Chapter 958: Chapter 958: Flas
While Han Fei was still struggling over which pair of shoes to take, the sll of burning garbage in the air suddenly intensified, and smoke drifted in through the door crack.
“Is there a fire outside?”
Taking the shoes made by the foster daughter for the sanitation workers, Han Fei quickly ran out of the secret room.
In the darkness, firelight flickered, and smoke surged from the stairway, filling the castle.
The sound of urgent footsteps echoed, and three players—two n and a woman—ran into the hall, their faces sweaty and deeply flustered.
“Did you set the castle on fire?” Han Fei stepped out of the oil painting room, his eyes fixed on the three players.
His sudden appearance startled the players, and when they recognized Han Fei’s face, their eyes were filled with shock, “Han Fei?! Isn’t your Happiness Community already tackling the sixth layer of the nightmare? Why are you appearing in the third layer of the nightmare?”
“This is the sixth layer of the nightmare!” Han Fei frowned deeply.
His words threw the three players into chaos. The female player seed to recall sothing, her face turning ashen, “I’ve heard from friends in the Comrce Alliance that each nightmare requires at least five players. If you are tackling the sixth layer of the nightmare but can’t gather enough people, the shrine randomly selects players from the sa building to supplent the number entering the nightmare to five!”
“Is there such a rule?” At least five players must enter the nightmare before it initiates. For high-difficulty nightmares, top players not only face fear but must also be wary of being burdened by newcors. Han Fei suspected such arrangents were made to give players choosing to join the nightmare a chance to perform.
For players like Han Fei, who are prepared for a solo speed-run, he wasn’t aware of these group rules before: “Which guild are you from?”
“We co from a small leisure guild; we are all friends in reality who enjoy adventure puzzles.” In Han Fei’s presence, those players spoke in lowered voices.
“Was the fire started by you guys?”
“No, of course not! We need to find the princess’s Crystal Shoe in the castle. We haven’t found the shoes yet, so why would we set a fire?” The three players had jumped directly from the third layer of the nightmare to the sixth layer, and upon learning this, they were all in shock and panic.
“If it wasn’t you who started the fire, then that ans there’s a fifth outsider in the castle. The fifth player entering the nightmare should also be here!” Smoke drifted from the castle, and on the street, the sound of heavy hoofbeats echoed. Han Fei knew the princess was returning!
“Hurry, let’s go!” Han Fei led the three players and jumped out the window to escape. They felt the ground tremble beneath them, and the entire street was shrouded in a pitch-black curse, resembling a Black River flowing down Ping’an Street.
The tall black horse dragged the pumpkin carriage into the castle. By now, the fire was out of control; the snow-white walls were scorched, and the raging flas spread swiftly.
None of the surrounding rchants ca to help. They stayed hidden indoors, delightedly watching the flas that reddened the night sky.
The fire quickly engulfed the entire castle, and the pungent sll of burning garbage in the air beca even more intense.
The beloved castle was destroyed, and a scream shattered the calm of the night. The sound of hooves rang out, and the princess erged from the pumpkin carriage, the firelight flickering on her silver mask.
The Black Knight charged into the sea of flas, only managing to retrieve so burnt handmade shoes.
The top of the castle collapsed, the flas distorting the structure and the princess.
The frenzied princess ordered the Black Knight to find the arsonist. They violently smashed open doors one by one, dragging the rchants inside out.
Each rchant acted extrely innocent, having already conspired to deny everything.
With her ho burned to the ground and her most precious belongings reduced to ashes, the princess’s gaze grew colder as she failed to find the culprit. She stepped out from behind the Black Knight and stood before the group of rchants.
“Who burned down my ho?”
The princess’s voice was clear and enchanting, yet it seed she couldn’t withstand fierce provocation. Her body appeared sowhat distorted.
The rchants shivered with fear, but an elderly man seed to have had enough of the princess. He stared into her eyes, lifting his cane to point at her, “The fire has nothing to do with us. Don’t push all your misfortunes onto others!”
“My misfortunes have nothing to do with you?” The hem of her gown, seemingly woven from crystal and silver threads, touched the ground. The princess removed her pure white glove, revealing a charred, deford hand.
Watching from a distance, Han Fei focused on the princess’s hand, a terrible premonition forming in his heart: “Was the sanitation worker’s daughter still at ho when the fire broke out?”
The glove fell off, black flas burning on her skin as the princess extended her grotesque hand: “Isn’t this your handiwork?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! You’re crazy! Stop trying to gain sympathy with your insane rambling!” The old man took a few steps forward, “Ping’an Street belongs to everyone. You’re not welco here. I hope you won’t cling on here anymore…”
The old man was emotionally stirred; it was possible he truly had nothing to do with the fire. However, as he spoke halfway, among the rchants behind him, soone “accidentally” gave him a shove.
The elder’s frail body toppled forward, his flaming hand gripping the old man’s shoulder.
Instantly, the black flas ignited on the old man, scorching his soul and making him scream in agonizing pain.
“She’s killed again! The Princess has killed again!” The rchants scattered and fled, and chaos engulfed Ping’an Street, as if all misfortune and disaster were brought forth by the Princess.
Flas scorched the body of an old man writhing in agony on the street, yet no one stepped forward to help him, nor did anyone speak on his behalf.
“Yes, it seems like just a touch from , and you all bla for everything! As if touching ans certain death!” The Princess looked at her scorched hand, “Since you’ve always thought this way, I might as well beco that person. Haven’t you all been saying I kill when I’m ill? Tonight, I’ll kill all of you!”
She removed the other glove, and flas spread from her arms to her princess gown. The bright jewels and crystal turned to lted debris in the black fire as the Princess revealed her true form, which was that of a monster burned all over!
“Burn you all! Burn you all!”
