Chapter 12
The two servants nearly thought they had misheard him.
“Sir, a bed made of pure gold would easily deform. Perhaps you mean gilded?”
“No, you don’t understand. I’ve had a special constitution since childhood—only when I sleep on a bed made of pure gold does my skin not break out in rashes.” Lu Chuan said with complete seriousness. “You probably don’t know this, but I have a nickname: the Prince of the Pea. If the gold isn’t pure enough, my skin won’t tolerate it. Didn’t your butler Lucas say that anything could be provided? Surely such a small request isn’t beyond you?”
“This… we may need to report to the butler first,” the maid said, looking troubled.
“Mm. Since your butler has already promised to fulfill my needs as a guest, you must make it happen. Otherwise, guests outside the castle might think your promises are just empty words. But I’m not a devil—I know it’s hard to bring me a pure-gold bed right away. So here’s what we’ll do: tonight I’ll make do if you pile several layers of gold-thread quilts. By tomorrow, I expect the bed delivered. And also, change out the items in this room—the cutlery, teacups, vases—replace everything with pure gold.”
This time even the male servant was starting to fidget.
“And one more reminder,” Lu Chuan smiled. “If it’s not pure gold, even if you plate silver with gold, I’ll know the difference. But I’m sure a castle as grand as this would never stoop to cheating a guest, right?”
The two servants exchanged a glance; any thoughts of seducing the guest were long gone.
They could already imagine what the butler would do to them once they reported these demands.
This guest… he really didn’t play by the rules.
“What are you still standing here for? Go fetch the gold tableware and swap out the things in my room first! You can tidy up while I explain my requests—that way we both save time. Don’t you even know this much? What were you learning in servant training?” Lu Chuan ordered with perfect confidence.
The two servants immediately set to work, flustered and hurried.
Once they had gathered up the room’s furnishings, they bolted before Lu Chuan could add more demands.
They feared that if they stayed longer, they might just jump out of his window to escape.
[Host… aren’t you even going to investigate the castle?] System #888 reminded him cautiously.
It wasn’t doubting Lu Chuan’s intelligence, but it strongly suspected that once the castle really did furnish his entire room in pure gold, he would never want to step outside—perhaps not even clear the dungeon.
Through 888’s perspective, it could see the other nine players already setting out in different ways to investigate the castle.
Take the player on the same floor as Lu Chuan, for example.
His skill seemed to be priest-type, though the exact specialization wasn’t clear.
#888 saw him pull a strange oil lamp from his system space. Its light fell upon him, forming a protective aura that rendered him invisible.
Priest Class — “Lamp Bearer.”
This class could grow powerful by strengthening their lamp. As long as the lamp’s light did not go out, they could not die. Different kinds of lamps also gave them different abilities. The most common Lamp Bearers strengthened stealth, defense, and detection first—making them highly sought after by game guilds.
In a sealed castle environment, such a skill gave him a huge advantage.
#888 dearly wanted to warn Lu Chuan that there is a player approaching his room, likely to probe his strength.
This was only Lu Chuan’s second dungeon, and he had never clashed with other players before. What if he got tricked?
“It’s so late, I’m tired.” Lu Chuan stretched, looked around the room, then fetched pen and paper. He scribbled a few large characters, slapped the note on the door, and closed it unhurriedly.
[Host, aren’t you afraid of offending the NPCs by writing that?] 888 asked nervously, careful not to trigger the system’s cheating detection.
“What’s there to fear? Trying doesn’t kill me.” Lu Chuan shrugged. “I can’t underestimate the initiative of other players and NPCs. All I can do is bluff them when they can’t gauge my strength. The first day of a dungeon should be safe anyway—the NPCs must follow the basic rules. I haven’t even left my room. How could I trigger a death flag?”
If the NPCs and dungeon truly ignored all rules, this game could never have survived for centuries.
Operating at the very edge of the rules to maximize his benefits—that had always been Lu Chuan’s specialty.
[But what about when you wake up?] 888 marveled not only at his courage but at the size of his heart.
