Chapter 195 Naught Vivian 09

Chapter 195 Naught Vivian 09

A heavy, damp smell emanated from the captain of the guards, spreading a salty, seawater-like scent through the air.

Under the astonished gaze of the "Bluebeard Couple," the NPC's pupils slowly dilated.

The pitch-black irises occupied the entire white part of the eyes, bulging forward like those of a fish, eerily and continuously twitching within their sockets.

"Damn..." Brown, disguised as Duke Bluebeard, was terrified, clutching tightly onto Qin Fei's sleeve.

Qin Fei demonstrated cold-heartedness to the fullest, swiftly pulling his hand away and mounting his horse with lightning speed: "Sorry, I suddenly need to go. I'll come back and queue later."

With that, he galloped away, leaving behind a grand and intricately lace-embroidered skirt fluttering in the night breeze.

This vividly illustrated the saying, "In times of crisis, even husband and wife fly apart."

Brown: "???"

The poor fake duke was stunned, but fortunately, although his mind couldn't catch up, his body reacted quickly, mimicking Qin Fei by jumping on his horse and fleeing in the opposite direction.

When Brown caught up with Qin Fei and looked back, there was no trace of the castle in the distance.

It was clearly just a lush green meadow.

The meadow was covered with red mushrooms speckled with white dots, and under the moonlight, these mushrooms were pulsating, releasing colorful spores.

Scattered across the meadow were people and horses lying unconscious.

An old woman dressed as a villager appeared beside them.

"Villager Granny: Affection - Not Pursuable (A diligent granny responsible for cleaning the roads, faithfully serving her post for 30 years.)"

"Sigh." The granny sighed, pushing an empty cart shakily towards the meadow.

She wore a large scarf around her neck, covering her mouth and nose entirely.

"Every year, some arrogant passersby faint on this hallucinogenic mushroom meadow, leaving it to me, an elderly woman, to clean up."

Shaking her head, she lifted the people and horses one by one and tossed them into the cart, piling them high, then pushed the cart away.

Qin Fei & Brown: "..."

They truly wondered how "elderly and weak" was defined in the fairy tale world.

"Good thing we ran fast," Brown sincerely remarked.

If they had inhaled too many spores and fainted on the meadow, missing the palace ball would have been inevitable.

"Let's continue forward," Qin Fei said calmly. "The real palace should be just ahead."

With that, they resumed their journey.

Sure enough, before the clock struck eleven at night, another castle came into view.

This time, Brown had learned his lesson and didn't rush forward. He stopped his horse and gazed at the castle from a distance.

Although the castle looked identical to the previous one, it seemed much more lively. Through the open gates, people could be seen bustling about on the lawn inside, and soft music and light spilled out from within.

Bathed in moonlight, the deep blue cross atop the castle gleamed brilliantly.

"This is it!" Brown exclaimed excitedly, urging his horse forward.

By now, it was less than five minutes until eleven o'clock. When they reached the gate, a few people were still waiting in line to enter.

Qin Fei, without changing his expression, rode straight to the front of the crowd.

The scattered nobles dared not protest but glared angrily. Qin Fei ignored their gazes and handed the invitation letter of Duke Bluebeard to the guard at the castle gate.

The guard took it and, upon seeing the name "Bluebeard" on the invitation, glanced suspiciously at Brown.

"I remember Duke Bluebeard being a muscular warrior," the guard muttered.

Brown nervously swallowed, but Qin Fei smiled kindly and explained, "My husband has recently lost weight."

Guard: "?"

How could losing weight make muscles disappear and reduce height?

However, Qin Fei's earlier guess was correct; the guard did not overly scrutinize their entry. After confirming the number of people matched the invitation, he waved them through the gate.

The timing was perfect. As soon as Qin Fei and Brown entered the castle, the guards crossed their spears, blocking the remaining people outside.

"Sorry, the time has passed. Tonight's ball is closed for entry," the guard said coldly.

