Mutual Redemption with the Villainous Boss [Infinite] - Chapter 24

The night passed in peace.

When the clock struck nine in the morning, the Wren appeared punctually at the bedroom door.

Although she knew this was a role-playing dungeon, Zhu Ci couldn’t help but ask, “Can I stop wearing these clothes? It’s too hard to move, and after a whole day, my arms ache from the constriction.”

The Wren stood outside the door like a stone statue, shadows obscuring half of her face, seemingly waiting for instructions.

Receiving no answer, Zhu Ci understood the situation perfectly. She addressed the figure outside: “Then I’ll trouble you to help me.”

The Wren walked in slowly and produced a pale gold dress, slipping it over her.

Dressing, corseting—when it came to the final tightening stage, Zhu Ci quickly stopped her: “I’ll do the rest myself.”

The Wren retreated into the shadows, leaving her to her own devices without saying a word.

Once Zhu Ci had loosened the areas constricting her upper body and used a knife to cut a ring around the fabric, just as she had the day before, the Wren finally spoke.

“Is there anything else you need?”

“What are we supposed to do today?” Zhu Ci asked, tugging at the hem of her skirt.

“Today, the funeral of the Cock Robin will be held.”

Are we going to take the photos stuck in the hallway and throw them into a coffin? she grumbled internally.

Passing through the corridor to the main hall, they found the Chief Priestess already there. Today, she wore a black veil covering half her face, dressed in black robes, looking dignified and solemn. The Thrush remained as usual, accompanying her side.

The Skylark and the Wren did not appear, but the ingredients on the dining table were already prepared.

The Chief Priestess raised both hands and scattered a handful of shimmering objects onto the ground. Seeing this, the Thrush took a step forward and announced: “At 5:55 PM this afternoon, the Cock Robin’s funeral will be held on the grass outside the church. We expect everyone to participate.”

“Furthermore,” the Thrush glanced at Zhu Ci, then acted as if nothing was wrong, “please act in accordance with your identity.”

In accordance with identity? A flash of inspiration crossed Chen Jian’s mind. He tried to pull Zhu Ci aside to whisper, but was met with a warning glare from the Thrush.

“So fierce…” Chen Jian retracted his head, speechless with frustration.

The Chief Priestess seemed slightly surprised by the Thrush’s last words but said nothing. She simply shifted her gaze, and the two of them departed together through the green door.

Yu Jiayi rested her chin in her hand. “That last sentence… was she reminding us not to forget our roles?”

“Who knows? Anyway, she glared at me,” Chen Jian muttered, hugging himself in a fit of internal distress.

“Right now, except for Zhu Ci, the roles for the rest of us aren’t clear,” He Fanghui noted, using a fork to draw patterns in the soup on the table. “The captains of the three teams are all Sparrows. So who are the Fox, the Fish, the Hedgehog, and the Owl?”

“5:55 PM…”

Zhu Ci murmured the time, her eyes glazed over. He Fanghui waved a hand in front of her face and snapped her fingers, but there was no reaction.

Chen Jian gave her a sudden shove. “What are you doing? Don’t space out.”

“Ah,” Zhu Ci regained some clarity. “I was just wondering where the ‘grass outside the church’ is. Is there even a door that leads outside?”

“True. Aside from the white door and the green door we can’t get through, there really isn’t another exit,” Chen Jian agreed.

Zhu Ci continued, “And we’ve searched everywhere nearby. There isn’t a single clue or hint. How are we supposed to figure out our roles?”

To get clues, they had to get out first. They had to find the door that led outside.

Ye Qingqing’s team was sitting with them. Hearing this, she stood up. “Miss Zhu, I owe you a favor. If my team finds any clues, I will be the first to inform you.” With that, she handed Zhu Ci a communication card.

After Ye Qingqing’s team left, Yu Jiayi suggested, “Let’s go too. Even if we’re just looking over the same spots, we might see something from a different perspective.”

“Sure! Let’s pair up. I’ll go with Zhu Ci—” He Fanghui started to cheer, only to be dragged back by her skirt by Yu Jiayi.

“You’re coming with me. We’re searching inside the white door.”

As the sound of He Fanghui’s wailing faded into the distance, Chen Jian pulled out a compass, looking smug. “Heh heh, don’t forget I have this trick up my sleeve.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask—is that your initial weapon?” Zhu Ci asked curiously.

“Yeah. I pulled it from Little Chuang in the novice dungeon. I didn’t know how to use it at first and ended up hitting an RM over the head with it.”

Chen Jian held the compass, turning left and right, but the needle spun incessantly without settling.

“Is this some ‘limited edition’ weapon that only works when clues are glaringly obvious?” As time ticked by, Zhu Ci grew impatient.

Chen Jian looked embarrassed. “It shouldn’t be. It worked fine before. Maybe there’s magnetic interference here.”

Zhu Ci took a deep breath, snatched the compass from him, and shushed him. “Stop studying it. This isn’t as good as my intuition.”

She decided they couldn’t ignore the main hall. She pushed Chen Jian to flip over every tea table while she went to check each doorway.

The main hall connected to many doors, all leading to the players’ bedrooms. Only the white and green doors were sealed.

The court notice was still posted on the wall. She tore it down and felt the wall behind it.

It felt no different from any other spot.

I’m overthinking it.

