"This gambling house is very crowded tonight, it seems Mo Yunzi is currently inside the elder's room. Liang?? Heh, he is still trying to trick the gamblers with stupid tricks... it seems Anran can still be used for future situations, so inviting her to come inside the Velvet Shadow sect with me is a wise decision." He muttered and Zhou Ren stepped into the Velvet Shadow sect, lanterns hung beautifully, the lotus pond delivered a fragrant scent, snow showered the atmosphere that night. Suddenly Liang stood up, looking toward Zhou Ren and Anran. He felt something was strange, because Anran did not inform him beforehand that a special guest would be coming tonight. Liang then decided to get up from the gambling table and approach the two of them.
"Welcome to the Velvet Shadow sect, Sir in the red cloak." Liang welcomed Zhou Ren with full respect. However, Liang immediately pulled Anran's hand, and was immediately stopped by Zhou Ren.
"Do not touch my woman," said Zhou Ren while holding Liang's wrist until he felt pain.
"Bow down before me right now! Is this how you treat a special guest!?" Zhou Ren shouted at Liang until all the gamblers turned their heads toward the three of them, which made Liang worry about his reputation.
"Damn it, I should not have been so presumptuous like this, all those gamblers are looking at me cynically now." Liang muttered while bowing down full of shame.
"So this is how this gambling house treats a special guest??" shouted one of the old gamblers.
"If even a special guest is treated disrespectfully, what about us? Could it be that they have been cheating in managing the gambling games all this time!" shouted another with a louder tone.
Meanwhile, inside the elder's room, Mo Yunzi was resting and waiting for the arrival of Anran, who usually served him at night.
"Tonight is very cold, why hasn't Anran arrived yet? Where is she??" Mo Yunzi woke up from his sleep and looked toward the outside ventilation of his room. The moonlight looked faint behind the falling snow, and the wind blew hard, making the lanterns in his room dance to the melody of the wind.
Zhou Ren completely ignored Liang who was bowing down, and he immediately stepped toward the gambling table with Anran.
"Damn it, he just passed right by me!" Liang immediately ran toward Zhou Ren and Anran.
"Sir in the red cloak, please forgive me, I did not mean to..." Liang had not finished explaining something, but he already received a gift from the special guest.
SLAP!!!
Critical Hit +10%
Zhou Ren slapped Liang's cheek hard until he fell into a pile of snow, and all the gamblers laughed in satisfaction, until even Anran smiled mockingly at Liang.
"Hahaha! Feel that, next time you must be more polite to a special guest!" They laughed at the fallen Liang. "Incredible! We bid a welcome to the honorable Sir in the red cloak!" The gamblers bowed and paid their respects to Zhou Ren.
"Hehehe, so these stupid gamblers really respect special guests? In that case, disguising myself as this special guest is the most profitable decision!" Zhou Ren muttered while standing among the gamblers, together with Anran.
However, Liang did not give up because he could not bear the shame. He tried to attack Zhou Ren from behind with a knife, but Zhou Ren dodged his movement to the left, and caught Liang's wrist.
"Heh, are you trying to kill me??" asked Zhou Ren while tightly gripping Liang's wrist, until Liang grimaced and sweat poured down his cheeks.
Zhou Ren smiled slyly and threw Liang until he crashed onto the gambling table. Then Zhou Ren approached him and threw a punch at Liang's cheek, then punched his stomach, then hit his chin with an upward punch motion, and kicked Liang with a sideways kick.
BAM!! Critical Hit +12%
BAM!! Critical Hit +14%
BAM!!! Critical Damage +15%
Ding!
[NOTIFICATION]
LUNACY METER +15.8%
[EVERY TIME YOU PERFORM CONTINUOUS ATTACKS AND RANK UP, THE LUNACY METER WILL INCREASE!]
"So that is how it is... my sanity will increasingly disappear if I rank up and perform continuous attacks? If I reach Rank 2 later, at least the LUNACY METER will increase to over 16%. But as long as it is still profitable, it is not a problem. Now I have to think of a way to kill all these gamblers, so that old man Mo Yunzi will not be suspicious of this noise." Zhou Ren muttered while realizing the mechanics of the Game of Lunacy system that he had not known yet, and thought of a way to get rid of them all without using violence again, because he had to save his energy to fight Mo Yunzi.
"An'er, come here." Zhou Ren ordered Anran to come closer to him. "An'er, take me to the kitchen where the servants are. We have to give a special drink to these gamblers." Zhou Ren whispered in Anran's ear while holding her shoulder.
"Alright, Young Master. Let me inform the sect's servants to make drinks for the gamblers. But what about Master Liang, he has fainted like that, is it alright, Young Master?" Anran obeyed Zhou Ren's order and asked about the fate of the unfortunate Liang. Zhou Ren whispered again in her ear.
"Calm down, An'er. This sect will not lose anything if garbage like Liang dies. And speaking of the sect's kitchen, I must come along there," said Zhou Ren while gently patting Anran's shoulder.
"Tch, should I sacrifice 1 Immortal coin to make gold powder? I wonder what I can mix into that drink?" muttered Zhou Ren while holding his chin with his fingers.
