Chapter 28: The Rooftop
Su Xiao lit the calendar paper in his hand, the paper ash slowly falling, with a faint smell of burning grease still lingering in the air.
Though he had guessed who was in Room 7, to be safe, Su Xiao took out a gold coin and flicked it with his thumb.
*Ding~*
The gold coin made a pleasant sound, flipping through the air. After reaching its highest point, it flipped and fell. Logically, it should have made another *ding* when it landed, but it didn't.
The moment the gold coin landed, it vanished. From behind the door of Room 7, no sound came out.
"Damn, why is this guy suddenly so cautious?"
Baha landed on Su Xiao's shoulder. Having witnessed this scene, he also guessed who was in Room 7. He said with a sly grin:
"Boss, how about we..."
Baha lowered his mischievous laughter. Su Xiao took out another gold coin, pinching one corner between his left thumb and forefinger, which were wrapped in a crystal layer. He took out the Fate Dominator lighter and lit it, burning the gold coin between his fingers. After a moment, he tossed the coin up.
The instant the gold coin landed, Su Xiao vaguely sensed something shoot out from under the door crack with a *whoosh*. It was too fast to perceive clearly. This was most likely an extremely high-level ability, specifically used for skimming off the top.
The moment the hot gold coin disappeared, the smell of burnt protein wafted over. Even so, no sound of the coin hitting the floor came from inside the room. The person inside must have been gripping the scorching coin tightly, showing just how greedy they were.
There was no need to think about it. The one in Room 7 was definitely Kaiser. Su Xiao had vaguely guessed this when the other party slid that calendar paper under the door.
Why was Kaiser hiding in Room 7 without speaking? It meant that the main painting world and the inner painting worlds were more dangerous than imagined, to the point that even Kaiser, with his greedy and cunning nature, was scared.
In the past, Kaiser would have jumped out on his own to cooperate with Su Xiao for gains, as they had done many times before.
This time, however, Kaiser was lying low, not even daring to speak, only expressing his intention to cooperate through text.
Su Xiao's stance was clear: cooperating for gains was fine, but Kaiser couldn't stay hidden in the shadows.
Su Xiao waited a few seconds outside the wooden door, and a copper key was slid out from under it. This was Kaiser's gesture of sincerity.
Baha landed silently, and the next moment, the copper key on the ground vanished.
There were a total of 14 doors in the Sanctuary Hall. The seven on the right wall had been roughly explored. The seven doors on the left wall led to houses belonging to the participants. The silver-gray metal door at the front of the Sanctuary Hall currently had no key and couldn't be opened.
After glancing at the ladder leading to the castle's rooftop, Su Xiao walked toward his own room, pushed the door open, and entered. As soon as the door closed, the bone-deep cold gradually receded. It seemed the participants on the first floor of the castle were having a tough time.
He took out the copper key he had obtained from the team storage space. This key wasn't for opening the silver-gray metal door but for unlocking the roof hatch. The reason he hadn't immediately explored was that he didn't want Wood and Zuiyasi to notice.
The aroma of food wafted over. Su Xiao hadn't felt hungry before, but upon smelling it, his stomach began to protest.
It was the maid, Anas, cooking a meal. The ingredients had been taken out by Baha from the team storage space. Over ten minutes later.
"Guest, sorry to keep you waiting."
Anas brought over a serving of seafood pasta. Su Xiao took a bite. It tasted excellent, different from Xia's cooking style. Though slightly inferior, it was still outstanding.
Su Xiao studied Anas. If this ghost weren't so closely tied to the castle, he would have considered kidnapping her to be his personal cooking maid.
After a hearty meal, Su Xiao sat cross-legged on the bed and meditated. About half an hour later, a peculiar wave spread out. It felt like an aura ability, yet also had the characteristics of a sustained buff.
[Tip: You have received the buff from 'Lullaby.' Your sanity recovery speed has greatly increased.]
As soon as he received the boost from 'Lullaby,' Su Xiao noticed a very subtle black energy seeping out from all over his body.
