The dice were thrown again, this time it was a four.
One rainy night, the lady died in childbirth, leaving behind a baby with two heads. The count dismissed all the servants, who all said he was heartbroken in his room.
But that was not the case. The count cut open the baby's body with a knife and took out the blood to make his elixir of immortality. All of this was seen by the Nellie siblings passing by outside the door.
What follows is the plot that Cheng Yungui knows: the Nellie siblings stole the baby and ran away overnight.
When people found them, rumors spread throughout the kingdom that the two wizards were going to rip out the child's heart. The poor child was returned to the count, while they were burned alive in a great fire.
The story doesn't end there. A kind-hearted gentleman picked up the black and red dice that the siblings had dropped. Knowing the inside story, he declared that the dice would play their proper role.
These two dice are indeed full of resentment and hatred.
Seeing that Cheng Yungui was going to leave the dice behind, just like in the novels, Lu Mingran couldn't help but ask him:
"Why don't you throw it away again and see what happens next?"
This was the last sentence Lu Mingran said in his dream that Cheng Yungui remembered after waking up.
The last thing Cheng Yungui said in the dream was:
"I hope that when we wake up, we can still see each other."
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Early morning. Cheng Yungui, lying flat on the living room floor, slowly woke up to find the place empty. Lin Han seemed to have disappeared, having run away with the train overnight.
He immediately got up and sent a message to Lu Mingran to confirm whether he was still alive. When he looked up after editing the good news, he found himself already sitting in the editorial department.
Cheng Yungui subconsciously looked to his side and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Lu Mingran was sitting there unharmed, though her face was a little pale.
But when Cheng Yungui saw the current state of the office, his heart jumped again.
Everyone is here.
This means that among these editors, there is a dead person, a dead person that everyone needs to identify. In other words, the living person you see may very well no longer be alive.
The count, who was behind the editor-in-chief's desk, raised his tired eyes and scanned the crowd. He said in a deep voice, "Then let's begin."
He stood up and looked at the three paintings again. Everyone held their breath, watching the count's eyes.
"Baldy." This is the person who disappeared in the first picture. Upon hearing this, Baldy cursed, "Damn it."
The count then said, "Xiao Yun."
Then came the last one. The count's fingers traced the painting, his gaze lingering on it, before finally uttering a name:
"Lu Mingran".
Cheng Yungui's head immediately went blank.
Lu Mingran, Lu Mingran, how could he be missing? Is the person sitting next to him now actually a ghost?
While others were looking at Baldy and Xiaoyun, Cheng Yungui's gaze was fixed on Lu Mingran, and he felt that his mind was completely blank.
The count glanced at the three men, then crossed his arms and said, "Why don't you tell me what happened last night?"
"Me?" The bald man laughed loudly. "I ran into a human headball while shopping at the supermarket, but I've already taken care of it. Hey, why are you looking at me like that? I'm still alive!"
Compared to the bald man, Xiaoyun and Lu Mingran were much quieter. Julie testified that she and Xiaoyun had been together all night and that they had encountered a restaurant where all the customers were ghosts.
“Believe me, Xiaoyun is alive,” Julie said urgently.
That leaves only Lu Mingran.
He was unusually silent today, keeping his head down and not uttering a word. This immediately increased everyone's suspicion of him. The bald man even said, "It must be him, Earl. Hang up that painting!"
Cheng Yungui continued to stare intently at Lu Mingran, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists and trembling slightly.
Cheng Yungui dared not think about the truth that might happen, a truth he could not accept.
Just as Cheng Yungui was on the verge of collapse, his phone suddenly rang.
It was a text message from Lin Han, but the content was a bit strange:
Let me write a few words for you to see.
Then, Lu Mingran, who was next to him, moved, picked up a pen, wrote something, and handed it to him.
Before Cheng Yungui could even process what was going on, another text message arrived: "Smile at me again?"
Lu Mingran turned her head and smiled slightly.
Cheng Yungui was completely dumbfounded.
...Can anyone tell him what play this is?
Fortunately, the next moment Lin Han sent a clear message:
"I'm sorry for keeping this from you for so long. Actually, Lin Han is also me."
"I'm telling you now so you won't worry too much."
Two minutes later, suddenly, the "ding" sound rang again, startling everyone. This time, several editors' email inboxes beeped simultaneously.
Every email had the same title: I am Lin Han, and I am also Lu Mingran.
Upon seeing the email, everyone on the Count's side was taken aback. There had been instances before where someone split into two versions of themselves within a dungeon, allowing them to exploit loopholes in the quest; the demon would attack the split version without harming the original.
So, ever since entering this instance, Lu Mingran has long since separated into another version of herself.
The only one present who wasn't too surprised was Cheng Yungui, who had known beforehand. He was somewhat curious about what his friend was going to do next.
The door was opened, and Cheng Yungui saw Lin Han suddenly appear. Under the surprised gazes of everyone, he walked straight to Cheng Yungui's side, pulled up a chair, and sat down.
