Chapter 16
Lu Chuan’s words left the voice inside the illusion speechless.
The illusion that had once tempted countless players with pride now felt downright low-grade in comparison.
“You—!” Before the voice could even finish, Lu Chuan had already snapped back to consciousness.
The Bible he had hidden against his abdomen had burned to ash, scorching his skin in the process.
At his feet lay some strange, mud-like remnants.
[Congratulations, player, for breaking free from ‘Dream Mire.’ Dungeon evaluation has been increased accordingly.]
[The Church’s gifted Bible has been consumed. Please take note.]
[Congratulations, player, you have obtained key dungeon information. Click to view.]
At last, the main system’s notification tone chimed.
Finally—this was the first time since entering the dungeon that Lu Chuan had heard it.
He knew he had just triggered a key clue.
Lucas, now back to his usual form, looked at Lu Chuan with disappointment and regret in his eyes. “Mr. Jin, you’ve been standing here for so long. Are you alright? If we delay any longer, we may miss the banquet.”
Lu Chuan raised his head to look at him, his expression showing clear discomfort. “Butler, you’re standing too close. You’re making me dizzy.”
Lucas’s face stiffened, but he took a few steps back. “How about now, Mr. Jin?”
“Much better.” Lu Chuan smiled.
[Waaah, Host, I was so worried! No matter how much I shouted, you wouldn’t wake up. That Lucas wanted to kill you!] #888 tattled furiously.
“Thanks, System,” Lu Chuan replied. “It’s perfectly normal for Lucas to want to make a move on me.”
[Host, with so many mind-bending tricks in this castle, how did you manage to break free?] #888 was baffled. Lucas was, after all, a high-level NPC. Lu Chuan had only cleared one dungeon before—escaping a trap like this should’ve been nearly impossible.
“Since we arrived at this castle, there hasn’t been any real danger. The NPCs here have never attacked us directly. Zhang Wanxi said players only got injured or disappeared while exploring, and those cases were always weird—like they just froze out of nowhere.” Lu Chuan explained calmly.
“Add to that the castle’s décor and the words of Lucas and the servants—they’ve been sending one clear signal: that players can indulge in anything here, that they should let themselves go. All of Lucas’s behavior is meant to encourage indulgence.”
But everyone knows—even a brand-new player—that no dungeon NPC would ever sincerely encourage players to “just have fun.”
So what would the dungeon do instead?
If I were the dungeon designer, and I didn’t strike at players immediately, then most likely I’d never do it directly. I’d just watch the players sink deeper and deeper, forgetting their goals until they quietly died without even realizing it.
That’s why Lu Chuan had kept the Bible from the last dungeon close to him—it might come in handy.
It was just a book, easy enough to hide without anyone noticing.
Of course, being only a D-rank item, its effects were limited. In the end, he still had to rely on himself to break free.
“System, whether it’s clearing a dungeon or anything else, the first thing you need to do is think about the root cause.” Lu Chuan said evenly. “You signed me because you wanted to make me the God of Wealth—and I’m the best candidate. As for the purpose of the Evil World, is it really to kill players? Of course not. The dungeon NPCs are way stronger than players. If the game world really wanted to wipe out humanity, it wouldn’t have given players abilities they could use even in the real world.”
“So maybe the Evil World has goals similar to yours.”
[Me?] #888 froze.
“Just a guess. You picked me because I’m obsessed with money. Maybe this Evil World system, with its massive setup, is also trying to find a host it wants. You’re both systems, after all—you probably think alike.” Lu Chuan even cracked a rare joke.
[Host, don’t joke about that.] 888 felt indignant. It was such a kind, ordinary system—how could it ever do what the Evil World system was doing?
[Wait—Host, you still didn’t answer. How exactly did you break free from the illusion?]
“Ah, finally a proper setup for me.” Lu Chuan nodded in satisfaction. “Illusions always show you what you desire most. Only if the illusion is better than reality will someone want to stay trapped inside it, right?”
[Uh… right.]
“There you have it.” Lu Chuan exhaled happily. “I think this infinite world is way more fun—there’s money to be made, no one controlling me, the Star Guild’s massive industries waiting for me to take over, and a God of Wealth seat just waiting for me to claim. I love this world. Compared to that, any illusion is just pathetic!”
#888 fell silent for a moment, then checked his sanity stat.
It had dropped to 60, down two points.
As expected.
No one sane could say something like that.
While teasing the system, Lu Chuan continued walking with Lucas toward the banquet hall.