This black energy had been lurking in various parts of his body before. Even the Azure Steel Shadow energy hadn't been able to devour this foreign energy because its nature was spiritual and mental, very ethereal.
Su Xiao realized that the black energy being expelled from his body was the culprit behind the mental beast transformation, the madness that spread every moment in the painting world.
The origin of this black energy was still unknown. There were too few clues. Su Xiao combined the known information in his mind.
From what he knew, the main painting world he was in, the castle, though small, was the main body of this world. The four inner painting worlds couldn't exist independently; they had to rely on the main painting world. No matter how small the main painting world became, without it, the inner painting worlds would cease to exist.
There were four inner painting worlds in total. The first was the Nightmare World. The second was a world related to deserts and blazing suns, which was the world they were about to enter. The third and fourth were tightly bound with iron chains, making their contents invisible, leaving only guesses.
Earlier, Su Xiao had encountered a strongman named Great Knight, who came from a place called 'Ancient City.' His goal was to obtain more [Scroll Fragments].
The reason was that the inner painting world where Great Knight resided had to consume [Scroll Fragments] as a cost to maintain its current form; otherwise, it would gradually collapse.
Combining this information, there were actually only three inner painting worlds: the Sand Painting and two unknown paintings. The Nightmare World couldn't be considered an inner painting world.
The Nightmare World was stitched together using [Scroll Fragments] from the main painting world. The Sand Painting and the other two unknown paintings had their own world frameworks. They used the [Scroll Fragments] from the main painting world as consumables to stabilize their world structures. This was a classic case of drinking poison to quench thirst.
The three inner painting worlds, carrying their former glory and history, were slowly heading toward destruction. They were like three giants dying of thirst. For them, [Scroll Fragments] were like poison. Every sip brought them closer to madness and beast transformation, but this poison could quench their thirst. If they didn't drink, they would die of thirst. Even more tragically, this poison would eventually run out.
That said, although the Nightmare King's character wasn't great, it had to be admitted that he had dreams. He used the [Scroll Fragments] he had collected to stitch together the Nightmare World.
This seemed like a lifesaving measure, but it wasn't. The former Nightmare King was the dynasty's Chief Sacrificial Officer, one of the pillars resisting the 'Beast Transformation Faction.' Back then, the Nightmare King had great pride, valuing dignity more than life.
Why had the current Nightmare King become so fragile? It was because he had been beaten down. The Nightmare World stitched together with [Scroll Fragments] was no lifesaving solution at all.
The existence of the Nightmare World was equivalent to a signal receiver with chaotic frequencies. Ancient gods, void entities, drifters, calamity creatures, dangerous races, and so on could all arrive here.
For example, the skeleton gambler they had encountered earlier. The Nightmare King would never dare to provoke such an existence, not even daring to breathe loudly. However, there were also gentle ones, like Dudu Gugu.
The various beings that came to the Nightmare World were too chaotic. As the ruler of the Nightmare World, how many times had the Nightmare King been beaten? After being beaten for so many years, he had developed a persecution complex, hiding in the Nightmare Town and not daring to come out, his personality completely changed.
Ask yourself, where did the skeleton gambler and Dudu Gugu get their [Scroll Fragments]? The answer was that after the skeleton gambler arrived in the Nightmare World, he sought out the Nightmare King to gamble.
The Nightmare King declined, then was beaten up by the skeleton gambler, who tore a piece from the Nightmare World's canvas.
The piece torn off by the skeleton gambler was stitched together from five [Scroll Fragments]. The skeleton gambler kept three for himself and gave two to Dudu Gugu, just to keep them entertained.
Of course, these were all Su Xiao's speculations. If this analysis was correct, the Nightmare World could be completely ignored. It was about to collapse, and the skeleton gambler would likely take Dudu Gugu and leave.
The three current inner painting worlds were definitely not to be trifled with, because these three worlds were far larger than the Nightmare World.
Thinking of this, Su Xiao emptied his mind and entered a state of complete meditation. He noticed that the cooking maid... ahem, Anas's Lullaby ability provided a slight boost to meditation, though the effect was minimal.
