Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The fifth minute of the combat round.

Edmund's bullets ran out, his pistol completely useless now. His greatest achievement was leaving a bloody hole in the ghoul's shoulder, the result of multiple shots.

As a consequence, Baba, who was responsible for drawing fire, had her leg broken by the ghoul.

The sixth minute of the combat round.

Uncle Hao's abdomen was torn open by the ghoul, his intestines spilling out. Ye Ye hurriedly tried to administer first aid, but the effectiveness was...

[First Aid: Failed]

"Damn it! We don't have a medic in our squad! I knew I should have leveled up first aid and medical skills!" Ye Ye was in a panic.

Uncle Hao weakly spat out, "Shut up, you quack, don’t treat me to death. I’d rather die at the hands of the monster."

"It's okay! Trust me, this time the first aid will work!"

"No, Brother Ye, maybe you should go bother Baba instead!"

The situation was rapidly deteriorating.

Just as Edmund initially assessed, Class D anomalies being common didn't mean they were weak. On the contrary, these fast, strong, and defensively robust creatures, lacking any prominent weaknesses, were perfectly suited to be cannon fodder in various scenarios. However, for players still in the newbie village, this cannon fodder was effectively a formidable boss.

Edmund's vision blurred, and before he could dodge, a massive force slammed him to the ground. He instantly coughed up blood, three deep claw marks tearing across his chest.

Almost instantly, he lost the ability to resist. Having not been with the Inspection Bureau for long and not being a combat specialist, his close encounter with the ghoul had a foregone conclusion.

Edmund lay on his back, the heavy scent of blood in his nostrils. He could feel the ghoul's foul breath right before him, its bared fangs capable of easily crushing an adult's skull.

Is this... the end?

"Thud!"

A stone hit the ghoul, naturally leaving no mark on its tough skin, but it evidently angered it. Like an ant provoking an elephant, the ghoul turned around instantly.

Ye Ye swallowed hard, but fortunately, he had already set his pain and gore settings to the lowest. He wasn't as scared now and yelled at the ghoul, "Come on, eat me if you dare! You bald monster! See how I taste!"

The ghoul pounced, and Ye Ye turned to run, shouting as he did, "Run, everyone! I'll try to lead it away... Ah!"

On this night, there would be no heroes; everyone present was merely human.

Edmund struggled desperately to stand, not wanting to waste his companion's sacrifice. However, he failed; the ghoul's recent attack had broken his ribs, and he coughed up blood the moment he tried to stand. The other two players were also in a near-death state.

Ye Ye didn't get far; the ghoul was much faster. Barely making it four or five meters, he was tackled to the ground. The ghoul decisively bit off his head, relishing its meal.

Edmund watched this hellish scene in a daze.

He knew it would soon be his turn.

Overwhelming fear crushed him.

Save me save me save me save me save me, anyone, anything, please!

Trembling all over, he propped himself up, ceaselessly calling out Lann's name in his mind.

However, prayers and calls for help did not resolve their dire situation. No divine soldiers descended, no mechanical saviors appeared, and the ghoul continued to tear apart Ye Ye's body, soon to turn to the next victim.

Edmund's lips trembled, his mind spinning dizzyingly. Every moment of his encounters with Lann flashed through his mind, dissected and fragmented, as if his primal instinct was desperately searching for a chance to survive.

"You need to return to your true self."

"This requires a catalyst."

He didn't understand, he truly didn't grasp what Lann meant by 'true self'. This was his self – a pitiful, cowardly person!

Edmund's mouth gaped open in a desperate attempt to breathe, tears uncontrollably streaming down his face. More pitifully, he didn't dare make a sound to disturb the ghoul's 'meal'. His soul had reached hell, but his body instinctively wanted to cling to life, even if just for a minute or two.

In this extreme situation, he didn't even notice a mist emanating from his body, invisible to the ordinary eye.

In a daze, he seemed to return to that terrible nightmare, just like when he was a child, helplessly watching his companions get slaughtered, torn apart.

Blood, blood everywhere.

The shadow of a clown emerged from the pool of blood, grabbing Edmund's ankle. Its face, pale as painted white, bore a wide grin, saying:

"Smile, Edmund, why aren't you smiling?"

"Have you forgotten how you plunged the knife into my neck?"

"Why fear? Why fear yourself? Have you even deceived yourself that night, when no one called the police, no one came to rescue you?"

