with her tentacles’ two distinct black-and-white eyeballs.
The giant slowly curved his lips and announced: "Geng Hui, 7 votes, Jiang Yan, 3 votes."
"Tch!" Lu Sha crossed his arms, looking at Jiang Yan with disdain, mocking, "Trying to act like a saint, huh?"
[Ah???]
[Huh?? What’s going on??]
[Is he trying to save that girl? His vote doesn’t even matter, does it?!]
[Hypocrisy... yuck! So fake!]
[Ha! How laughable! So fake, right?? Is this just to set up a good image for himself?]
[What? Now, can a righteous image get higher points in the instance?]
“Host, you...” 663 wanted to say something, but in the end, he remarked, “I think this is a bit redundant.”
Redundant, and extremely hypocritical!
Jiang Yan thought the same.
By removing himself and his friends from the voting range and watching as the others aimed their guns at a girl who was most likely innocent, he then pretended not to take part in her judgment when the final collective decision was made.
It was so hypocritical that it made one want to sleep in disgust!
Jiang Yan was not like Jian Hou; he wasn’t a normal person.
He could accept keeping a specimen room at home to collect various dead bodies, turn a blind eye to his husband’s strange and perverse hobbies, and remain indifferent to everything that happened in the game.
It’s clear that he wasn’t someone with a normal sense of morality or ethics.
Let alone... in the previous instances, he had not once, but multiple times, directly or indirectly taken the lives of other players or real NPCs.
Simply put, he was a “murderer” in the real world now, and he didn’t feel much about it. There was no pain or suffering in carrying out the “execution” of someone.
Even though the person in question was clearly related to the death of the boy on the table, they couldn’t be considered completely innocent.
Therefore, Jiang Yan’s vote just now seemed so hypocritical.
But still, he did it.
Because...
“In this murder targeting the king, I can’t determine if she is guilty.” Jiang Yan said to 663, his voice calm and indifferent.
663 still didn’t understand: “So?”
“This girl hasn’t really offended me, and I can’t determine if she’s guilty in this murder, so why should I vote for her?” Jiang Yan said expressionlessly, “I can’t determine if anyone at this table is guilty, so I’ll vote for myself.”
“Ha??” 663 asked.
Jiang Yan slowly said: “When I received the divine system, in that giant black flesh tree, the god said to me— ‘The existence of gods is not to save, but to judge.’”
“Geng Hui is currently my follower, and I can’t judge whether she is guilty in this baseless trial.”
“....”
663 was silent for a moment, then laughed softly: “Strange logic.”
Ding!
The main system’s voice rang out: [Player Geng Hui—Eliminated!]
Geng Hui immediately snapped back to reality: “No... no... It’s not me... No!!”
Ding!
[Instance: “The Bloody Bride of the Giants”, Instance Progress: 60%]
[Total number of players: 10, Current number of survivors: 7]
[Real NPCs: 4, Unpolluted NPCs: 4]
[Side Quest: Every night at midnight, vote to eliminate one “murderer” who killed the king.]
[First round of voting: Failed.]
Not an unexpected result, the crowd was silent.
“Alright! Ladies and gentlemen, tonight’s farce is over!”
The giant butler laughed as he announced, while gently standing up from his seat, still holding Jiang Yan.
Geng Hui nervously watched him, continuously pleading: “No... it’s not me... it’s really not! The system just said it wasn’t me... Please, spare me...”
The giant, holding Jiang Yan, gracefully walked around the long table.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the giant to release that terrifying two-headed moth, waiting for the moth to turn the wriggling girl before them into a human skin cocoon.
However, to everyone's surprise, the giant merely carried Jiang Yan to the door of the banquet hall and slowly opened it.
Seeing that no one moved, the giant turned back, looking at the crowd, and said with confusion: “The game is over. Aren’t you all going to your rooms to rest? It’s already late.”
The crowd was frozen in their seats, and a glimmer of hope appeared in Geng Hui’s eyes.
“Is this...” The colorful-haired boy glanced at Geng Hui, then turned to the giant, cautiously asking, “Didn’t you say... there would be a punishment? That moth...?”
“Oh!” The giant answered with a smile, “There is a punishment but it’s not for me to decide.”
Everyone was puzzled.
The giant continued to explain: “As you all can see, this lady is not the murderer. She merely became the target of your collective judgment, your chosen scapegoat and I am only responsible for judging the real murderer.”
Geng Hui’s eyes lit up with excitement: “I... I’m saved? Am I alright?”
“Sorry, madam, the power to judge you does not lie in my hands,” the giant sighed.
“What do you mean?” The colorful-haired boy asked in confusion. “Then who has the power to judge her?”
Hearing this, the giant’s green eyes curved, revealing a sinister, eerie smile: “Of course, it lies in the hands of the real murderer!”
Everyone was shocked.
The real murderer...
663 laughed: “As expected, you can’t sleep in the same bed with two different people.”