“Once I’ve slept and regained my energy, I’ll go cause trouble with the butler. If they can’t satisfy me, I’ll make their lives unbearable. If I can stir up the true master of the castle, even better.”
#888 immediately caught on to Lu Chuan’s plan. [Host, so you’re trying to lure the castle lord out this way—brilliant!]
“With such a big estate and so many servants, if the castle lord disguises himself as one of them, when would I ever find him? Better to make him come to me.” Lu Chuan rolled on the bed. “Oh, right—#888, take out the gold I collected earlier. I’ll use it as a pillow.”
[On it.] 888 promptly poured out a pile of gold bricks.
Lu Chuan stacked them into a pillow, lay down on it with great satisfaction, and drifted into sleep.
He hoped that by tomorrow, his entire room would be made of pure gold.
If he couldn’t achieve it in real life, why shouldn’t he at least enjoy it in a dungeon?
Meanwhile, Lucas replaced a painting on the wall, covering up a spyhole.
From a servant’s chamber on the fifth floor, he had a clear view of the guest room below, watching every move.
“He really used the gold to make a pillow… Seems he genuinely needs a golden bed.” Lucas, who prided himself on satisfying every guest, reflected.
But too many of them ignored the rules of the castle, wandering about until the only pleasure left to give them was at the moment of their death.
A guest who made such demands from the outset—if not unique, was certainly rare.
Still, no matter. He was a professional butler, and the castle was vast and rich. Even if the request was difficult, he could find a way.
He would collect his interest in due time—when the guest lay dying.
“Go and fetch it,” Lucas ordered, polishing his glasses. “If there isn’t enough gold, send men to the mines. We can’t have a guest unable to sleep in our castle. Forging a bed isn’t that difficult—there is nothing we cannot do.”
“Butler sir, he… he also asked for pure-gold cutlery, vases, and ornaments,” the two poor servants nearly cried.
A square golden bed was one thing, but fine tableware and vases took time to craft. Helpless, they turned to the capable butler for guidance.
“…In my room, there’s a set of golden enamel tableware. Clean it and bring it to him. As for vases and ornaments, check the storage.” Lucas’s face was dark, though he still managed to issue orders.
“And… and sir, he said tomorrow he wants a full Manchu-Han banquet. He’s never tasted bear paw before, and he wants to try it.” The two servants clutched their heads, trembling as they relayed Lu Chuan’s newest request.
Lucas’s eyes grew sharp and cruel. “Bear paw, is it? Then take rifles into the back mountain and hunt one! Ask the head chef who knows how to prepare a Manchu-Han feast. What other requests? Say them all at once.”
“The guest said… just the two of us serving him is too few. He’d like twenty male and twenty female servants to attend him.”
“The guest said… with such a big castle, it’s a shame not to play hide-and-seek. He hopes you’ll play with him, and if you lose, you’ll serve as his butler.”
“The guest also said… he feels lonely sleeping alone. He wants a baby panda to cuddle in bed.”
“The guest also said… he has a math problem called ‘Goldbach’s Conjecture’ that he’s never solved since childhood, and he hopes we can find a math genius to explain it to him.”
…
Lucas’s face grew darker and darker.
Silently, he crushed the chair beside him to splinters.
The two servants didn’t dare breathe.
“It seems our guest is not easy to serve.” Lucas’s expression was beyond ugly—no longer even human. “Perhaps I need to meet him myself.”
“What are you still lying on the ground for?” Lucas sneered at the two servants, his smile not reaching his eyes. “Hurry up and take me to meet this distinguished guest.”
“…Yes.” The two servants scrambled to their feet and quickly led the butler onward.
In the hallway, a player using the skill ‘Lamp Bearer’ saw Butler Lucas walking in the same direction with several servants. He was so terrified he didn’t dare breathe, clutching his lantern as he hid in a dark corner.
Don’t be noticed, don’t be noticed, please don’t let him notice me!
The player was praying desperately in his heart.
What’s going on? I just used my skill—it’s only my first day in the castle, the safest time to scout. So why is this high-level NPC charging toward my room with such fury? Could I already have been discovered?