"You saved yourself. Look closely, who is under the clown's mask?"

Edmund numbly looked down, for the first time gathering the courage to directly gaze at the clown's face. Beneath the ghastly white skin, he saw the clown's features.

It was a face identical to his own.

This was him, this was his... true self.

Edmund began to tremble all over, his eyes widening to their fullest, his fingernails digging into his face, almost embedding into the flesh.

That night... that night.

As the clown laughed, reveling in his fear, at his most vulnerable moment, Edmund had snatched the clown's knife. Disregarding the blade cutting into his palm, he deftly twisted it in an elegant arc and plunged it into the clown's neck.

Blood splattered his face and body, a sea of red before his eyes. Looking down at the dagger, he saw the face of a murderer on it.

This was his deepest nightmare.

After Ye Ye died, he entered the game's 'death retention' phase – his 'first death'. Using the game's screenshot feature, he took a photo of himself with the ghoul, lamenting to his live stream audience, "Man, this task is too hard, isn't it? Are these the kind of monsters that should appear in a beginner's quest? It's totally a plot-driven death!"

The audience in the live stream also comforted him.

[Don’t worry, these things happen~]

[Ye Ye was so cool just now, too bad he couldn't turn the tide.]

[It's a plot-driven death, for sure. Think about it, it's a bounty pool task, the difficulty must be exaggerated. They should've called for more backup.]

[Sigh, I thought the difficulty of the bounty pool task was in the investigation, didn't expect it to be in the boss battle, that's absurd.]

The audience in the live stream continued chatting and joking. In their view, the situation was a hopeless plot-driven death. Ye Ye's team was wiped out, but no worries, they would remember their valiant efforts. Many players, who had been watching in the live stream, were already packing up to head to the location of Ye Ye's team's demise to fight the boss.

Just then, the previously sparse barrage of messages suddenly became lively.

This made Ye Ye, who had planned to log off and check the forums, stunned.

Because... Edmund had stood up.

"Hmph, hahahahaha~"

He covered his face, letting out a piercing laugh, naturally drawing the ghoul's attention. The ghoul decisively abandoned the nearly consumed corpse, lunging towards Edmund.

Edmund stood there, seemingly foolishly, emitting a mad laugh. Just when everyone thought he had finally gone mad and was facing his death, the man lowered his hands.

At that moment, the others saw that Edmund's face had turned deathly pale, like it had been painted, with a bright red mouth resembling a clown's exaggerated smile. This gave him an eerie, circus-clown appearance that was deeply unsettling.

He suddenly made an exaggerated evasive move, narrowly avoiding the ghoul's lunge.

And it wasn't a fluke.

In the ghoul’s second and third attacks, bystanders could clearly see him narrowly dodging each one.

Ye Ye, in his death retention mode, watched in stunned silence.

He had fought the ghoul too, and dodging was his highest skill next to trickery, yet he had never managed to evade the ghoul’s attacks.

Edmund... when had he become so agile?

In a whirl of motion, man and monster moved closer to where Ye Ye's body lay. Edmund stopped dodging, instead grabbing the ghoul's arms and pulling himself closer.

As a consequence, Edmund's shoulder bore several deep, bone-visible claw marks. However, he seemed unfazed, chuckling as he drew closer to the ghoul’s foul-smelling face: “That really hurts, bad doggy~”

Then, he fiercely jabbed something into the ghoul's eyes.

Only then did Ye Ye realize the dagger next to his corpse was gone, now lodged in the ghoul's eye socket.

[Damn, did anyone see that?]

[No, no, he's too fast.]

The ghoul let out a painful shriek. Taking advantage of its agony, Edmund, now wielding brass knuckles, delivered a hard punch to its other eye.

[Sss… That must hurt, its head is deformed.]

The completely blinded ghoul, now virtually helpless before the suddenly powerful Edmund, was mercilessly attacked. Amidst his shrill laughter, Edmund pulled the dagger from the ghoul’s eye socket, stabbing it into its heart, kidneys, temples, neck, and other fatal spots.

Dark red blood splattered everywhere, nearly turning Edmund into a blood-soaked figure. But the man with the clown makeup seemed unconcerned, torturing his victim while emitting piercing laughter, seemingly taking pleasure in it.

Finally, after reducing the ghoul to a butchered mess with his dagger, the clown-like figure appeared to tire and stopped, quietly observing the result of his work.

This was... transcendence.

