Chapter 17: Rose Earl 17

"Bang."

The luxurious door was pushed open by Xia Qi, making a sharp and abrupt sound.

At this moment, the room was shrouded in a layer of dark mist, heavy lake-blue velvet curtains covering the stained glass doors, blocking out all the warm sunlight of the day—

Seeing this, the old man and his sister instinctively took a step back.

However, Xia Qi caught a familiar scent of roses and unconsciously took a step forward.

Following the scent, he slowly entered the room, and after a moment, he found himself in complete darkness.

"Bang!"

With the screams of the old man and his sister, the door behind Xia Qi quickly shut, darkness surging toward him like a tide.

A set of footsteps approached from behind, accompanied by slightly tense and hurried breathing. Before he could turn around, a pair of strong hands wrapped around his waist from behind, gently holding him.

"Hmm?"

Being held by the man behind him, Xia Qi stiffened.

Warmth from the chest continuously transferred to him, the steady heartbeat making Xia Qi too nervous to move, almost unable to breathe.

"Count?" As he was about to suffocate, Xia Qi let out a breath, cautiously asking.

At that moment, a warm breath brushed against his ear, the man's hoarse yet magnetic voice calling his name softly: "Qi..."

The man deliberately drew out the last syllable, turning a simple word into a winding whisper, making Xia Qi feel as if he were drifting through a narrow canyon, navigating through thrilling rapids, leaving him dazed for a long time.

Xia Qi clenched his fists tightly, pinching his palm to regain his composure.

From the Count's behavior and tone, it seemed the Count was currently in human form, not forcibly degraded into a mad BOSS by the game.

Xia Qi seized every second and tentatively asked, "Do you know... how to pass?"

"What?" The Count's response was unexpected.

The Count did not know he was in a game or that he was the BOSS.

Xia Qi frowned slightly; this was troublesome.

Apart from killing the BOSS, what was Blue Side's method to pass?

Watching another minute pass, Xia Qi grew anxious, breaking out in a sweat. He pulled out a black velvet box from his pocket and asked, "This..."

"No need." The man suddenly grabbed his hand and tossed the black velvet box toward the velvet mattress.

Xia Qi: "!!!"

His pass item!

Xia Qi quickly broke free from the embrace and lunged toward the mattress, but the room was too dark, and he couldn't find the box no matter how hard he searched.

The man somehow walked up to him, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him up without hesitation.

"You must leave."

Unable to see the Count's face, Xia Qi could only judge his emotions by his voice. Unlike the romantic night at the dance floor, the Count now seemed very unstable, his voice filled with unease and hesitation.

Though the Count gripped his wrist tightly, he didn't use much force. Xia Qi didn't break free but asked again, "Where should I go?"

"As far as possible, never come back." It seemed he made a great decision before saying these words.

"True Love Value +999"

Xia Qi: "..."

What was going on? Telling him to leave and increasing his True Love Value?

Just as Xia Qi was about to speak, a light kiss landed on his forehead.

The Count's lips weren't as cold as he imagined; instead, they were unusually warm, making Xia Qi feel as if he had been burned.

"Goodbye, my rose."

Like the Count's mysterious identity, his farewell kiss was sudden and fleeting.

As soon as he finished speaking, the door was suddenly blown open by a gust of wind. Before Xia Qi could resist, the Count pushed him out.

"Bang," the door closed behind Xia Qi, and the sister and the old man quickly came over.

"Brother Xia!"

They looked at him expectantly, waiting for an explanation.

Xia Qi stared at the door, slightly lost in thought.

It was the old man who reacted first, asking quietly, "Did you fail?"

If Xia Qi had succeeded in passing, they would have been teleported out of the game. Since he was pushed out, it meant he hadn't found the way to pass.

Xia Qi nodded and briefly described what had just happened.

This man was too unpredictable, leaving Xia Qi momentarily confused about his attitude.

"Something is wrong, very wrong!" The old man wiped the sweat from his forehead, his voice hoarse with anxiety, "The method to pass this game might be different from other instances!"

The old man had passed several games before, and the methods usually involved using a pass item to fulfill the BOSS's wish. He had never seen a BOSS discard a pass item.

