And at that very moment—
The count's exorcism staff hooked around his neck.
...fate lifted me up by the scruff of my neck.
——————
Nothing happened that night. The Earl couldn't find out the cause of death, Lu Mingran wasn't bitten, and the spirit of the dead dissipated in the first rays of sunlight in the morning.
Currently, only Lu Mingran and Julie have not received their manuscripts.
After working through the night, everyone slumped over their desks and took a nap. When they woke up, there was an old dial telephone on Julie's desk, ringing incessantly.
Still half asleep, Julie grabbed it and put it next to her ear.
The caller was an artist who, like Lin Han, had been contributing to the magazine for a long time; the posters on the wall were painted by him.
The person on the other end of the phone sounded weak. After hurriedly saying, "I've sent the manuscript," they immediately hung up, leaving only the dial tone.
Julie had just hung up the phone when another call came in.
It was the security guard downstairs who said a package had arrived.
Julie stood up, grabbed her coat, and put it on, saying as she walked:
"The way you submit your work to me is so nostalgic—old-fashioned telephones, letters, paper paintings… It's really something to look forward to."
She walked towards the door. Just as she opened the door to go out, Cheng Yungui looked up and his gaze inadvertently fell on the poster on the wall.
His heart skipped a beat.
The picture on the poster has changed. On the blackboard, before the magazine's name, two small characters written in white chalk have quietly appeared. When read together, they read:
"Tonight, a night of terror."
Soon, everyone else in the office noticed the poster's unusual appearance. The bald man even stood up, wanting to get a closer look at what it was all about.
When Julie came up carrying her things, she saw everyone gathered in front of the poster.
"Let's unpack the package first," the seated count calmly ordered.
Upon hearing this, Julie found some scissors, broke the seal, and took out the three paintings inside.
When the paintings were taken out one by one, everyone was stunned.
Three identical paintings.
The scene depicts the editors enjoying a farewell party. Balloons hang in the magazine office, and food is laid out on the table. However, the computers and mountains of documents are gone; everything else has been packed into cardboard boxes and neatly stacked in a corner.
The red text in the upper left corner is the title of the painting: "Goodbye".
In addition, a videotape was also sent with the letter.
The count tapped the table, and a television appeared in the office. After a brief period of static, the screen showed an empty room and a chair.
A barefoot young man walked into the room. He first leaned over to look at the camera, then sat down in the chair and held up a blank sheet of drawing paper:
"Editors, I have something very important to tell you."
“I have foreseen your tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, one of the companions you will see will be a ghost.”
In each painting, a person disappears; in one painting, the person who disappeared is the one who died. Only after you find this painting and hang it on the wall can you live…
The image suddenly distorted, then turned into static. The last impression this young man left on everyone was his suddenly wide-open eyes.
It seems he saw a terrible future.
It truly lived up to the magazine's name: a night of terror.
After the videotape finished playing, the count turned around and surveyed the crowd, coldly saying:
"So, good luck tonight, everyone."
————————
Tonight is a night without working overtime, but it's also the most dangerous night, because the world will randomly choose someone to kill.
The script assigned everyone their place for the night, and as everyone read their lines, the atmosphere inexplicably became melancholic.
The count moved his lips: "Gentlemen, the day of parting is drawing near. I want to stay in my office; it holds our memories."
After saying that, the count silently rolled his eyes.
Xiaoyun and Julie said, "We joined the magazine together and became best friends. We're having dinner together tonight."
The bald man said, "Me? I'll be in charge of going to the supermarket to buy things for tomorrow's party."
Next up are Lu Mingran and Cheng Yungui.
At this moment, Lin Han switched his consciousness to Lu Mingran, thinking to himself, "I've read this episode; in the novel, Cheng Yungui goes to the second basement level. How can this be? You'll hear your heartbeat when you get there!"
Fortunately, the system told him that Yingshan was originally supposed to participate in tonight's game, but now that he's dead, his lines could be changed and assigned to someone else.
Lu Mingran tidied up Ying Shan's lines, added a little improvisation, and had the system deliver the lines to Cheng Yungui.
Cheng Yungui recited the first half of the sentence with great emotion:
"I want to find those author friends, chat, and get together."
But when it came to the second half of the sentence, to the part where Lu Mingran elaborated on herself, Cheng Yungui suddenly began to read it in a completely emotionless, tedious way:
"Especially Lin Han, I'm going to see him tonight. He's the person I admire most."