The words of his team captain flashed through Edmund's mind: overcoming the first trial of the Dream Gap often leads to the awakening of one's Origin. Those who awaken their Origin gain extraordinary abilities.

Just as now, the ghoul that could easily slaughter a team of ordinary investigators was beheaded by the awakened clown.

He didn't look back at the two dying players nearby, humming a tune as he walked away.

Ye Ye watched, dumbfounded, while the live stream chat exploded with messages.

[Crazy awesome, I like it.]

[Wuuu so cool, my new hubby.]

[Feels like the birth of a villain. Why did this NPC suddenly become so powerful?]

[Where is he going? Seems like he's heading in the direction of the guy who had the butterfly specimen!]

……

Lann couldn't help but smile.

Clarence was still introducing him to the guests present, but Lann had never been to such a grand event before and had no idea how to act. Considering his current persona, he remained silent throughout, maintaining a polite smile.

This nonchalant demeanor, in the eyes of others, seemed perfectly natural.

Those with power can do anything naturally.

Especially in matters of the mysterious, this city holds too many secrets. In the underworld of Arkham, the mafia and gang organizations are those closest to the mysteries and death. They know more about the bizarre disappearances or deaths of the homeless and thugs than the police do.

Naturally, among the crowd were those who had reasoned their way to power and many brutes who had fought their way to the top.

A discordant voice rang out:

"A charlatan pretending to be mystical, managing to fool all these gang organizations – quite an eye-opener today."

Clarence's face darkened as he looked towards the source of the voice. The crowd exchanged uneasy glances, hastily avoiding his piercing gaze, until finally a man with a scar over his right eye caught their attention.

"That's John from the Blood Wolf Gang, a recently rising faction."

"Tsk, a 'nouveau riche', heard he got to the top through brutality."

Whispers spread among the crowd, but John seemed unconcerned. Seeing Clarence and Lann looking his way, he set down his glass. Far from intimidated, he provocatively approached them: "What’s wrong, did I say something incorrect? Show us some magic trick to prove you’re not a fraud, haha!"

Has he lost his mind?! Clarence's expression grew even more displeased, his eyes fixed sternly on John. Had guns not been forbidden at the banquet, he would have already drawn his weapon on him.

"Are you looking to die?"

"You’re not scary enough to intimidate me," John scoffed, then turned to Lann, his gaze sweeping over his face with a flash of greed and desire, "To scare me, you need to show some real skills."

Lann: ...

Ah, this man can't be expecting me to perform magic on the spot.

Lann remained expressionless, but inwardly he was distressed. The real world wasn't like the game; he had indeed recorded many spells while playing the game, but now he couldn't perform any.

"What? Can't do it?" John's face grew more mocking by the moment, as Clarence anxiously looked towards Lann.

Clarence looked like he wanted to chop down this insolent man, but he hesitated, worried that such an action might displease Lann. He probably thought Lann would personally punish this arrogant individual.

But Lann did nothing, appearing as if he hadn’t heard John’s provocations from start to finish, his gaze distant, seemingly waiting for something.

In this odd silence, the onlookers’ expressions grew more and more peculiar, causing a sinking feeling in Clarence’s heart.

To subdue this pack of wolves, he knew he had to resort to thunderous methods.

Just as Clarence was about to speak out again, something strange happened.

The guests at the outer edge of the banquet began to collapse one after another.

Everyone else was stunned. At that moment, everyone felt a wave of weakness coursing through their bodies.

Only Lann could see the colorful ribbons of light connecting the guests, passing through their bodies and converging invisibly in the air. Following these ribbons, Lann saw that at the center of the banquet, the champagne tower had been replaced with a glass pedestal, on which sat a vivid black and red butterfly specimen.

Compared to the one Lann had seen before, this butterfly specimen seemed even more lifelike, as if it could fly away at any moment.

Clarence, struggling against the feeling of weakness seeping out of his body, followed Lann’s gaze to the butterfly specimen. Just one glance at it caused a painful sting in his eyes, and he covered them with a hoarse voice, “What… what is that...”

“The butterfly specimen I mentioned to you before.”

Lann’s voice arose beside him, at times ethereal, at times clear: “To be precise, it's a specimen of a Soul-Eating Butterfly, and it's about to be resurrected.”

He opened the player's bounty pool task and unsurprisingly saw that the countdown had only five minutes left.