In the flas, there was a rattling of chains, and while using the black fire, the Princess also endured imnse suffering herself.
The Black Knight silently followed the Princess, willing to withstand the flas and not retreat. Even though his face was hidden by a mask, from a distance, Han Fei couldn’t see the expression on the Black Knight’s face at that mont.
The fire spread from the castle to the street, filled with cries and wails. The two brothers rushed from their hiding place, blending into the crowd: “Why can she still use the flas even though the Crystal Shoes were burned? Have the Outsiders deceived us?”
According to the brothers’ plan, the death of the clockmaker would incite public anger against the Princess. With the Crystal Shoes destroyed, her ability would be quickly weakened, and then all the rchants could join forces to kill the Princess and reclaim Ping’an Street.
“Why hasn’t the fire subsided?”
In a fit of rage, the Princess resembled a madman on a rampage on Ping’an Street, seemingly intent on burning it all down!
“Han Fei, should we stop her?” The tall player hesitated; he trusted Han Fei, but in such a situation, if they didn’t stop the Princess, they too would be burned to death by her, as the nightmare is only so large with nowhere to hide: “Would the outco be better if we had burned the Crystal Shoes and allied with those rchants?”
“If you had done that, you would have died miserably.” Han Fei took out that album: “The owner of the nightmare lies between the Black Knight and the Princess. I initially thought it was the Princess’s nightmare, after all, this place is like an absurd fairy tale. But now I’ve changed my mind, I’m leaning towards it being the Black Knight’s dream.”
Watching the Princess as she wielded the flas to slaughter on the street, Han Fei recalled the very logical words she had just spoken, things unlikely for a “foster daughter” to do. It’s likely that after losing his foster daughter, the foster father dread up such a daughter.
A Princess no longer bullied, but admired by all!
“The foster daughter had ntal illness, and whenever the foster father wasn’t ho, the Manager’s children would secretly let her out, causing chaos and earning the rchants’ hatred. The foster father, not knowing she was let out by others, would apologize and compensate, feeling an underlying guilt once he learned the truth later. But simple guilt couldn’t spawn such a strong grudge energy, nor was it sufficient reason to massacre a street. Sothing else must have happened in between!”
Looking at the Princess’s charred body, Han Fei noticed distinct marks on her wrists. It seed she had once been bound. A terrible thought flashed in his mind, and he quickly put away the album and ran towards the west side of Ping’an Street with all speed!
Passing by the naked madman with his neck chained, Han Fei entered the wooden shed nearby, discovering ropes next to the pink bed belonging to a child inside the hut.
“Perhaps because the foster daughter would go out to cause trouble whenever the foster father left, he later tied her hand to the bed? Or maybe the rchants demanded the foster father keep her confined at ho during the day so as not to affect their business, allowing her out only at night. Whatever the truth, the result was that the mad girl couldn’t escape during the fire.”
Peering out the window, Han Fei saw both the Princess and the Black Knight harboring great hatred for the street’s Manager, yet neither sought to lock him in the building.
Han Fei originally assud it was to humiliate the Manager, but now he understood that it was the Princess’s final act of kindness.
“Do the things they did to the Manager also reflect what happened to the mad girl in reality?”
The madman bound with chains, living like a dog with not a stitch of clothing seed to be a special kind of hint.
“We’ve been in this house before. The nearby rchants said it was once the Princess’s ho. The Manager’s two children were mischievous and often teased the foolish Princess, using various tricks to lure her out. Once, when she wouldn’t take the bait, the brothers threw a lit cigarette butt at her…” The three players, now seeing Han Fei as their only hope, closely followed him.
“A lit cigarette butt?” All the clues ca together, and Han Fei realized the nightmare’s cause.
The flas danced outside the window, with screams filling the air. The madman chained at the alley’s entrance struggled desperately, his face distorted in agony and terror.
“Are we going to be burned alive, too? The Princess is engulfed in black fire; there’s no way to get close. Is this the difficulty of the sixth layer of the nightmare? A murder player in the first layer of the nightmare could be defeated by players working together, a Little Ghost in the second layer of nightmare could be sealed with a talisman, but the Princess Ghost is unbelievably strong!” The players felt utter despair: “We should have found a way to burn the Crystal Shoes, that was our only opportunity.”
“I’ll say it again, this isn’t the rchants’ nightmare. Aligning with them leads only to death. Even if we succeeded in killing the Princess in the end, there would be no way out; the rchants would beco new Ghosts, making us part of the nightmare as well.” Han Fei remained clear-headed: “The only way to break this predicant is to focus on the nightmare’s owner, maybe we should give the Crystal Shoe made by the Princess herself to the Knight who loves her most, to help the Knight not be consud by resentnt.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t understand at all,” said the three players in bewildernt, this differed significantly from the Cinderella fairy tale they knew.
“The Crystal Shoe symbolizes all the Love the foster father had, and also the mad girl’s love for her foster father. The shoe, adorned with stickers she cherished, represented the bond between those two incomplete souls.” Han Fei began to flex his body: “How’s your Physical Strength?”
“We have an average distribution, possibly stronger than normal people.” The temperature was rising, smoke swirling thickly, and the fire was about to reach them.
“If possible, ensure your safety first, and help divert the Princess’s attention, I’ll try to restore their sanity.” Han Fei opened the wooden shed door. Ping’an Street had beco a sea of fire, rchants engulfed in flas everywhere. The Princess was in a frenzy; anything capable of movent beca her target for Burning.
The pitch-black smoke ford a massive evil ghost figure, and the Resentnt and Curse threatened to devour the Princess and Knight’s Souls.
Taking a deep breath, Han Fei sprinted through the blaze and the darkness of night, rushing into the flas in the shocked gazes of the three players!
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