The evening breeze passing through the grape trellis made Xia De, who had narrowly escaped death, tremble uncontrollably. Even for a Ring術士, if his head exploded like a watermelon, he would certainly not survive. He sat there motionless, watching the scene before him, and a voice whispered in his ear:
“I thought you would throw the dice, trying to roll a 20 again to turn the situation around.”
“No, I would never gamble on luck. I just used the action of throwing the dice to force him to shoot, otherwise, if he became cautious and used other methods to kill me, I would really go to meet death... Speaking of which, the last time I rolled a 20 was to counter the 【Puppeteer's Script】. So, if the Blood Spirit School sends another page of the script, can you still help me?”
“Of course.”
The woman chuckled softly in Xia De's ear, still melodious.
A stiff smile appeared on Xia De's face, and his mood gradually calmed down. He remained seated, murmuring to himself in his mind:
“This isn't me relying on luck. Since it's called the gun of kindness, and it can't kill those who commit suicide, then with my luck tonight, it might work in the opposite situation as well.”
“Do you have any other plans?”
“The original plan was feigned death, but whether feigned death could deceive the opponent also depends on luck.”
After saying this and taking another deep breath, he finally felt able to control his body, which had gone numb from the fear of impending death. His back was actually soaked, and when the summer night breeze blew, his body couldn't help but shiver.
Xia De stood up, feeling as if he had been reborn compared to when he sat down a few minutes ago. Calmly and carefully, he used the headless corpse's clothes to wipe the dice, putting it back into his pocket along with the ring and the Moonlight's orb.
When he retrieved the 【gun of kindness】 from the corpse's hand, he actually found that blood had soaked into the revolver's cylinder, revealing a circle of tiny inscriptions that he hadn't noticed before—
Harms neither oneself nor others.
“Ha~”
He let out a dry laugh. His face and half of his shirt front were covered in blood, but he didn't forget to snatch the 【manipulator's script】 from the stone table.
The small book's leather cover seemed to absorb blood, so it wasn't stained. Unfortunately, the first nine pages had already been used, and even the previous sentences were blacked out to prevent the holder from discovering their content.
Xia De shook his head, holding the small book in his hand, not bothering with the bloodstains and brain matter on the ground and table. He dragged the headless corpse with one hand from under the grape trellis, turned, and walked into the garden's maze.
Blown by the night wind, his mind completely cleared. After the feelings of fright and calmness both disappeared, he thought with a hint of melancholy:
“I must gain power. I never want to gamble with my life again. The afterglow of the gods, the power of the Ring術士, I want to obtain them all!”
“I will bless you, Outsider.”
He dragged the corpse into the grass behind the hedge and didn't continue walking, as the bloodstains on the ground couldn't be hidden.
Xia De sat down next to the corpse, breathing in the scent of grass, recovering his strength, and pondering what he could do.
He didn't know how long he had been sitting on the grass when he heard approaching footsteps. Before he could stand up, he saw Miss Annette, whom he had parted with just a few tens of minutes ago, push aside the hedge and appear before him.
The brown-haired female Diviner tilted her head, looked at the headless corpse, then at Xia De, who was wearing a shirt and covered in blood, and her lightly made-up brows furrowed slightly.
“I didn't kill anyone.”
Xia De, sitting beside the corpse with the gun in his hand, said. He noticed that his voice had returned to its normal state. Fear had receded; he now only craved power.
Miss Annette glanced at the corpse again, raising her eyebrows in surprise:
“Although it has no head, judging from the attire, this seems to be the Heart Collector from 【Mercury Blood】. He actually died by your hand. What have you been doing for the past ten-odd minutes?”
“Has it only been ten-odd minutes? It's very complicated to explain. It's a story of a revolver and luck, possibly more complex than the event itself. If you want to hear it, I can make it short.”
He said, but Miss Annette, with her purple eyes, shook her head:
“Then there's no need to say it for now. Something has happened inside the mansion, and we need your help.”
She extended her hand to Xia De. Xia De looked at the bloodstains on his own hands, not wanting to dirty someone else's hand, and finally shook his head, choosing to stand up himself.
“You were able to divine that I was here?”
He asked while gazing at the distant mansion. In the hazy night, he unknowingly noticed a very faint bloody halo surrounding it. Not only that, after he activated 【Blood Echo】, he surprisingly found traces of blood even floating in the air—a blood mist barely perceptible to the naked eye. The Lakeview Manor mansion, meanwhile, seemed to be enveloped by a giant blood-colored cocoon.
In his special vision, he seemed to see a huge, deep shadow prostrating itself over the mansion, with a blurry blood-colored light pillar connecting to the depths of the night sky, which had turned gloomy at some unknown point.
He grunted and immediately shut down the spell. Just that brief glimpse made his head buzz. He was very familiar with this feeling; it was the aura of a god. The power generated merely by the ritual itself was already astonishing enough.
“No, the smell of blood over here is too strong. I came to try my luck; originally, I wanted to catch a cat to help me. Detective, now put on the corpse's clothes and wear this mask. There's no time for you to wash up.”
The headless corpse's wine-red formal suit was not noticeable even when stained with blood, while the mask was a wooden artifact formed by twisted branches after Miss Annette gently stroked a flower bush. Its design was ordinary, tied to the head with grass rope.
“Has the evil god already descended?”
Xia De asked, feeling the speed of his heart beating. Looking at the mansion with his naked eyes, he could only see darkness shrouding it. Deep and mysterious, Lakeview Manor seemed to have completely changed at this moment.
“Not yet. We encountered Mrs. Lasoya, or rather, Mr. Lasoya. The opponent is a Hexacle Ring術士. Now the Doctor, the Priest, and Dorothy have either trapped him or been trapped by him. I need help.”
“My luck is really terrible.”
He thought to himself.
Xia De could imagine the dangers of entering the mansion. He could choose to leave, but he couldn't watch his newly acquainted friends all die. Since he had become a Ring術士, he had to be prepared to face danger; he would not shy away. If he always ran away, there would eventually be a time when he couldn't escape:
“I'll go with you.”
At this moment, his mood was surprisingly calm, and he even unconsciously curved his lips with a hint of pleasure. He knew he had made the right choice. Even if he really died in the mansion tonight, he would not regret this decision.
Miss Annette observed the Detective's expression. The Diviner understood Xia De's current feelings:
“This is the life of a Ring術士. Once you step into the extraordinary and the mysterious, you can never turn back. Detective, perhaps you just experienced a life-or-death choice not long ago, but for now, forget about that matter. I apologize, although this is very dangerous, you are about to experience life and death again with me. You can tell us your story after tonight ends.”
“Will the evil god descend? Also, I noticed traces of a ritual in the garden as well.”
Xia De asked, having changed into the clothes and put on the mask. He walked out of the grass with the valiant Miss Annette. The latter shook her head against the Moonlight, her purple eyes seeming to glow:
“Whether the evil god descends, I don't know. We can only do what we can. The god-descent ritual is very large. The setup in the garden is very peripheral and not important. What's important is the third floor of the mansion. Come with me, Detective.”
Only the headless corpse was left lying in the grass behind the hedge. Dark clouds drifted from afar, obscuring the three moons, and the star river no longer glittered. The headless corpse was gradually covered by shadows and blood mist, and here, peace and tranquility returned once more.