Of course, there were some small disturbances along the way—but after surviving the first trap, these obstacles were nothing more than a chance to boost his dungeon score.
[Congratulations, player, for passing ‘The Bloody Corridor.’ Reward: B-rank item “The Butler’s Gold Watch.”]
[The Butler’s Gold Watch: When worn, you will be recognized by others in the castle as the butler’s most honored guest. Grants a protective buff that prevents attacks from certain monsters in this dungeon. (Note: Wearing this watch may also draw the attention of certain beings. Use with caution.)]
Huh? Where’s the item?
Lu Chuan looked around carefully but didn’t see it. The next moment, Lucas’s voice sounded.
“Mr. Jin, you truly are an amusing guest. We are honored to host you here.” Lucas suddenly turned, pulled a gold watch from his pocket, and held it out. “A small token of respect, Mr. Jin.”
Good grief, no wonder this was a high-level dungeon—even the way items dropped was unpredictable.
So if I had asked Lucas for a watch earlier, would he have given me one too?
Lu Chuan felt he’d already missed out on a lot.
“Only one watch? Lucas, how about giving me a few more?” Lu Chuan shamelessly haggled.
Lucas’s smile stiffened. “Mr. Jin, you must be joking.”
Sigh, so much for that.
Lu Chuan felt a little cheated.
To him, missing a bargain was the same as taking a loss.
“We’re here, Mr. Jin.” Lucas finally stopped at the empty banquet hall. “It seems the other guests grew impatient and left.”
“The host of the banquet hasn’t even arrived, and the guests just leave? That’s not proper etiquette.” Lu Chuan stressed the words deliberately. “Shouldn’t the butler bring them back for me?”
“Of course.” Lucas agreed readily. “You heard him. Bring the guests back.”
“Yes, sir,” the servants echoed in unison.
Lu Chuan kept a polite smile, but quietly opened his game panel.
Time to check the key information the system had just granted.
[Dungeon Hint (Part 1 of 2): The master of the castle is over a hundred years old. After acquiring a certain youth-restoring potion, his body underwent some changes. A mysterious sorcerer later cast a ritual, binding him forever to this castle. Perhaps players could obtain the full castle map to investigate. (Note: This dungeon is linked to an A-rank dungeon, “The Witch’s Potion.” Involves an unspeakable entity. Players currently lack clearance to access further details. The remaining information will unlock upon entering the associated dungeon.)]
…Huh?
Lu Chuan almost laughed out loud.
Really? Splitting dungeon info into installments? What is this, a subscription plan?
Still, at least the system wasn’t totally stingy—it had given him the most critical clue.
Normally, after triggering a quest in a game, the plot should move forward—that’s how it’s supposed to be.
“This will take a while—my guests probably won’t be coming back anytime soon. Mr. Lucas, do you happen to have a map of the castle? Why don’t you bring it out and let me take a look?” Lu Chuan asked directly.
“Mr. Jin, what bad luck. Our castle’s map was stolen not long ago, and the pieces have been scattered in various corners of the castle. I can’t find mine at the moment either.”
At that moment, all the players in the dungeon heard the system notification.
[Main quest updated: “Master of the Castle – Search for the Lost Map.” The castle map has been scattered across the following five possible locations. Please search quickly. Possible locations: Swimming Pool, Sauna Room, Carousel, Dining Hall, Banquet Hall]
So it’s here too?
Lu Chuan didn’t move. He simply looked at Lucas calmly. “Butler, you should have one fragment of the map on you, right? It’s useless to you anyway, so why not hand it over?”
Lucas’s smiling face froze instantly.
Why would Lu Chuan know that a fragment was hidden on him?
[Host, aren’t you going to search the whole banquet hall? It’s huge!] #888 was stunned. This made no sense.
“System, it makes perfect sense. The system gave such clear hints about the five locations—finding the map fragments can’t be too hard. But if it’s that easy, it wouldn’t match the difficulty of this dungeon. That means at least one fragment must be harder to obtain—something ‘active,’ not just lying around. In the entire banquet hall, who do you think is the hardest one to deal with?”
Even if you’re not sure, poking at it a bit never hurts.
That’s the point of exploring a dungeon—bold guesses, cautious verification.
Though for Lu Chuan, “cautious verification” rarely ever mattered.
Lucas had no choice but to slowly pull out the fragment.
[Congratulations, player, you have obtained Castle Map Fragment +1.]
Watching Lucas hesitate, Lu Chuan just snatched the fragment right out of his hand. Why waste time dithering like that?
*
Meanwhile.