He had thought this task was no longer related to him, but who would have expected it to make a return at this moment.

“Impossible…” Clarence fiercely pinched his thigh to maintain consciousness, “I should have already reported this to the boss, and he said the specimen had been dealt with.”

Lann merely hummed in response, a sense of foreboding surfacing in his mind.

Soon, his premonition proved correct. Some guests began to curse loudly, probably suspecting that the drinks at the banquet had been drugged.

But their shouts quickly subsided.

No one knew how it all started, but when the first guest was tackled to the ground by a monster, screams erupted among the crowd.

Through the gaps in the crowd, Lann got a clear view of the creature.

A Class D anomaly: the ghoul.

Lann's pupils constricted slightly.

“Aaaaah! Help!”

“There's a monster!”

“Damn it, where's my gun, give me back my weapon now!”

Facing absolute danger, even the underworld big shots who usually dominated were as panicked as ordinary people, especially since they were unarmed!

Many lunged at the waiters, trying to retrieve their weapons. But the boss of Black Poker had already decided to let everyone die here; the weapons handed over had been moved elsewhere.

Some people decisively ran towards the exit, but their movement alerted the ghouls. Two ghouls guarded the front and back doors, preying on those who attempted to flee first.

The screams and roars at the scene were continuous, and more despairingly, due to the butterfly specimen, the life force of the guests was being continuously drained. Many collapsed from exhaustion after just a few steps, let alone fight back against the ghouls.

“Is this... did you do this on purpose?” The group near Clarence and Lann, not yet targeted by the ghouls, asked tremulously, their eyes bloodshot as they stared at Clarence, “Is this a conspiracy by Black Poker?!”

“Clarence... aren’t you going to give us an explanation?”

Clarence's face was grim, and he remained silent for a moment, realizing that the boss of Black Poker, his leader, was now nowhere to be seen.

The butterfly specimen that was supposed to have been disposed of had appeared at the banquet.

The sudden emergence of monsters, the disappearance of weapons.

It all seemed like a trap set up by Black Poker.

But the key issue was... he had no idea about it.

Clarence's heart sank. He was smart enough to figure out that he had been abandoned by the leader of Black Poker.

But why would they have the audacity for such a desperate move? Black Poker was already the uncrowned king of Arkham’s underworld. There was no need for such an act, and if the high-ranking members of other organizations invited to the banquet didn’t return, it would inevitably lead to massive upheaval in Arkham tonight.

And he had never heard of Black Poker harboring such creatures...

Unless the real purpose of this setup was to...

Clarence couldn’t help but glance at Lann. Other underworld bosses, seemingly catching a hint from his look, watched as John, who had earlier spoken out, approached Lann with a twisted expression, the scar on his eye writhing like a centipede. He quickly moved towards Lann.

His movement was so sudden that Clarence couldn’t react in time. Everyone watched as John rushed to Lann, expecting him to attack, but to their surprise, John knelt before Lann without hesitation.

Huh???

Everyone else was stunned.

In this fictional world of the game, kneeling was not a common practice. For most city dwellers, removing a hat or bowing was enough to show respect. Kneeling, a gesture relegated to the dust of history, was now considered an insult if it even existed.

Yet now, a gang leader, who valued face above all else, unhesitatingly knelt before Lann.

"Please forgive my earlier disrespect, I was misled into saying those things!"

After witnessing the existence of the monster, John's face turned pale, then green, and his attitude did a complete 180.

John, quite shamelessly, confessed to being used as a pawn, sincerely apologizing to Lann: "The person behind this is Wilt from the Viper Gang. He told me you were just a fraud, a tool for Black Poker to consolidate their power and make others hesitant to act against them. Foolishly, I believed his slander. Please, save me! If I can leave here alive, my gang will be at your service!"

The people around, feeling humiliated, consciously stepped back a few paces. Clarence, on the other hand, somewhat admired the guy for being able to lose face, take ruthless actions, and willingly be used as a pawn to gamble for his future. He had the sense to cut his losses to survive, stomping on his dignity if necessary.

If he doesn't die today, he will surely have a place in Arkham's future.

But unfortunately...

Clarence looked at Lann and noticed that from beginning to end, his expression had been indifferent. Whether it was when the monsters started attacking people or when John knelt before him, he remained unfazed, as if nothing was worth his concern.

This indifferent demeanor, unconcerned with the imminent danger, had a different meaning in the eyes of others.