"Why!" a plump lady in an elaborate dress screamed, glaring at Qin Fei with intense hatred. "It's all because of them! They cut the line! The last entry should have been ours!"

But the guard remained stern: "Sorry!"

Her husband pulled her aside: "Don't worry, we can still enter through the side door."

Two additional guards, wearing bizarre blood-red knight armor and wielding huge axes, appeared at the castle gate. Their faces were pale and expressionless.

Clearly, they were not normal beings. However, the plump lady regarded them as saviors, handing over her invitation and following them away, giving Brown a fierce glare before leaving.

Brown innocently touched his nose, watching the NPCs depart: "…There's a side door next to the castle?"

How did they miss seeing any extra doors when they arrived?

Brown vaguely realized that he would likely not be able to meet the lady in the castle anymore.

Eleven consecutive chimes echoed through the night sky. The next moment, the tightly closed main hall doors of the castle suddenly swung open!

Cheers erupted from the lawn as countless NPCs rushed toward the steps, scrambling to enter the main hall. A familiar system prompt sounded in Qin Fei's ears.

"Congratulations to the player for triggering the final mission of the ghost story: Find the trapped little mermaid before midnight and prevent the ■■■ from happening in the palace!"

Qin Fei: "…?"

The player raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"?????"

The system notification also synchronized to the live stream audience, who immediately flooded the chat with a series of incomprehensible symbols.

"Well, no wonder it's a team event. This is the first time I've seen a contaminated mission announcement."

"This is too much. We don't even know what the mission is. How are we supposed to do it?"

"And the time is so tight, just one hour?"

To figure out the specific background of the mission and find where Lu Cheng is hiding within just 60 minutes seemed beyond challenging.

The spirits crowded around the light curtain, their concerns converging into a single worry:

"Lu Cheng, will he really end up stuck in this ghost story forever, becoming a dried fish?"

The Bluebeard couple joined the crowd flowing into the hall. Amidst the deafening music played by the court musicians, the electronic voice of the system continued uninterrupted.

"Due to the tight schedule of the mission, to speed up the players' exploration, please pay attention to the following rules:"

One, do not trust any character with a name.

Two, be cautious of all items that are considered dangerous in fairy tales; "they may cause unpredictable harm!!!"

Three, all nobles are special.

No two people at the ball look exactly alike.

Four, the castle is old and complex; "do not enter non-existent doors!"

(If you mistakenly enter, immediately back out without turning your head! Do not turn back! Do not turn back!)

Five, there is a sea of blue roses behind the castle. After the fourth dance, all guests can freely visit the flower field.

Do not trespass before then!

Six, the purpose of this ball is to select a bride for the prince. The prince is the core of the ball, and no one can go against his wishes.

Seven, do not bring blue roses into any area of the hall.

These seven points are some of the rules for this ball. If you discover other guidelines, feel free to add them. Enjoy a pleasant evening at the palace ball!

The prompts ended abruptly, leaving Qin Fei without any information that could help piece together the background story of the palace ball.

Things seemed a bit troublesome.

Qin Fei blinked and silently lit a candle for Lu Cheng—and himself.

"The ball has officially begun. Please, ladies and gentlemen who have not yet changed into dance shoes, proceed to the shoe-changing area on the right. His Majesty encourages everyone to dance at least two songs before the ball ends!"

An NPC stood beside the entrance to the dance floor, with the words "Ball Supervisor: Affection - Not Pursuable" floating above his head.

Qin Fei noticed that the NPCs already dancing in the center of the floor were all wearing ballet slippers.

"We only have one hour. We need to find the little mermaid quickly," Brown said.

His gaze scanned the hall.

"Stop looking. He's not here," Qin Fei frowned slightly. "Don't you remember what we read in the newspaper? They called him 'a very strange fish,' 'a kind of seafood,' which means Lu Cheng was still in his fish form when they caught him."