Zhang Wanxi and the others followed their Guildmaster outside.
Something felt off to him, but he couldn’t tell exactly what.
The president invited him to play dodgeball—so he joined.
Huh?
Suddenly, Zhang Wanxi was yanked off his feet, dragged across the ground like a mop, and pulled by a shadow into the corner with a swoosh.
“Shh.” A teammate pressed a finger to his lips, then pulled out a bottle of holy water from his inventory and dumped it straight over Zhang Wanxi’s face.
The holy water sizzled against his skin.
Zhang Wanxi jolted awake.
“Finally, you’re awake.” His companion let out a sigh of relief. “You were all acting like you’d been possessed, completely out of it. The pool water was literally bubbling and you still wanted to jump in—are you insane? Good thing I carry this item with me or I’d be dead by now. You should be clear-headed now, right?”
“Yeah, thanks. I’m clear now.” Zhang Wanxi wiped his face, relief spreading across his features. “Let me check my panel—damn, my sanity dropped to ninety. Any lower and I wouldn’t even be considered human anymore. Scared me half to death.”
He glanced around and saw that one or two other players had also come to their senses, helping rescue their dazed companions.
This was exactly what the guild always taught them: when your personal strength isn’t enough, you can only rely on your teammates.
That’s why betraying companions was utterly despised in any guild.
“Was there a fragment in the pool?” Zhang Wanxi remembered the system prompt he’d heard earlier. At the time, he hadn’t paid it much attention—but now he realized it must’ve been triggered by Mr. Jin’s progress. When they’d arrived here earlier, they hadn’t seen any fragments at all.
“Finding the map is the main quest. Once that’s done, clearing the dungeon won’t be far off,” his companion nodded.
That was one of the key differences between low-level and high-level dungeons: low-level ones always gave clear main quests, but high-level ones didn’t—players had to trigger them themselves.
If players explored the entire castle on their own, they might eventually trigger the main quest too—but who knew how many of them would survive by then?
In high-level dungeons, there were all kinds of ways to trigger quests. Some players in the past had even romanced high-level NPCs, and those NPCs handed them the main quest on a silver platter.
For a time, “romance routes” became popular in the guild. But the success rate was abysmally low—most players couldn’t even flirt with real people, let alone advanced NPCs.
Worse, many high-level NPCs thought players were harassing them and killed them on the spot. That trend only died out after several such incidents.
Still, behind closed doors, who knew if it was truly gone?
Rumors said some top-ranked players, due to their gradual loss of humanity, had entanglements with high-level NPCs. But those weren’t things ordinary players could ever know for sure.
“Anyway, no time to waste. Let’s hurry and find the fragments. We can’t keep Mr. Jin waiting.”
The same thought was dawning on other players who were gradually regaining clarity.
They’d all been tricked—but the main quest had updated. The only one who could’ve triggered that was Mr. Jin.
No, they had to contribute too. If they didn’t, the dungeon would be cleared before they even did anything—what then?
*
Lucas watched as Lu Chuan turned the single fragment over and over in his hands, studying it intently. He was already starting to feel drained. “Mr. Jin, why don’t you go back to your room and wait? The banquet hall is empty, and you’re not even looking for the remaining fragments. Why linger here?”
“I’m waiting for the other guests to bring the fragments to me.” Lu Chuan propped his chin on one hand, gazing at Lucas with keen curiosity. “Tell me, butler—does this castle even have a master?”
The system had given them three chances to “find the master,” but so far, the only suspicious person was Lucas. No rooms in the castle looked like they belonged to a master at all.
Surely the dungeon wouldn’t have the castle master just playing hide-and-seek with them.
“Mr. Jin, you’re always so confident.” Lucas’s features seemed to shift strangely. “But sometimes, the more you uncover, the thinner your protection becomes.”
The unknown—meant ignorance.
Ignorance meant safety, at least for a little while.
“Well, people have to be confident. Otherwise, we wouldn’t survive this long.” Lu Chuan ignored Lucas’s unsettling transformation, unfazed.
“Butler Lucas, how about we play a game of Truth or Dare?” Lu Chuan suggested with a smile. “It’s boring just waiting here.”
“If you win, I’ll tell you my true identity. If I win, you’ll hand over all the golden items in this castle.”
At that, both Lucas and #888 were stunned.
Huh? That’s it?
Lucas wondered if he’d misheard—or if his ears were ringing from some trick.
Had he just heard something outrageous?
#888 nearly wept. Such a golden chance to push the plot forward, and you squander it on gold? Host, are you out of your mind?!