There was absolutely no hint of appreciation in his expression.
Lu Mingran: ?
...Lin Han, you've probably misplaced your trust in the end.
Chapter 72 Want to find the heart? No way (8)
When it was time to leave work, everyone followed the instructions given in the script. Lu Mingran was tidying up her desk, which didn't actually have much on it, when she turned her head and saw Cheng Yungui sitting there, looking preoccupied.
Cheng Yungui noticed that he was being looked at, and said while looking at the computer screen:
"The script tells me to go to Lin Han's place, which means that tonight's evil spirit will probably be related to him..."
Lu Mingran understood what he meant: NPCs turning into evil spirits after death to claim lives is indeed a method of murder.
Judging from Cheng Yungui's expression, he probably couldn't bear to see such a thing happen. In any case, Lin Han had helped him a lot.
"Just do your best." Lu Mingran patted his shoulder reassuringly.
——————————
In fact, neither Cheng Yungui nor his friend in the novel will die in this world. Currently, Lin Han's biggest concern is the "Twilight of Resentment" that Cheng Yungui is holding.
The dragon's heart on the second basement level was calling to the two dice belonging to the Nigel siblings. When Cheng Yungui arrived at Lin Han's door, the dice in his pocket were burning hot.
Cheng Yungui reached into his pocket and unconsciously squeezed them. At the same time, his head suddenly felt dizzy.
A heavy thud was heard outside the door. Lin Han opened the door and dragged the unconscious Cheng Yungui inside.
It's another dream within a dream.
In his dream, Cheng Yun returned to the thatched cottage in the farmer's house with Lu Mingran. It was already dawn, and the sounds of horses neighing and rough knocking could be heard outside.
After opening the door, Cheng Yungui believed that if he had opened it a few seconds later, those soldiers would have chopped off his head with longswords.
Have you seen a man and a woman carrying a baby walk past here?
"No, sir."
The soldier looked around the room to make sure no one else was there before leaving.
Cheng Yungui watched them disappear at the end of the path, then Lu Mingran came out and stood beside him, squinting as she said:
"Your two dice are too weird, you'd better throw them away."
Looking at Lu Mingran, Cheng Yungui suddenly thought of a question: "We met again in a dream, which means we are still alive in reality?"
"Maybe." After saying that, Lu Mingran looked down at the ground and exclaimed "Hey!"
I don't know when it started, but many, many square grids appeared on the ground, stretching all the way.
The dice in Cheng Yungui's pocket were getting hot again. As soon as he took them out, they fell to the ground. The red ones rolled five dots, and the black ones rolled two dots, for a total of seven.
Then, a bunch of roses grew on the seventh square on the ground, as if enticing people to go there and pick them.
Cheng Yungui and Lu Mingran exchanged glances and guessed that this was probably like a game like Monopoly, where you roll dice and move to different squares based on the numbers rolled.
Cheng Yungui stopped Lu Mingran, but Lu Mingran pressed down on his arm that was blocking her way: "Let's go together."
Seeing that Cheng Yungui was standing still, Lu Mingran stared intently into his eyes until he lowered his arm.
Seven steps, seven steps later, when the two of them stood still in the square, flames suddenly ignited on the rose petals, and the beautiful rose burned to ashes.
The surrounding scenery also distorted and changed, turning into a dark night with burning flames.
The execution scene of the Nillerie siblings.
The people dressed in black robes stood solemnly around a brother and sister who were tied to a fire, muttering something. Lu Mingran and Cheng Yungui stood on the outskirts of the crowd, and through the gaps between people, they could see the brother and sister's contorted and pained faces.
“You will get your comeuppance; it won’t let this go.”
However, no one listened to what they were saying and continued the execution.
The siblings on the fire gradually turned charred and terrifying, and in that final moment of their lives, the sister and brother suddenly looked at Cheng Yungui at the same time:
“Leave them.”
Lu Mingran heard this; it meant Cheng Yungui was to leave the dice. Those shrouded in black robes also suddenly turned around and looked at them.
"Throw it!" Lu Mingran shouted, snatching the dice from Cheng Yungui's hand and throwing it on the ground.
The scene suddenly disappeared, but the dice remained, and a new number was rolled.
2. It's not the square in front of them, but the square behind them.
This time, it was a grand wedding scene, but the guests were all whispering among themselves.
They say the count's wife came from the Dalabong family, and that she would transform into a dragon at night.
The count ignored the rumors and kissed his bride tenderly amidst the strange looks from others.