It's impossible for him to wear dance shoes with a fish tail and dance in the hall.

The newspaper also mentioned that the royal family would exhibit the mermaid as a curiosity during the ball.

But the mission just now stated that players need to find the mermaid's hiding place before midnight.

"The ball ends at midnight, and the exhibition starts afterward," Qin Fei had figured out the sequence. "Let's change our shoes, dance the first two songs, and then try to gather clues."

Among so many NPCs in the hall, someone must know where the mermaid is hiding.

Brown looked more anxious than Qin Fei and pulled him towards the shoe-changing area.

For the native NPCs in the replica world, failing the ghost story meant being forcibly trapped in the ghost story world—a fate worse than death—especially in this annoying fairy tale world.

Brown, a gentle-looking bespectacled man, was thoroughly annoyed by the accursed translation tone used by the people in the fairy tale world.

There weren't many people in the shoe-changing area. For most noble participants, changing dance shoes was as natural as breathing.

Apart from the late arrivals Brown and Qin Fei, only three girls in small evening dresses were present.

The girls appeared young, perhaps teenagers, and were arguing loudly with their hands on their hips.

Brown's gaze was involuntarily drawn to them.

The girls formed a circle, with a pair of dance shoes at the center, the source of their argument.

"It was I who came here first and saw these shoes!" the girl in the green dress shouted.

The girl in the blue dress wouldn't budge an inch: "It was I who touched these shoes first!"

The girl in the red dress followed closely: "These shoes match my dress the best; they should be mine to wear!"

In the next instant, the three of them suddenly started fighting fiercely. The red dancing shoes passed through their hands, and ultimately, the girl in the green dress threw them with force, sending them straight into Brown's arms.

The audience in the live stream burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, are they crazy? I really don't understand the thought processes of fairy tale characters."

"A pair of ugly shoes, what's there to fight over?"

"Brown: ? Are they mine now??"

"F**k... Wait a minute." An audience member widened their eyes in shock.

As if the chat messages had become a self-fulfilling prophecy, the camera focused on Brown within the light screen.

The NPC Brown, dressed in male noble attire, should have thrown the dancing shoe away immediately upon receiving it. However, for some reason, the NPC now had a blank stare, fixated on the red dancing shoes in his hand as if he had seen a rare treasure.

He even bent down, preparing to put the shoes on his feet.

"...??? What's going on?"

The spirits who hadn't read the fairy tale story were clueless.

Until a highly knowledgeable high-level spirit spoke up calmly: "You haven't read it? The story of the Red Shoes."

A vain girl put on the cursed red dancing shoes and could never stop dancing until death arrived.

The system's warning rules were not without basis. Everyone entering this castle must "be cautious of items that are dangerous according to fairy tales."

"Look at these red dancing shoes; aren't they about to cause unpredictable harm to Brown?" The high-level spirit looked at the light screen with great interest, seemingly eager to see how the person in the live stream would look after being controlled by the red dancing shoes.

Unfortunately, it couldn't get its wish today.

A long and strong hand reached out from the side, snatching the dancing shoes from Brown's hand and forcefully throwing them in another direction!

Brown lifted his head, his expression gradually clearing up.

"Damn!!" The NPC belatedly realized that he had just narrowly escaped death, breaking out in a cold sweat.

He didn't expect that there would be so many things at the ball that could ensnare someone.

The red dancing shoes drew an arc in the air and landed precisely in the hands of the NPC in the red dress, who immediately put them on without hesitation.

Everything happened in a flash. In the next moment, she suddenly spun like a high-speed gyroscope!

She rushed into the dance floor like a tornado, knocking over everyone in her path.

Brown: "..."

He couldn't imagine what would have happened if he had worn those shoes.

"Stop staring." A player beside him reached out, turning the NPC's head.

His beautiful face showed no emotion, as if he hadn't taken the danger that had just narrowly missed him to heart.

"We don't have much time left."