Chapter 8
At dawn, the castle.
Rumble!
A series of thunderous crashes shook the castle, knocking over the potions on Mo Xi’s alchemy table. Looking at her experience points, which were just shy of LV7, Mo Xi sighed helplessly.
“The main mission has undergone an irreversible change. The current main mission is now to escape the castle. Staff, please evacuate as soon as possible!”
Looking at the Paradise notification that suddenly appeared before her, Mo Xi’s eye twitched. She swept everything into her storage space and took off running.
Though she had no idea what had happened, anything serious enough for the Paradise to issue a special warning was far worse than Mo Xi had expected.
She ran out of her room and into the corridor.
The first thing she saw was a variety of eye symbols flashing rapidly. The light they emitted looked extremely dangerous.
Worse, for some reason, an unknown black substance had begun appearing throughout the castle. Wherever Mo Xi looked, it surged toward her from all directions as if it were sentient.
Without hesitation, Mo Xi raised her hand and punched the window beside her.
Bang~
As her fist connected, Mo Xi’s body suddenly went rigid. A moment later, she silently lowered her fist, turned, and ran in the opposite direction, wincing in pain as she went.
As she fled, Mo Xi heard the unceasing rumble beneath the castle and couldn’t help wondering what exactly the four contractors had done.
After all, Mo Xi would never have imagined that anyone could irreversibly turn a mission that initially focused on puzzles and exploration into an escape mission.
Just as Mo Xi was about to reach the banquet hall, guided by her memory of the castle, she rounded a corner and was stunned by the sight before her.
Twisted, slimy, disgusting.
Mo Xi could hardly describe the “creature” she saw in human terms, because it looked like an eye enlarged several times over.
As Mo Xi stared at the creature in shock, an extremely weak voice calling out to her brought her back to her senses.
After a brief search, Mo Xi spotted the butler in the black mass beneath the eye. He looked nothing like the gentleman he usually was.
The butler’s body was twisted, trapped inside the black mass. Countless tentacle-like appendages were devouring the flesh from his body, as if slowly digesting him.
The butler struggled to lift his head. A plea glimmered in his dull gray eyes. “Miss Angela, I beg you.”
Though the butler didn’t say what he wanted Mo Xi to do, she understood.
Before acting, Mo Xi hesitated. Looking into the butler’s eyes, she asked, “Who did this to you?”
He didn’t answer. The only response was the plea in his eyes. Mo Xi sighed and abruptly unleashed the power in her hand.
Mercy...
As the pale-green energy entered the butler’s broken body, Mercy’s most distinctive effect—true damage—claimed his life almost instantly.
“Killed: Castle Butler”
“Gained 8.7% World Source”
“Obtained Green Treasure Chest ×1”
“Obtained Equipment: Butler’s Necklace”
Mo Xi only skimmed the notifications before closing the panel. Looking at the butler’s corpse, kneeling motionless on the ground, she shook her head helplessly.
Though the butler hadn’t said so outright, Mo Xi knew he wanted a relatively dignified death.
After all, dying at the hands of a stranger suited his status better than dying at the hands of the master he had served for so many years.
That only made Mo Xi even more curious about what had happened in the castle.
With no time to think further, Mo Xi continued fleeing toward the banquet hall. What she saw along the way made her worry about Little Six’s safety.
If nothing strange had happened in the castle, Mo Xi’s decision to have Little Six escape alone would have been absolutely right.
The artisan was dead, the butler—Little Six’s greatest threat—was busy looking for the four contractors underground, and the castle’s owner was in their room digesting the potion.
There couldn’t have been a better time to escape.
But then this inexplicable upheaval happened, and all sorts of bizarre things started appearing throughout the castle.
Even though Little Six had the potions Mo Xi had left her, Mo Xi still couldn’t shake her unease in this situation.
Just as Mo Xi was wondering what had happened, a violent tremor and an approaching rumble made her stop.
Almost the instant she stopped, a tremendous crash rang out beside her.
Boom!
The walls were smashed apart one after another like bubbles. Amid the dust and shattered bricks stood a towering figure.
At almost the same time, a nimble figure staggered out of the dust. One glance was enough to identify him as the musclehead, one of the four contractors.
The musclehead had been terrified, but the moment he saw the girl standing in the corridor, his expression turned to relief.
He didn’t bother explaining what had happened. He just pumped his legs and sprinted toward her at top speed. As he brushed past Mo Xi, she could even make out the triumphant grin on his face.
The next instant, notifications began popping up frantically before Mo Xi’s eyes.
“Detected: Staff member has come into contact with a Super-Dangerous-Class Target”
“Detected: This is the staff member’s first time entering a world. Under Article 1437 of the Staff Protection Act, the Paradise must provide basic assistance to staff”
Before Mo Xi could react, the Paradise slapped an absurdly overpowered status panel right into her face like a freight truck.
“Name: ??? (Eye Corruption State)”
“Category: Super-Dangerous-Class Target”
“Health: 97%”
“Strength: 21”
“Agility: 17”
“Stamina: 30”
“Intelligence: 1 (Eye Corruption State)”
“Charisma: 6”
“Skill One: Unknown”
“Skill Two: Unknown”
...
The instant she saw the words Super-Dangerous-Class Target, Mo Xi’s eye twitched. She turned and sprinted off at the fastest speed of her life.
Watching the musclehead up ahead glance back every now and then, Mo Xi couldn’t stop grumbling to herself.
The musclehead’s strategy was obvious: whoever ran slowest became the front line. He didn’t need to outrun the boss; he only needed to outrun Mo Xi.
Hearing the “freight truck” behind her gradually start moving, Mo Xi’s mind raced.
Given the situation, she definitely couldn’t catch up with the musclehead, who’d gotten a head start. And from his occasional glances back, it was clear he was quite experienced at guarding against her dragging him down with her.
There didn’t seem to be any way out of this, did there?
As Mo Xi thought, the musclehead ahead was thinking too. He was just wondering whether Mo Xi had any way to drag him down with her.
Just moments ago, he’d used the same tactic to get away from the boss by using the office drone. Remembering the devastating shot the office drone had fired before dying, the musclehead couldn’t help shuddering.
Luckily, after watching her for a while, it was clear that the seemingly frail girl behind him had no combat ability at all. In other words, he’d won this race where the price of losing was death.