Chapter 95: The Ultimate Freeloader
Inside the secret chamber, just as Su Xiao was about to open the door, a notification suddenly appeared.
[Notification: Holy Light Paradise faction participant·Shenyin has been eliminated.]
[Before entering the Inner Painting World this time, a new faction's participants will arrive in the Main Painting World.]
...
Another one taken away. The next victim would arrive soon enough.
Putting everything else aside, Shenyin, as an eighth-rank top-tier healer, still had considerable depth. Although he was eliminated, he wasn't dead. This guy had somehow forcibly returned through some method, no doubt paying a heavy price.
Being caught by Sister Lamp in the nightmare was truly despair-inducing to the point of tears. It wasn't a matter of Sister Lamp being strong or not; she was that special kind of being whose abilities were so unsolvable that you didn't even want to fight her.
With a click, Su Xiao pulled the mechanism lever. The heavy, rune-covered door opened a crack. Seeing this, Su Xiao activated the lantern in his hand, and sunlight shone out from within.
This was a simple ability imitating the Sun Church, used for illumination—"Bright Light." It was the most basic Sun Miracle of the Sun Church. Whether one had the aptitude to continue cultivating Solar Force depended on the brightness when casting this Sun Miracle.
Therefore, Su Xiao chose to replicate this Sun Miracle. His understanding of Sun Miracles was at a severe injury level. Once, while treating a female believer, he had studied her body. Afterwards, when she cast a Sun Miracle, he observed the energy fluctuations and flow within her body, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of Sun Miracles.
Su Xiao indeed had no Solar Force within him, but he had the [Warm Sunstone]. This turned the impossible into possible. Extracting Solar Force from the [Warm Sunstone] was the best choice.
This was the only method Su Xiao could think of that might counter Sister Lamp. Controlling her was unlikely; Sister Lamp was too powerful on her own. Creating such a powerful being was already a stroke of genius. Trying to control her afterward was pure fantasy. The stronger something is, the harder it is to control, let alone something of Sister Lamp's level.
With a rumble, the door fully opened. Su Xiao, holding the lantern in one hand, lightly leaped backward. He raised the lantern higher, letting Sister Lamp feel the sun. Whether Sister Lamp would praise the sun was a bit uncertain.
Under Su Xiao's solemn gaze, Sister Lamp walked into the secret chamber, ignoring the sunlight emitted by the lantern as she approached on her metal high heels.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Although Sister Lamp's long legs were sexy, they were stained with blood that never dried. Coupled with the creaking, grinding sound of metal friction from the searchlight serving as her head, she exuded a strange, oppressive aura.
Su Xiao knew things were bad. He had guessed wrong. Sister Lamp wasn't afraid of sunlight at all. The Castle doctors and the Sun believers seemed to have left no backup plan.
Just as Su Xiao was about to activate Dragon Shadow Flash to try and escape Sister Lamp's deadly pursuit, he noticed that she didn't pounce on him. Instead, she walked over with an eerie gait.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The metal high heels struck the marble floor, making crisp sounds. As Sister Lamp moved forward, she looked around. The murky light from her searchlight head swept across the area ahead, but strangely, it didn't sweep over the books or the desk. It only eroded the floor and walls, causing them to hiss and sizzle.
The searchlight's murky light gradually dimmed. Sister Lamp hadn't noticed Su Xiao at all. This made Su Xiao realize that his initial guess had been correct—the Castle doctors and the Sun Church had left a contingency plan, just not the one he had imagined.
Making a monster of Sister Lamp's level fear something was extremely difficult. So, the Castle doctors and Sun believers had taken a different approach. Since dealing with Sister Lamp was troublesome, they looked for a solution within themselves.
If they couldn't control or drive her away, they took a step back—making her unable to see them. Or rather, making her unable to see anyone bathed in sunlight.
In the Nightmare·Castle Ward, natural sunlight would never appear. It was precisely because of this environment that the Castle doctors and the Sun Church had devised this method.
Su Xiao had actually been wrong about two things: 1. He didn't need to create a Sun Miracle; just holding a Sunstone was enough. 2. Sister Lamp couldn't be driven away, only avoided.
Su Xiao wasn't omniscient; making mistakes was normal. But his general direction was correct, and creating a Sun Miracle was always the safer choice.
Standing in the corner of the secret chamber, Su Xiao tried to reduce the sunlight emitted by the lantern. He needed to take a risk to determine one thing: whether Sister Lamp couldn't see him only when he himself was bathed in sunlight, or if both he and Sister Lamp had to be within the sunlight's range for her not to see him.
Su Xiao gradually shrank the sunlight's coverage. When the sunlight only enveloped half of Sister Lamp's body, he observed her reaction. Confirming that she showed no signs of agitation or alertness, he continued to shrink the coverage until the sunlight only surrounded a one-meter radius around himself.