Just as she was about to search another wall, the compass she had confiscated from Chen Jian suddenly moved. The needle spun frantically.

Zhu Ci picked up the compass and was about to call Chen Jian when the needle suddenly stopped, pointing in one specific direction.

Her bedroom.

Possessed by a strange impulse, she kept quiet. She didn’t call out but walked toward the room alone.

The corridor was still narrow and pitch-black. In the absence of kerosene lamps, she felt her way along the wall just as she had that night.

This time, there was no sound of dripping water.

Light spilled out from inside the room as she stepped in.

The lamps weren’t lit during the day, but layers of light filtered in through the window, though a thick mist outside made it impossible to see clearly.

The compass was pointing directly at the window.

No matter how she tilted the compass, the result remained the same.

She summoned her “Path-Opening Pen.” The real clues were outside the window; she would only know once she broke through.

Just as she was about to use the pen on the window, the compass moved again.

This time, it pointed behind her.

The needle had barely settled when, before Zhu Ci could react, a powerful force throttled her throat. The compass fell to the floor.

She tried to kick and struggle, but there seemed to be nothing behind her. She hit no one and fell backward in agony.

The moment she hit the ground, her body moved instinctively. She rolled sideways twice and pushed off with her right hand, pressing down directly onto thin air.

The “air” let out a startling scream.

Zhu Ci took the opportunity to fling herself away from the invisible entity, crashing against the window frame. Her neck was finally free, and she coughed violently.

Her sleeve flashed—the “Thought Card: Absolute Submissions” had activated, saving her life.

The air shimmered, revealing its true form.

It was the man from Chen Liangyi’s team who had been unconscious for a long time and had been the loudest shouter: Duan Jingchuan.

Duan Jingchuan gasped with hatred, trying to attack again, but his body couldn’t support him. He nearly collapsed. “You… how did you react in time?”

“You’re crazy,” Zhu Ci said, clutching her chest and catching her breath. “Do you even know what you’re doing?”

“Brother Chen is dead!” Duan Jingchuan shrieked, spitting out a mouthful of blood. “Without him, how are we supposed to live? We won’t even survive this dungeon!”

“You can’t live by relying on others.”

Zhu Ci’s words were cold as she looked him in the eye. “Besides, that’s no reason to attack me.”

“Why are your two teams different from ours?” He spat out more blood until the wooden floorboards seemed to turn into a pool of gore.

“Why are you all still alive!” The blood stained his entire body. His eyes grew glazed as he stood up, his stature becoming much taller than before.

“WHY!”

All the blood on the floor began to flow upward, back onto his body.

Where Duan Jingchuan had stood, there was no longer a human.

It was a monster made entirely of blood.

Zhu Ci summoned her gun.

The monster was no different from a typical RM, letting out a wretched wail as its feet sank into the floorboards, leaving two massive holes.

What’s going on? Why would a human turn into an RM!

She fired three consecutive shots. The bullets passed through the blood monster, and the wounds closed back up instantly.

There was no effect.

Is this RM so powerful because it was transformed from a human?

Zhu Ci backed away, intending to use the pen to carve a path.

Unexpectedly, her hand touched nothing.

The window had no glass.

She turned to look; the scenery outside was indeed clearer than it had been a moment ago.

Though she didn’t know how the glass had vanished, the priority was to escape this trouble.

After a brief thought, she leaped out of the window.

The environment was shrouded in thick fog. She quickened her pace and ran into the distance. The blood monster did not follow, but its roars echoed endlessly.

Zhu Ci summoned Little Chuang, but the interface didn’t change. For the first time, it didn’t appear.

She then pulled out the communication card, wanting to tell Yu Jiayi and the others what had happened.

“That Duan Jingchuan… he turned into an RM,” she said, feigning composure.

The communication card hissed with static; the signal was unstable, likely due to her current location.

She hung up and dialed the other card.

The card Ye Qingqing had given her produced the same result.

No one could be reached.

She put the two cards away and continued forward, trying to walk out of the fog.

In the distance, a dark silhouette appeared, flickering in and out of view. Its shadow was incredibly long, stretching out ten meters.

Zhu Ci gripped her gun.

The shadow slowly approached, growing larger, while the shadow on the ground gradually shrank.

She stood ready, on high alert.

The ground shadow shrank to nothing, and the silhouette took on a human shape.

A voice spoke.

“Is anyone there?”

It was a raspy, indistinguishable voice.

“I’ve been wandering in this fog for a long time. Finally, I’ve found someone.”

The voice was extremely hoarse, like gravel stuck in a throat.

“Why are you alone? Where are your companions?” the rough voice continued. “Have you seen my teammates? I got separated from them.”

A gust of wind swept by, and the fog began to thin and dissipate.

The dark figure revealed its true face.

It was Duan Jingchuan, dressed neatly and smiling slightly.

Zhu Ci fired without hesitation.

BANG.

He clutched his chest, his face full of disbelief. He opened his mouth but couldn’t speak, collapsing instantly.

“Who killed Cock Robin?”

“I, said the Sparrow, with my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin. Who saw her die?”

The fog vanished.

Zhu Ci spun around. Chen Jian was standing to her left, clutching his compass, his eyes wide with shock.

“I, said the Fox, with my little eye, I saw her die. Who caught her blood?”

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