He didn’t mind the provocations, nor did he care about John’s kneeling apology.

Clarence felt ironic about the glimmer of hope he had harbored in his heart, thinking to himself:

Would a god care about what ants are thinking?

They would just inadvertently crush them.

Hoping to collaborate with such an entity was too naive of him.

……

Damn it, it's over.

After the ghoul appeared, Lann quickly recalled the scene in the hospital at night, where a ghoul had similarly burst through the wall from the next room, easily shredding the players.

But this time, there was no Spider Lady to fight it.

Faced with John's kneeling and apology, Lann remained indifferent on the surface and genuinely didn't care much internally either. He was reminded of his time in the hospital at night. In professional psychological terms, he was experiencing a bit of PTSD.

The usual responses to PTSD in ordinary people might include screaming, withdrawal, anger, or anxiety, but Lann was a psychologist. He had long recognized his condition but couldn’t treat himself. Despite maintaining maximum outward calm, those bleak emotions from the hospital time still haunted him.

He was starting to feel like giving up.

[Wow, what a twist of events!]

[Is this banquet a trap? How come there are monsters?]

[Ah Long, look quickly, that butterfly specimen in the middle of the banquet, isn't it the one from the bounty pool task?]

[Lol, what's up with the streamer? Hiding under the table is really losing face for us players, right?]

Currently, Ah Long was hiding under a table, seeing this comment float by, he helplessly retorted: “Hey, didn’t you see the ghouls knocking out kids with one punch? Although I’ve leveled up my combat skills, I’m suffering from a debuff right now. It’s easier for them to kill me than a chicken. How can I live stream for you if I’m dead?”

Now, the surviving players could all see the debuff on themselves.

[Health continuously decreasing, -1 every 10 minutes]

Players were already no match for the anomaly, and with the debuff, victory seemed even more unlikely.

"This has to be a plot-driven kill, at least at this stage the players can’t do much," Ah Long and his live stream audience heavily criticized, "Look, the countdown for the bounty pool task has started, I bet something else will happen when it ends."

[What's going to happen?]

[According to the task description, ‘before the butterfly flies away’, maybe the butterfly specimen will come to life?]

[Holy cow! That’s an A-class anomaly! Won’t it kill everyone here?!]

[Except for Lann, but it seems like Lann has no intention of taking action.]

[Of course, he's a malevolent deity. Did you really think he's benevolent? They don’t care about human life at all.]

[Lol, I came from another live stream, can't believe this is interconnected?? Hang in there, streamer, a hero is about to arrive!]

Ah Long saw this comment and murmured in confusion, “A hero is about to arrive?”

At that moment, the screaming outside resumed.

Ah Long snapped back to reality and turned his camera to the outside, allowing his live stream audience to see what was happening.

Two ghouls had finished attacking the waiters or those near the exits and were gradually moving towards the crowd.

The monsters sniffed the ground, as if they had scented an enticing target, and suddenly lunged towards the center of the crowd.

In that moment, curses and screams were incessant. In the face of crisis, humans showed vastly different reactions. Some who were normally fierce collapsed to the ground, screaming shrilly, more than a young girl. Others cursed and charged at the ghouls with broken glass shards, only to be torn to shreds. And some began desperately running towards the exits, quickly overtaken and killed by the ghouls.

The crowd started moving, like sheep herded by a sheepdog.

Only one person remained standing still.

When targeted by the ghouls from a distance, Lann’s body stiffened. He could feel that both ghouls were coming for him.

So no matter where he retreated, once the crowd was torn apart, his fate was sealed.

Then why bother running?

Thus, he lost the strength to move with the crowd, just standing there. Clarence initially wanted to run, but seeing Lann not moving, he gritted his teeth and stood still beside him.

As the crowd moved, the two of them were exposed.

The ghouls were about to pounce on Lann.

Bang—

The banquet hall's tightly shut doors suddenly swung open.

A solitary figure stood at the entrance.

The attendees, stunned into silence, momentarily failed to grasp the opportunity to escape.

Or perhaps, some realized it was a chance to flee but no one dared to make a move.

The person at the door was clad in clothes almost completely soaked in blood.

Their pale skin contrasted sharply with their wide, gaping mouth.

Like a blood-stained clown.

"Hee hee~ What a lively party," he lifted his head, his grin stretching almost to his ears, "Why wasn't I invited?"

"Roar..."