The player didn’t dare make a sound, only hoping Lucas would quickly pass by.
Lucas adjusted his glasses, glanced briefly toward the corner where the player hid, then looked away. “Seems there are still plenty of little bugs in the hallway. Make sure tomorrow’s cleaning is thorough.”
“Yes, sir.” The servants immediately responded.
Lucas walked past the player.
The player’s legs were trembling, but he forced himself to stand and quietly followed behind Lucas.
If Lucas was truly headed to his room, he had to show himself immediately—otherwise it could trigger a deadly scenario.
But Lucas didn’t stop at his room. He kept going, straight toward another door.
That room… seemed to belong to the last player who had arrived.
The player found it strange.
There were ten people in this dungeon, a B-rank. Usually, players aiming to clear such a dungeon formed small squads to explore together.
Bound-team items were rare and had size limits, so he had only come in with one friend. They had secretly linked up after arrival and compared side quests to avoid killing each other by mistake.
He couldn’t be 100% sure, but most likely others had done the same—splitting into three small teams.
Only the very last player seemed to be alone. Whether he was a reckless newbie or a veteran coming back to toy with lesser dungeons, no one knew.
In Evil World, NPCs were highly flexible and interconnected. Players had learned through hard experience that banding together was safest. Solo adventurers usually fell into two categories.
One: players supremely confident in their strength—elites or high-levels—who disguised themselves as newbies just to crush a low-level dungeon, flaunt their skills, and boost their egos. These weren’t rare; many couldn’t break through the ultra-high dungeons or reach the ranking lists, so they came here to show off.
The other: hotheaded loners who thought they were protagonists in some third-rate novel, destined to crush the Five Great Guilds. They either ended up bowing to reality and joining a guild—or dying miserably in a dungeon.
The Player thought for a moment, then bravely followed along.
If this triggered an important plotline, it could help them locate the castle’s master.
The higher the dungeon rank, the more essential it was to seize every opportunity to explore. That was common knowledge.
He sent a secret message to his teammate: if something happened to him, the teammate should follow his clues to continue clearing. And if he died, his friend must take care of his family, per the will he had already prepared.
Lucas didn’t care about the little tail following him.
In fact, he relished it.
Yes, this was how things should be.
Guests were supposed to dig for information about the castle’s master—probing, scheming, testing. Who would simply indulge themselves and ignore the situation entirely?
That bizarre guest, Lu Chuan, was one in a million!
“Bu—butler, this is the place.” The two servants hung their heads low, voices trembling near tears.
Lucas’s teeth ground audibly.
Even the player, trailing behind, could hear the crunch of molars.
“Seems we mustn’t disturb our honored guest’s rest. We’ll return tomorrow morning.” Lucas’s voice was venomous. “You didn’t even know whether the guest was resting? Go back and accept your punishment!”
The servants were miserable.
Hadn’t the butler himself peeped through the spyhole and seen the guest preparing to sleep? Yet he’d ordered them to guide him here anyway. Now that they’d been rebuffed, he shifted all the blame onto them.
If Lu Chuan were present, he would have gently told them: “That’s what subordinates are for—taking the fall.”
When the leader is right, it’s thanks to his guidance. When the leader is wrong, it’s the subordinates’ fault for not reminding him in time.
This rule applied both in the dungeon and in real life.
Once Lucas departed with the servants, the player dared to edge up to Lu Chuan’s door. He raised his lantern and shone it at the door until he could read the paper stuck there. Then he understood why Lucas had been so furious.
On the paper was written, in bold: Let’s see who dares disturb this honored guest’s sleep.
The player froze, staring. He held up the lantern again, scrutinized every word, making sure it wasn’t a hallucination or a trick of dim eyesight.
Since when could players be this arrogant?
He immediately spammed his teammate with messages:
Holy crap, get over here quick! We’ve got a total show-off in our dungeon, here to slaughter the newbie village like a boss.
He absolutely knows exactly where the line is drawn and uses it as a tightrope as pleases LOL