Using the dark element consecutively took a significant toll on her.
Although devouring the ghosts and monsters had returned some energy, her expenditures far exceeded her gains, leaving her with even less magic power.
More importantly, the lingering coldness of the dark element still clung to her fingertips.
Cen Yao looked down at her hands.
A few wisps of extremely faint black mist coiled around her fingertips before slowly dispersing.
She cast a Calming Curse on herself.
A gentle, light-blue glow settled between her brows, gradually soothing the irritability and coldness brought on by the dark element.
She exhaled slowly.
She still needed to be careful.
It looked incredibly cool, yes.
And it felt amazing, too.
But the dark element could not be used on such a large scale regularly.
If not to maintain her Witch persona this time, and because the ghosts in the inn had truly given her a headache with their noise, she wouldn't have swept through the entire building.
Cen Yao picked up the fried chicken and continued eating.
There was no longer any sound from outside the door.
This time, the entire Decapitated Goose Inn was so quiet it seemed as if a silencing spell had been cast over it.
Let alone slamming doors.
Even the mice dared not scurry along the corners of the walls.
Cen Yao finished her fried chicken, drank the last sip of her cola, and narrowed her eyes in satisfaction.
She disposed of the trash with a Cleaning Spell and, after confirming the room's Alarm Curse was still active, leaned back against the bed to rest.
...
After Cen Yao fell asleep, the Decapitated Goose Inn finally fell completely silent.
In the fourth room on the fourth floor, the Alarm Curse affixed to the door crack emitted a very faint silver light.
The fire butterflies folded their wings and rested by the head of the bed and the window, resembling several small, unextinguishable flames.
There were no footsteps in the corridor outside.
No sound of bouncing balls.
No rustling noises from beneath the wooden floorboards.
And no movement of ghosts sniffing against the door crack.
The entire inn was as quiet as if it had been covered by a thick black cloth; even the night wind lowered its voice cautiously as it slipped through the cracks in the window.
But in a place invisible to everyone, the Horror Game's System captured a string of abnormal fluctuations.
It was a darkness devoid of any concept of space.
Countless silver-white streams of data surged through the dark like icy rivers of stars.
Each data stream corresponded to a dungeon. Every player's death, escape, pollution, and clearance would turn into detailed values, flowing into the massive core at the absolute center.
From the deepest part of the core, an emotionless, mechanical voice slowly rang out.
【Abnormal fluctuation detected in a rookie dungeon.】
【Dungeon ID: D-097, Fairy Tale Variant Dungeon, Rapunzel.】
【Source of abnormality: Rookie player, Bling Bling.】
【Re-evaluating player strength level.】
The silver-white data suddenly accelerated.
Fragmented images emerged frame by frame.
Inside the high tower, a white phoenix dispersed the darkness.
On the windowsill, the purple-robed Witch leaped down, her starlight wings unfurling in mid-air.
Outside the Black Forest, a man-eating flower was incinerated into ash by a fireball.
Inside the Decapitated Goose Inn, the black mist devoured the ghosts of the entire building, and a black throne coalesced in the corridor.
Countless data points fluctuated wildly.
【Evaluating power...】
【Evaluating mental fluctuations...】
【Evaluating dungeon influence...】
【Evaluating ghost suppression capability...】
【Re-determining comprehensive danger level...】
After a brief silence, a new result popped up.
【Detection result: The player's current performance has exceeded the normal strength range of a rookie player.】
【Detecting player identity.】
【Checking for the possibility of a veteran player masquerading as a rookie.】
【Checking...】
【Checking...】
【Checking...】
The data stream seemed to be stuck on something, pausing for a full three seconds.
To humans, three seconds was just a single breath.
But to the Horror Game's System, three seconds was enough to decide the life or death of tens of thousands of players.
Finally, the result lit up again.
【Detection complete.】
【Player Cen Yao confirmed to be entering the Horror Game for the first time.】
【Player identity: Rookie player.】
【No possibility of a veteran player masquerading.】
The data stream around the System's core stagnated slightly.
Immediately after, a new detection program was forcibly initiated.
【Detecting player Talent.】
【Player Talent: S-rank Medium.】
【Talent status: Normal.】
【Talent fluctuations: Normal.】
【Talent records: No signs of abnormal tampering.】
【Detection complete.】
【Player Talent confirmed as S-rank Medium.】
The data stream fell into silence once more.
A rookie player with an S-rank Medium Talent.
No abnormalities detected.
No identity issues.
No Talent issues.
Yet she suppressed the ghosts of the entire inn in a rookie dungeon.
The god of the Horror Game—the great System—rarely glitched.
The silver-white data flickered in the darkness, like some massive and cold existence encountering a problem that could not be explained by conventional logic for the first time.
After a long time, a new tag slowly popped up from the depths of the System core.
【Player Bling Bling has been listed as a high-priority target.】
【Danger level: Under re-evaluation.】
【Remarks: This player possesses unpredictability.】
【Remarks: Core code determines that this player possesses potential high-risk.】
When the last remark lit up, all surrounding data streams went quiet for a moment.
Like some silent gaze.
Of course, no one knew about any of this.
Only the System knew that on that ordinary, completely unremarkable night, a rookie player who had entered the Horror Game less than twenty-four hours ago had been personally placed on its high-priority watch list.
Meanwhile, Cen Yao, the subject of this high-priority attention, was not sleeping well.
She had many fragmented dreams.
There were no concrete images in her dreams, only a boundless stretch of darkness.
The darkness was cold, like damp mist, clinging to her skin inch by inch and seeping into the marrow of her bones.
She heard many things speaking in low voices.
The voices were very soft and distant, as if coming from underwater.
They were calling her.
And they also seemed to be enticing her.
“Devour them.”
“Devour this place.”
“Devour everything that pries into you.”
Cen Yao frowned in her dream, her fingertips unconsciously clutching the corner of the quilt.
The fire butterflies at the head of the bed gently fluttered their wings, casting a golden light on her pale face, yet they could not dispel the gloomy coldness between her brows.
Although she was asleep, she was not at peace.
All night long, she felt as if she had one foot stepping on the edge of an icy abyss.
It was not until dawn began to break and the first hoarse crow of a raven sounded outside the inn that Cen Yao struggled to wake from that heavy, gloomy sleep.
When she opened her eyes, a trace of black mist that had not yet fully dispersed still lingered in the depths of her gaze.
The room was very dark.
The morning light squeezing through the cracks of the window was a dusty gray, shining on the faded dark-red bedding like a layer of cold ash.
Cen Yao sat up, waiting for quite a while before raising her hand to massage her temples.
She had a headache.
It was not a sharp, intense pain, but rather a dense, cold, and continuous throbbing.
It felt as though someone were pricking her temples over and over with an icy needle.
The side effects of using the dark element on such a large scale last night were more pronounced than she had anticipated.
Right at that moment, a very soft knock sounded outside the door.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
The sound was so quiet it could almost be described as subservient.
“R-Respected Lady Witch.”
“Your breakfast has been delivered.”
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