Sensing a threat, two ghouls leapt up, jumping over the heads of Lan and Clarence, lunging towards Edmund.

"Ahahaha~ Little doggies, I'm so scared~" Edmund said, covering his mouth, "But why can't I help laughing?"

As the ghouls pounced, Edmund swiftly ducked with a flexibility no adult should possess, avoiding the attack. He straightened up, his dagger slashing a large gash in the ghoul as it passed by. Dark red blood splattered, and as the other ghoul followed suit, its massive impact sent the clown flying into a champagne tower.

The crisp sound of shattering glass, the golden liquid feeding the floor, the clown laughing maniacally while firmly gripping the upper and lower jaws of a ghoul: "You want this, I'll give it to you!"

With that, he punched the ghoul's mouth fiercely, picking up a shard of glass to slice through its eyeball.

Blinded, one ghoul kept lunging mindlessly at the clown, who was picking up shards of glass from the ground.

Ordinary glass shards became lethal weapons in his hands, transforming into broad blades, into throwing knives, tracing countless dazzling arcs through the air like a circus's spectacular acrobatics. Under the shocked gaze of the audience, he used these shards to destroy all the senses of the ghoul, then sliced off its neck with a swift cut.

The clown turned to deal with the other sightless ghoul, holding two heads in his hands, he bowed slightly to the stunned audience.

The performance concluded.

The reception for the clown was not applause and smiles, but the terrified faces of the audience. In their eyes, one horror had been ended by another, even greater terror.

The clown put down the two heads, setting them in place of the champagne tower on the table, then hummed with a chuckle as he walked towards the crowd, which silently parted, revealing Lan and Clarence.

Under the gaze of the few survivors, the blood-stained clown walked straight up to Lan and knelt on one knee.

"Hee hee~ My lord, I have arrived late."

My lord?

It was not until this moment that Clarence's frozen nerves finally relaxed. He glanced at Lan subconsciously and found him expressionless as if everything happening was within his expectations. No, it seemed this might be exactly the scenario he anticipated.

He had witnessed ghouls killing people as easily as slaughtering chickens. He had also seen this bloodied clown mercilessly slaying the ghouls.

Without a doubt, both were beyond what any human could achieve.

And now this title?

The words spoken to him by the leader suddenly echoed in his mind. Did they call such beings... disciples?

[Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!]

[Damn, damn, damn, that's so cool, man.]

[Sob, sob, sob, sob, is this the descent of a tough guy? That fight scene got me soaked, damn, did anyone catch his last move?]

[No, but it was so damn cool. Glass like blades, every strike drawing blood, brutally dismembering – damn.]

[How is this not animated? How is this not animated? Is this a job change? I want to see a high-octane battle manga!]

[Does no one care that this badass just descended is Lan's man? I heard him say 'my lord'!]

[What's so surprising about that? Can any follower of a dark god not be tough?]

[I declare him my new husband now!]

Lan was dumbfounded.

Literally, not only were his legs numb, but his face felt numb too. From the moment the ghoul lunged at him to the sudden appearance and dispatching of the ghoul by the clown, and then the clown's unexpected kneeling before him, Lan's numbness prevented any reaction. He didn't evade and thus found himself receiving this unexpected act of submission.

"Who is this, anyway??"

Confusion filled Lan's eyes as he scrutinized the person kneeling on one knee. It took him a while to recognize the familiar eyes and brows beneath the clown's makeup.

"Edmund?"

"Yes, I am here," Edmund replied, beaming broadly, "I followed your teachings and accepted my 'self'. I finally understand who I am and what I should do. I am willing to be your hands and feet, your senses, your eyes and ears, until your glory once again spreads across the world."

Lan: ???

"Wait a minute, what did I say to you?"

Lan was completely bewildered. That was just standard psychological therapy, wasn't it? How did it come to this? Wake up!

Before Lan could even begin to deny it, the survivors around them began to collapse one by one.

"What? Isn't it over?"

Suddenly, Lan remembered something and turned his head sharply towards the most important butterfly specimen. Due to the ghoul's intimidation, everyone had failed to notice it.

But in fact, the most lethal aspect of this trap was precisely the danger that was easily overlooked.

"Edmund, go and destroy it..."

Lan had not even finished speaking when the light bands connecting the collapsed people suddenly snapped. Simultaneously, wrinkles appeared on the faces of the guests.

The butterfly specimen came to life.