Sister Lamp still hadn't noticed Su Xiao. She paced near the wooden table, emitting a harsh, raspy breathing sound from her searchlight. The sound was low and hoarse, as if made by a middle-aged man, completely at odds with Sister Lamp's long legs.
"Ta... na (ancient language, pronunciation for doctor)."
Sister Lamp's voice was still harsh. She paced beside the chair at the desk, seemingly puzzled about where the person who had been sitting there had gone.
"Roar!!"
Sister Lamp suddenly let out a roar. The searchlight serving as her head emitted a murky light, faintly tinged with red.
Tap tap tap!
Sister Lamp was enraged. No longer caring about burning the books in the secret chamber, she began searching quickly. In her simple mind, she probably thought that the doctor had always been in the secret chamber. Since Su Xiao had broken in, Sister Lamp believed he had killed the doctor, which was why she was so furious.
The relationship between Sister Lamp and the doctor wasn't some clichéd love story. It was more like mutual dependence, unrelated to romance.
Su Xiao moved along the wall to the doorway. An ordinary Sister Lamp was already formidable; an enraged one was even more dangerous.
There were still two rooms left to explore: the storage room connected by the left passage of the utility hall, and the room on the right with the huge glass pillar.
Leaving the secret chamber, Su Xiao walked toward the left passage of the utility hall. Along the way, he glanced at the dissection table and noticed half a brain monster corpse lying on it. He remembered that the dissection table had been empty before, and Zuiyasi and Shenyin had been hiding beside it.
This was Zuiyasi's disguise. But what puzzled Su Xiao was that if Molei could survive until now, he found it normal—that silly girl had an absurdly high sanity value. As for Zuiyasi, so much time had passed; he should have been unable to hold on.
Analyzing this, there was only one possibility: Zuiyasi had replicated Shenyin's ability to restore sanity.
Thinking back carefully, Shenyin had previously mentioned having an ability to restore sanity and was looking for a sponsor. That meant he wanted Su Xiao, Zuiyasi, and Molei to all pay up and hire him together.
Zuiyasi immediately stated that he would cover the cost this time. Shenyin was used to this—it just meant prioritizing restoring the sponsor's sanity. And Shenyin did exactly that, always restoring the sponsor's sanity first along the way.
This was what Zuiyasi wanted. He needed Shenyin to be closest to him; otherwise, it would be hard to make a move.
What Shenyin never expected was that Zuiyasi wasn't hiring him at all. He coveted Shenyin's ability. Pretending to be the sponsor was actually a way to secretly bribe Su Xiao, asking him not to interfere.
Earlier, in the main corridor filled with brain monsters, Zuiyasi used the pretext of protecting the healer Shenyin, enveloping him with tentacles. There was no mistake—that was when Zuiyasi replicated Shenyin's "Clear Spring Surge" ability.
As everyone knows, once something has two providers, price competition arises. Monopoly, though a despicable act, is the most profitable method.
Zuiyasi had already replicated the "Clear Spring Surge" ability. For him, Shenyin had transformed from a tool into a competitor. In the utility hall, Su Xiao deliberately attracted Sister Lamp, capsizing their little boat of friendship. At that moment, Zuiyasi decisively set Shenyin up.
All that could be said was that Shenyin had strong survival instincts; he didn't even die from that. From the initial team formation to his final elimination, Zuiyasi had arranged everything for him, clear as day.
The compensation Zuiyasi had previously paid to Shenyin, because Shenyin failed to fulfill his duties and slipped away midway, had been refunded to Zuiyasi according to team regulations.
What was even more infuriating was that before being taken away, Shenyin... she had even healed Zuiyasi. Being schemed against, set up, freeloaded off of, and then healing the culprit at the end—even if Shenyin remembered this years later, she would be too angry to eat.
Seeking revenge on Zuiyasi? Doom Star welcomes contractors from Holy Light Paradise. The 'friendly and easygoing' Ancient God believers would warmly entertain Shenyin. Yes, they would put her in many glass jars and entertain her in batches.
Su Xiao didn't bother with Zuiyasi. For now, they would keep their distance and not interfere with each other. He walked toward the storage room on the left. After a few steps, he stepped on something invisible. It was a bit soft, like someone's abdomen? It seemed... someone was lying here?
"Croak~"
The sound of a frog reached Su Xiao's ears. He was momentarily surprised. A strange sense of neglect arose in his heart, as if everything was normal. This was the passive effect of some ability influencing him.
Frowning, Su Xiao stepped on the invisible thing again. Still the abdomen area. This time, he applied a bit more force.
"Croak!"