And those bosses all knew they were bosses, but the count had no clue, living as if he were in the real world.

So, this meant that the method to clear this instance couldn't be approached with normal logic.

"This instance is likely a high-level one, and the method to clear it differs from others," the old man pondered deeply before reaching this conclusion.

"Your meaning is..."

The old man's words sparked an epiphany in Xia Qi. Perhaps from the very beginning, they had all been thinking wrong!

They had been considering the method to clear the instance based on game logic. But if they approached it from the perspective of his relationship with the count, the entire method would change.

A flash of insight struck Xia Qi like a bolt of lightning, and he punched the door: "I know!"

"Brother Xia, we have only 3 minutes left before the Long Night begins!" his sister whispered, "We must leave 1 minute for retreat!"

Even leaving just 1 minute for retreat was extremely dangerous.

Once night fell, the strength of NPCs and bosses would surge, making their situation perilous.

Xia Qi pounded on the door: "Count! I have something to tell you!"

The old man gritted his teeth, disregarding whether there was a boss inside, and continued picking the lock with a wire.

After 10 seconds, the door opened with a click.

Xia Qi burst through the door, running in the darkness, searching for the count, only to find him gone again.

Facing the void darkness, Xia Qi took a deep breath and shouted into the air: "You're not a monster!"

Two seconds passed, and the room remained eerily silent. As long as he didn't come out, Xia Qi had no way to proceed.

"You have the gentlest eyes in the world."

Xia Qi restrained his impatience, trying to recall sweet words while feeling his way through the darkness.

He could sense that the count was still in the room.

After a few more words, still receiving no response, Xia Qi, determined, continued: "I... I want to tell you that I..."

Just then, the floor of the third floor shook violently, and a piercing roar echoed outside the door: "Xia Qi, I will kill you!!!"

"It's the old count!"

His sister and the old man didn't dare linger outside the door, ignoring any potential boss inside, and hid behind Xia Qi.

"3, 2, 1... Time's up!"

His sister fumbled for her revolver and pointed it at the door.

The room was already pitch black, and when the Long Night began, the temperature plummeted, causing them to shiver.

"Xia Qi! I'll drain your blood and tear you apart!"

As the old count's roar faded, a loud snap echoed, and a dark claw gripped the door frame. The nails had grown into sharp blades.

Simultaneously, the old count's figure grew taller, his crimson eyes glowing red in the darkness. His bleeding mouth now stretched to his ears, revealing a sinister grin.

With another fierce roar, the old count bared his fangs and lunged at Xia Qi.

"Move!"

As Xia Qi prepared to splash holy water, a thunderous roar erupted behind him!

"Roar!!!"

A gust of wind charged past Xia Qi, knocking all three against the wall.

The towering figure that had brushed past them collided with the charging old count, and they grappled outside the door.

The two vampires savagely fought, smashing vases and picture frames, causing a cacophony of crashes. As the battle intensified, the entire floor trembled, forcing the trio to lean against the wall to stay upright.

Amidst the chaos, Xia Qi stumbled to the door and quickly shut it. He had no time to worry about the count, who seemed even stronger than his father.

"Help me find the clearance item!" Xia Qi rushed to the mattress with a flashlight.

"R-right." The old man responded, finally snapping out of the surreal scene of bosses fighting each other.

Fortunately, the black velvet box hadn't been thrown under the mattress. After some fumbling, they found the box.

"How do we get out now?" his sister asked.

The two vampires had moved their fight from the third floor to the second, making the stairs too dangerous.

Xia Qi pulled back the curtains and stepped onto the balcony: "We'll climb down."

"Alright."

The old man had already prepared ropes, having experience scaling walls. He quickly calculated their escape route.

They planned to start from the balcony, swing down to the castle's open corridor on the second floor using the rope, and then descend via the Corner Tower.

The old man led the way, followed by his sister, with Xia Qi bringing up the rear. Just as Xia Qi landed on the open corridor, a series of explosions echoed behind them.

All three turned around.

"Boom!"

The window of the top floor of the castle shattered with a loud crash, and a familiar figure flew out amidst the broken colored glass.