A few hours later, Su Xiao opened his eyes. Though he hadn't slept, under the boost of Lullaby, he felt much more relaxed mentally. The constant mental 'burden' he had been feeling was gone.
"Bubu."
"Woof."
Bubu Wang barked softly. Amu opened the door, and Bubu Wang, blending into the environment, poked his head out, looking left and right.
After Bubu Wang pulled his head back, he disengaged from the environment and barked softly, meaning no one was outside.
"Let's go."
Su Xiao led Bubu Wang, Amu, Baha, and Beini out of the room. The Sanctuary Hall was indeed empty. He walked over to the silver-gray metal door, climbed up the ladder, and under the metal hatch, inserted the copper key into the lock and turned it.
*Click.*
The lock opened. Su Xiao pushed the metal hatch open and climbed up to the castle's rooftop. Bubu Wang, Amu, and the others followed closely.
A musty smell wafted into his nose. After Bubu, Amu, and the others were all up, Su Xiao checked the opened metal hatch and found its design strange. It could be opened from the outside with a wrench but required a key from the inside. This structure seemed designed to lock people inside the castle.
Su Xiao locked the metal hatch and looked around. The castle's rooftop was flat, or rather, this wasn't originally a rooftop but the castle's third floor.
The entire third floor of the castle had been cut off from the middle downward. The surrounding walls were only about a meter high. Four meters above, a purple-black semi-fluid substance hung in the air. From its shape, it seemed as if the castle's third floor still existed, propping up the surrounding purple-black semi-fluid.
Su Xiao's current position was the center of the castle's third floor, or rather, the rooftop. Both the east and west sides could be explored.
Su Xiao walked toward the east side. Below him was the Sanctuary Hall. A bit further ahead, he would be directly above the first-floor meeting hall, meaning above Molei and the others.
Though the rooftop was sizable, there wasn't much worth noting. Most of it consisted of the lower halves of furniture and walls less than a meter high.
Not far ahead, Su Xiao spotted an old, rough medical record on the ground with a few drops of blood on it. The record had already yellowed and cracked, but the bloodstains were still bright red, as if they still contained life force. The record read:
Patient: Rosa... (bloodstain obscuring full name).
Mental Beast Transformation Estimate: Stage Five. Signs of beast transformation should appear on the body.
Actual Beast Transformation Level: None, including the mental level.
Consultation Status: Good. Rosa... (bloodstain obscuring) is willing to cooperate with treatment. No unique talent detected so far.
30-Day Observation Report: The reason Rosa... (bloodstain obscuring) hasn't undergone beast transformation is likely due to her special blood. Her blood does not dissolve in water. When left naturally for over 30 days, it still maintains its activity. Furthermore, her blood has a clustering property. Two drops of blood within 0.7 meters of each other will gradually attract and eventually merge.
60-Day Observation Report: Some of Rosa... (bloodstain obscuring)'s blood has been preserved in the ward.
61-Day Observation Report: Attempted to transfuse Rosa... (bloodstain obscuring)'s blood into Patient 72. The beast transformation speed seemed to change. It was Stage Four beast transformation. I need to use a more severely transformed patient for this experiment. If it leads to any disastrous consequences, heh, this world can't get any worse.
62-Day Observation Report: Attempted to transfuse Rosa... (bloodstain obscuring)'s blood into Patient 5. Patient 5 is the strongest recipient I could find. His beast transformation had reached a rare Stage Six, meaning the mental level had manifested in the physical body.
63-Day Observation Report: This is a miracle! Patient 5's beast transformation has been suppressed! Good heavens, am I going to save this world? Unfortunately, it's too late, too late. If my daughter Daiya hadn't died... Hahahahaha. Three days after my daughter died from beast transformation, I, I discovered a method to suppress it. Hahahahahaha...
64-Day Observation Report: What a load of crap about a miracle. Patient 5, who was originally at Stage Six beast transformation, entered Stage Seven this morning. I, I have created the first Stage Seven beast transformation monster in history.
64-Day Observation Report: I must go kill Rosa... (bloodstain obscuring) immediately.