Zhou Ren then followed Anran toward the sect's kitchen. Upon arriving at the door of the sect's kitchen, Zhou Ren saw many sect servants who were busy cooking and processing food ingredients.
"There are so many of them, how can I mix the Immortal coin powder into their drinks?" Zhou Ren pondered and glanced at Anran. The thought crossed his mind to eliminate those sect servants first, in order to smooth and ease his plan.
"I can use Anran to lure them out of the kitchen, and killing them near the sect's pond seems to be the best way. While the pond is not yet frozen, I can use that pond to pile their corpses there without being suspected." Zhou Ren smiled slyly and began to whisper something into Anran's ear again.
"An'er, bring them all to the pond behind the gambling arena. Tell them that the special guest will give each of them 50 immortal coins. Just consider this as charity from the special guest," said Zhou Ren to Anran while whispering.
"Alright, Young Master. Umm, you are so very kind even though you are only a guest here, but you treat them better than the sect elders." Anran smiled shyly while speaking softly to Zhou Ren.
"Mo Yunzi, your pride will also disappear along with the light of your sect's lanterns tonight." Zhou Ren muttered while walking toward the back pond.
Arriving at the very quiet pond behind the arena, where the lotus flowers withered due to the cold snow but remained beautiful and decorated the calm pond water, the moonlight reflecting clearly in the pond water along with the silence of the backyard, and the noisy gambling arena nearby made the atmosphere of that night even more ambiguous. Zhou Ren was standing there accompanied by his tiny black slime that started to wake up again.
"Mwaaa! Boy? You still haven't prepared any food for me!" The small black slime protested to Zhou Ren again.
"Little creature, if you want to eat, then you must help me. Those servants are heading here. Enter the water of this pond, and when the right time arrives and I give the cue, pull their legs into the pond and you can consume their blood first," said Zhou Ren to the small black slime.
"Hmph! I waited so long and all I get is the cheap blood of servants?" The small black slime showed an expression of disappointment.
"Oh? So that is how it is, you want to protest? Alright, it is not a problem if you do not want to help me. Besides, the loss is only on you, little creature. And me? My plan can still run smoothly with the mediums I have. Losing 1 number on a dice will not make you lose in the game," said Zhou Ren coldly and full of pressure, and the small black slime felt as if Zhou Ren's aura that night felt ancient and different from usual.
"Why are those words so familiar?" The small black slime fell silent and its eyes almost shed tears. Its soft and tiny body trembled, its mouth pouting in fear.
"Mwaaaaaa! Fine, fine, I will obey, Master." The small black slime finally entered the pond water with an annoyed expression.
"Hmph! Why did I call that boy master?? Mwa! That's right, why did I suddenly call that boy master just now?" The small black slime muttered to itself underwater.
Meanwhile inside the elder's room, Mo Yunzi felt a strange aura, and suddenly his system detected something strange in the area of his sect.
Ding!
[NOTIFICATION]
[PLAYER DETECTED]
"A player? Here? ...Impossible! There is not a single person who is a player inside this sect, or could it be there is an intruder?? But who? And how could he possibly bypass the strict guard of the sect's main gate?" Mo Yunzi stared at the System with a serious look and furrowed his brow.
"System, what is the Rank of the Player you detected??" Mo Yunzi asked the system in a tone full of curiosity.
[UNABLE TO DETERMINE THE RANK OF THIS PLAYER: THE HONORABLE SIR IN THE RED CLOAK. THAT IS THE ONLY DATA I CAN PROVIDE. THIS PLAYER LIVED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO]
"What?? How is that possible? An ancient player? But why is his aura so very thin... Nonsense! That is all impossible, besides, what would an ancient player want to do in my sect?" Mo Yunzi muttered and did not believe his system this time.
[SYSTEM ERROR...]
[RANK 1 DETECTED...]
"Rank 1??? Hahaha! So it turns out it is only a Rank 1, huh. Fine... alright! Let's see how far you can mess around here!" Mo Yunzi laughed and the System disappeared from his sight. Mo Yunzi did not pay attention to the Error that occurred in the system earlier at all.
"Losing 1 number on a dice will not make you lose in the game," a voice echoed in his ears.
"Who is that?? Hey, come out! Show yourself!" Mo Yunzi shouted inside the elder's room like a madman, and in his ears, that mysterious voice kept being heard over and over again.
"Why am I here? ...Wasn't I just with that stupid woman in front of the sect's kitchen earlier? What is going on? Where did that pathetic little slime go?" Zhou Ren was confused about what was happening to him, he narrowed his eyes and looked around his surroundings.
Ding!
System:
[WELCOME BACK, MASTER!]
"Huh? Welcome back? What do you mean, you pathetic thing? ...What exactly is going on here?? Footsteps? ...Whose footsteps are those?" For the first time, Zhou Ren looked truly confused by what was happening.
"Young Master Mu Yan?" Anran called out to Zhou Ren from a distance and walked toward him, together with the servants of the Velvet Shadow sect.
Zhou Ren turned around, and he began to realize something very strange about the events of that night: the tone of voice from Anran's call, the sound of their footsteps, and the atmosphere of the night blanketed in snow.
"Why do all these events feel like they have happened before?" muttered Zhou Ren while staring at those women who were walking closer toward him.