He hadn't been dragged inside—he'd retreated a full two li.
For a player of the cautious persuasion, willingly answering a creepy call from inside a coffin was absolutely unacceptable. Who knew what lurked in there?
For a mont, he even considered going back for his tool—his designated errand-runner—to scout ahead. But then he rembered that the only tool available this round was The Prisoner...
Forget it. Whatever was in that coffin couldn't possibly be more "dangerous" than The Prisoner.
After all, this was a Torchbearer who wanted to set himself on fire.
So Cheng Shi changed tack. After a mont's thought, he crept into a few nearby houses in the pre-dawn darkness, selected several lucky winners, woke them up, and dropped them into the hole.
Folly's followers weren't stupid. Any of them could see that this villain who'd interrupted their beauty sleep was after the statue's secret!
This criminal had dared to dig up the statue's foundation, desecrating their faith's purity! Soone like this deserved to be hacked to pieces at the statue's foot—punished and executed!
And so, the enraged Folly followers raised their scalpels, glared viciously at the instigator before them, and brought their blades down again and again on...
Themselves.
They hacked themselves to pieces.
Simple reason: they weren't idiots.
Between punishnt and death, the forr was clearly the wiser choice.
They could only accept punishnt—willingly, at that—because they knew that satisfying this villain's twisted desires was their only chance at survival.
And so, in the hour before dawn, the brilliantly wise little town of Redi Core staged a rather unwise spectacle.
Every ti Cheng Shi let out a contemptuous snort, the Folly followers' fury deepened. The angrier they beca, the more viciously they carved into their own flesh. But watching their "cleverly calculated" "foolish acts," Cheng Shi sneered again with even greater disdain.
A vicious cycle between Deceit and Folly was born.
Of course, for Cheng Shi, it wasn't really vicious—because just as these Folly followers' wounds deepened, sothing miraculous happened!
Wisps of red light seeped from their wounds, ford into threads, and burrowed toward the coffin beneath the statue's feet. The coffin trembled slightly, emitting the faint sounds of greedy sucking.
Cheng Shi was stunned. But even more shocked were the self-mutilating Folly followers. Horror and disbelief painted their faces as they stared at the coffin:
"This is impossible! We're not sinners—how can the statue be draining our primal folly?!"
"I've been careful my whole life! When did I ever commit the cri of Knowing Folly?!"
"No, this isn't real. This is a hallucination! I'm still dreaming—hahaha, I get it now, I haven't woken up! This is just a nightmare!" Saying this, the man plunged his scalpel into his own heart, snarling: "I'm about to wake up. I can't commit... Knowing Folly... in a dream..."
He died.
After death, the red light pouring from his wounds blazed even brighter, flowing in rivulets straight into the coffin.
Cheng Shi retreated half a step cautiously, then pointed his shovel at one of the survivors on the ground:
"What is the 'primal folly'?"
The man still couldn't believe what he was seeing. His expression crumbling, he explained:
"In Redi Core, not everyone guilty of Knowing Folly carries true foolishness. So rely committed folly on impulse. When those sinners are punished, the statue gives no response."
"But there exists a type of person with absolute foolishness. When they're punished, their foolishness is flayed out of them, and the Fool-Hunting Statue, sensing the primal folly, absorbs it—keeping foolishness from remaining in the world."
"That red light was clearly primal folly. But we've never even committed Knowing Folly—on what grounds are we being judged as possessing it?!"
"This only happens a few tis a year in all of Redi Core's history! Why us?!"
'So that's how it works?'
Cheng Shi blinked. 'Surely it can't be that coincidental—that every random person I grabbed is an absolute fool?'
'Sothing's not right!'
The red light didn't look like "foolishness" at all. It looked more like blood essence.
And after absorbing so much blood essence, the voice from inside the coffin grew slightly more solid.
"More... I need more blood..."
'It IS blood!'
Cheng Shi's pupils contracted. He suddenly suspected that what was buried inside the coffin wasn't the first Fool Hunter's actual corpse—but so sealed abomination!
The Folly followers had clearly realized this too. Terror gripped them as they felt the most sacred pillar of Redi Core's faith had been trampled!
What on earth was hiding in there?!
Cheng Shi narrowed his eyes, mind spinning. He didn't ask why and didn't agree—just spoke two words to the coffin: "Beg ."
"?"
The surviving Folly followers froze, turning to stare at this villain, thinking: 'Of course his desires are twisted. Even now he's getting off on his power trip.'
But what shocked them even more was that the coffin actually responded.
"Please... more..."
"..."
'No wonder this coffin keeps trembling. It's genuinely trembling...'
The scene fell silent.
Cheng Shi arched an eyebrow. The fact that this thing would beg and grovel to survive ant the being sealed inside couldn't be that high in status. At the very least, the gods on high would never utter such words.
'Not a god. Good.'
Sowhat relieved, Cheng Shi pressed: "Who are you?"
The coffin paused. When the voice ca again, it was even weaker.
"I am... Skart."
"!!!"
Before Cheng Shi could react, the Folly followers in front of him lost it.
"Impossible! Lord Skart can't possibly still be alive!"
"My ancestor personally confird Lord Skart's death and buried him with his own hands! How can you be him?!"
"This has to be a monster! A blasphemous abomination!"
"I understand now—you're not the villain! The real villain is the monster in the coffin!"
"You ca to expose it, didn't you? You woke us up and used our blood to awaken this monster—all so you could drag this thing that tramples our faith and honor into the sunlight, reveal it to the people! Isn't that right?!"
In an instant, the Folly followers' eyes shone with hope as they gazed at Cheng Shi. In that mont, they seed to forget that one of their own had died beside them.
Then again, perhaps they'd convinced themselves—after all, revelation always demands sacrifice.
But Cheng Shi had no ti for theatrics. He scoffed:
"Wrong."
"..."
They collapsed back to the ground, hope giving way to despair.
Cheng Shi ignored them and addressed the coffin: "Who are you really? Last chance. Tell the truth and you'll get blood."
Master of Deception hadn't activated due to the statue's interference, so Cheng Shi couldn't tell whether "Skart" was a disguise or had so other purpose. But the coffin held firm—only weaker this ti.
"I... really... am... Skart..."
"Then why are you still alive?"
"Or did the power of faith resurrect you?"
"No, that doesn't work either. Your blood-drinking behavior doesn't look like Folly's blessing. Who ARE you?!"
"..."
The coffin went silent. It seed to have run out of strength.
Cheng Shi frowned, hauled up one of the lucky winners at his feet, and ended the man's suffering.
A trickle of red light fed into the coffin again. Ragged, gasping sounds returned.
"More... too little..."
'You're getting picky now?'
Cheng Shi's lip twitched. He kicked the coffin:
"Answer my questions, and you'll have an endless supply of blood. Otherwise... dawn's coming. I'll fill this hole back in, and whether you see
again depends on my mood tomorrow night."
"Or maybe this is your only chance."
"Perhaps once the sun cos up, I'll report everything here to the Folly Prohibition Office. Under the zealotry of their faith's judgnt—do you think you can stay hidden?"
"..."
The coffin fell silent. After a long pause, it whispered:
"I am Skart... but I was never a Fool Hunter..."
"Because I was a Scarlet Hunter..."
"I was a follower... of Death..."
"!!??"
'Wait—WHAT?!'
Reviews
All reviews (0)