The old count fell from the castle's top floor into the distance, and under the moonlight, Xia Qi saw the old count's figure grow smaller until it became a tiny black dot, landing in the cemetery.

"If we're not mistaken, the count is the old count's son," his sister said after a long silence.

Old man: "…"

Xia Qi: "…"

Witnessing the boss beat his own father with terrifying strength, the three of them felt chills down their spines and became even more cautious as they continued to escape, not daring to breathe loudly.

As they crawled, Xia Qi noticed that the temperature around him was getting colder.

A bone-chilling gust of wind penetrated his clothes, causing Xia Qi to shiver. He had a feeling that something was watching him—

With a "clunk," a piece of broken stone landed near them.

His sister had just raised her hand to crawl through the small window in the corridor when there was a "click," and a sharp blade was suddenly thrust right in front of her forehead.

The sharp edge of the blade grazed her forehead, causing her skin to sting, and she quickly pulled back.

Even though she had almost been beheaded by this giant blade before, seeing it again filled her with boundless fear despite having put life and death aside.

Looking up along the giant blade, she saw a tall shadow on the wall of the castle's corner tower, staring down at them.

The count's eyes were once again bloodshot, and his gaze was filled with a bloodthirsty desire as he looked at them.

"Don't move!"

Worried about them hurting each other, Xia Qi pulled his sister behind him.

"Bang." The count landed in the corridor, pulled out the giant blade from the ground, and took a step toward Xia Qi.

In an instant, his towering figure loomed over him, and Xia Qi swallowed hard, trying to overcome the fear brought on by the oppressive presence. His right hand trembled slightly as he took out the black velvet box.

He bent one leg, ready to flee at any moment.

After opening the box, Xia Qi, facing the count's puzzled gaze, held up a red diamond ring.

This pair of diamond rings originally belonged to Margaret and the old count as wedding tokens. From the portrait of the count's ancestors in the East Hall, these rings were family heirlooms and what he referred to as—the items of the covenant.

"You wanted to give this to me, didn't you?" Xia Qi asked tentatively.

Ever since Xia Qi took out the ring, the count's eyes hadn't left the ring or him.

Slowly, his gaze regained focus, and the redness in his eyes began to fade. Then, he suddenly knelt on one knee, blinking his bloodshot eyes, looking at Xia Qi eye-to-eye.

Seeing his reaction to the ring, Xia Qi forced a smile, speaking in a tone one might use to soothe a child: "You recognize it, don't you?"

The count looked at the ring, then at him, blinking in confusion, as if he didn't understand what Xia Qi was saying.

Xia Qi scratched his head, wondering how to bring back the intelligence of the berserk boss.

There was absolutely no way to communicate with a vampire!

Just then, the count moved again, slowly approaching Xia Qi. Finally, he rested his head on Xia Qi's neck and gently rubbed against it.

Xia Qi instinctively lifted his right hand and rubbed the top of his golden curly head.

"…Unh?" The count made a sound akin to an animal's call.

Although his voice was strange, Xia Qi could tell from this single syllable that he was happy.

He's getting dumber and dumber…

Yesterday, the berserk count could still say "Please give me a true love's kiss," but today, he couldn't even speak?

Seeming unsatisfied, the count rubbed his face against Xia Qi's again. Xia Qi, suppressing his exasperation, rubbed his furry head twice more.

Afterward, Xia Qi felt something was off. Had he become a… beast tamer?

Author's note: Author: Do you know what your action of petting the count's mane is called?

Xia Qi: What is it?

Author: It's called—pet pet da (petting).

Friendly reminder: The first scenario will end in two chapters and transition into the second scenario.

Since some readers haven't understood the mechanism of the True Love Magic Wand, I initially intended it to be activated by various declarations of love. However, I realized it might be too complex and difficult to understand. Therefore, I will revise the text today, renaming the True Love Magic Wand to "True Love Melody Magic Wand." Those who see the revision notice need not look back; it's just a name change and setting adjustment.

Thus, the True Love Magic Wand can now be activated with "love songs." So, let's look forward to Xia Qi's performance as the "Prince of Love Songs"!