He didn't look at anyone else, but simply smiled faintly at Cheng Yungui and said softly:
"Don't be afraid, I'm still alive."
Author's Note: Based on the outline in the synopsis, there should be at most two more worlds~ Thank you for liking this story, *kiss*
Chapter 73 Want to find the heart? No way (9)
After Lin Han sat down and said these words, one of the three people was immediately eliminated.
After that, Lin Han switched his consciousness to Lu Mingran.
Now all that's left are Baldy and Xiaoyun.
The two-choice option significantly increases the accuracy rate, but it is still dangerous; if the wrong choice is made, everyone will die.
The bald man opened his mouth as if to say something, but after seeing the count's gloomy face, he remained silent.
It's no longer possible to verify anything using these individual accounts. Julie looked at the Earl, seemingly waiting for something.
The next moment, the count unleashed what was said to be his spirit, something that everyone feared.
The heads of a two-headed baby.
At this moment, Julie specifically looked at the expressions of Cheng Yungui and the other man, observing them with great interest, thinking that small people like them must be so frightened that their faces would turn as pale as paper after seeing this thing.
Indeed, both Lu Mingran and Cheng Yungui had strange expressions, but besides being frightened, there were other reasons as well.
In last night's dream, they rolled the dice many times and saw many small things, such as another nobleman who ostensibly helped the Nellie siblings but actually revealed their hiding place and stole the baby's heart before outsiders arrived.
In the end, they rolled an impossible number: thirteen, black seven, red six.
Thirteen is considered an unlucky number in Western culture; its appearance signifies that something more secretive is about to be revealed.
The count initially married a woman from the Dalabong family because of the dragon family's unique nature. After retrieving the two-headed baby, the count discovered the child's heart was missing and went into a rage. And then…
At this moment, Lu Mingran and Cheng Yungui stared at the two-headed baby, feeling that he was about to reveal a sinister smile.
The Count obtained the two-headed baby in a certain dark dungeon. In the story, the princess of the evil dragon family was kidnapped by humans. He played the role of someone who fought his way through thorns and brambles to rescue the princess and then had a two-headed baby with her.
Before this, he was the only foreigner in the villa where the count lived. When he first started talking to other people, he was young and naive. He had given himself a Chinese name that he thought was cool and arrogant, something like "Dog Egg". He changed it after being kindly reminded, but it left him with enough psychological trauma.
But it doesn't matter. The person who came out of this instance is no longer the same as yesterday. Even if he was Gou Dan, he was still Niu Hulu Gou Dan back then.
He emerged with the two-headed baby and declared to everyone, "From this day forward, I am the Earl, and you are only permitted to address me as such."
Unfortunately, Niu Hulu Gou Dan only saw how the Count used the two-headed baby.
At this moment, Baldy and Xiaoyun stood in front of the two-headed baby. The two little heads connected by a neck first seemed to want to break free from each other, and then they let out a very common baby cry.
The count laughed and said meaningfully, "They're hungry."
This was the first time Lu Mingran had witnessed the Earl's abilities. Since entering this instance, the Earl had been taciturn and nonchalant, seemingly relying on the hungry baby.
Julie, who was standing nearby, quietly squeezed Xiaoyun's hand. She knew what it meant for the baby to be hungry.
They're about to start eating, devouring the flesh and blood of the living. Lone Wolf Hearts has a history of members dying from non-mission-related causes. Those who are weak and ranked at the bottom become food for the infants; Julie once witnessed half of a person's face being torn off by these toothless babies.
It's cruel, but it's the only way right now. Losing flesh from your face or other parts is better than losing your life.
The editors in the office fell silent. Everyone waited, waiting for the two-headed baby to find one of the two living people and then fight over and tear it apart.
Xiaoyun stood motionless, as did the bald man.
One minute, two minutes... time passed quickly, but the babies in the office were crying louder and louder, showing no sign of wanting to eat.
This is... does it mean that neither of these two people are alive? Are they already dead? This is completely different from what the script says.
Julie continued to hold Xiaoyun's hand tightly, and then she clearly saw a drop of water fall onto the back of her hand, like a tear.
At this moment, Xiaoyun had her back to her, so even if she was crying, how could her tears possibly fall onto the back of her hand?
Slowly, slowly, Julie realized something terrible.
“Count,” her usually carefree voice trembled, “would you like to see the back of Xiaoyun’s head?”
Before the count could even approach, she had already jumped up and brushed the hair off Xiaoyun's head.
On the back of Xiaoyun's head grew a human face, a face exactly the same as the face in front.
Or perhaps the face in the back is Xiaoyun's, and the one in front is the ghost face that originally grew on her back...
Lu Mingran's heart skipped a beat. This was related to what happened on the second basement level, when Xiao Yun hadn't won at all.
Her ghostly face saved her in her moment of crisis, but it also turned against her. From then on, the ghostly face controlled her body, and her real face was torn off and attached to the back of her head.
Xiao Yun, who was already mute, couldn't say anything. Julie saw another tear fall from her lifeless eyes beneath her dark hair.