Jiang Yan coldly said: “The behavior of the system NPCs is programmed by your main system, isn’t it?”
663 replied: “Uh... yes, but when the main system sets the behavior of system NPCs, it takes into account their own personalities.”
Jiang Yan: “I see.”
At this point, the giant petted Jiang Yan’s head like a cat, saying: “Sorry, everyone, my dear little prince’s strength has already been nearly depleted. As you can see, his body is quite frail, so I must take him back to his room to rest.”
“Goodnight, esteemed guests.”
“No... no--!!”
Amid Geng Hui’s desperate scream, Jiang Yan was carried out of the banquet hall in the giant’s arms.
Back in the room, his husband, the giant king’s dismembered corpse, was still lying on the bed—more precisely, two arms.
Jiang Yan looked at the remains on the bed, then glanced at the giant, who was holding him.
The giant showed an excited and appreciative look, sighing: “Ah! Such a perfect piece of art! My esteemed prince, it would be wonderful to keep this in the closet!”
Damn!
As expected, this guy was particularly interested in his own body parts! What a damn perv!
Jiang Yan sighed and looked up to the sky.
“Alright! I should take you to the bath now; it’s time for you to sleep,” the giant kissed Jiang Yan’s forehead.
Jiang Yan’s heart instantly sounded alarm bells! “A bath? No... I’ll go by myself.”
“That’s not possible,” the giant said. “As your steward, this is my responsibility.”
Without further explanation, the giant took Jiang Yan into the bathroom.
“No... this isn’t... what!!” Jiang Yan began to struggle desperately. But how could the poor little prince, the elf, possibly resist the giant?
However, to Jiang Yan’s surprise, the bath this time was actually just a simple bath.
In a bathtub filled with white bubbles and red rose petals, Yu Xiu, surprisingly, stopped his usual behavior and calmly bathed Jiang Yan, dried him off, and then carried him back to bed.
When they returned to the bed, the two severed arms of his husband had already been placed in the closet, facing the bed.
Jiang Yan looked at the giant before him, with a somewhat reluctant expression, and said: “You... hmm... Really, you just helped me?"
Jiang Yan still couldn’t believe it
The giant looked at him fondly, bent down, and kissed his wings, saying: “You lie down first.”
Afterward, he turned around and entered the room again, probably to clean up the aftermath.
This bastard...
Jiang Yan blinked, wondering if he had changed his personality. Then his gaze fell on the two severed arms in the closet.
Right, now Yu Xiu was the steward and his husband, “Yu Xiu,” had been dismembered.
So, this guy hadn’t done anything to him?
Thinking this, Jiang Yan let out a long sigh.
He snuggled into the soft blanket and opened the divine system panel:
[Divine System Upgrade: S]
[Judgment Task Progress: 40%]
[Number of Saved Followers in the Instance: 7]
[Faith Accumulation: 11%]
[Virtue Accumulation: +4%]
[Task Progress: 15%]
[Task Prompt: Piece together the revolving lantern of follower Lu Wei, complete his judgment, and gain faith and virtue!]
Jiang Yan’s gaze fell on the Judgment Progress: 40%.
The death of Ma Bin had earned him 20% of the progress, and the death of Geng Hui also gave him 20%. In other words, “killing” one person advanced the progress by 20%.
With 60% progress remaining, did he need to “sacrifice” three more people?
Thinking this, the faces of the colorful-haired boy, his son, and the chef appeared in Jiang Yan’s mind.
Coincidentally, there were still three new players left in the instance.
So, this group of new players hadn’t been mysteriously dragged into the “Jian” game, but had come because of this incident.
They hadn’t signed a contract with the game’s main god and main system. Was it because others had signed the contract with the main god and system?
Jiang Yan looked at the smiling black-haired boy on the divine system panel.
Scenes from before the death of the short-haired boy and Geng Hui flashed in his mind. He could still hear 663’s voice:
“Humans, when they are on the verge of death, are most desperate for the gods to appear. The power of belief they release in those moments of near death is the most powerful.”
The delicate and handsome smile of the boy reflected in Jiang Yan’s blue eyes.
Was it a plea to the gods in the moment of despair?
However, what he received wasn’t salvation and rebirth...
At that moment, a huge shadow enveloped Jiang Yan’s whole body.
He blinked, then looked up and saw Yu Xiu standing by the bed in a bath towel, his sculpted body on full display, smiling at him in a dangerous manner.
“Baby, are you ready?”
Jiang Yan: “???“
The giant slowly lifted his chin and leaned down.
“Wait... wait!!”
Jiang Yan, realizing too late, began to struggle. But it was already too late; his hands were tied to the headboard with the steward's towel around his waist.
“You... aren’t you the steward?!”
“Of course, my prince.”
“How dare you! I... I’m your king’s spouse...”
“Ah, yes! Your dismembered husband is lying there, isn't it more exciting?"
Jiang Yan: “!!!”