Chapter 24: The Bride of the Enigmatic King (24)

Joseph wavered.

But at the same time, he was furious.

“You just tried to kill both me and Xue Fen!”

Faced with Joseph’s wounded indignation, Tang Mu’s expression did not change. “Aren’t you old enough to know better? In the adult world, there are no everlasting friendships—only everlasting interests. As long as you remain useful to me, I won’t kill you for now.”

Joseph was speechless.

To speak of one’s own ruthlessness with such grandeur—Tang Mu was probably the first to do so.

Truly, beautiful women are always barbed.

“Don’t trust her!” Xue Fen finally couldn’t stand it any longer from the sidelines.

“She only joined the game to find her boyfriend. She’ll never have any feelings for you or me. All she’ll ever do is try to get rid of us, one way or another!”

Xue Fen’s voice was thick with grievance. “We were all deceived by her!”

Tang Mu neither confirmed nor denied Xue Fen’s accusation.

But that didn’t mean she would sit back and let fate take its course.

“And what about you, little Black Attendant? Your eyes are marked with the Spade Q. You’re here to help the monsters kill. If we’re talking about danger, aren’t you the most dangerous of us all?”

Xue Fen was stunned!

He thought Tang Mu didn’t know.

It turned out Tang Mu had known from the very start that he wasn’t on the players’ side!

Yet, Xue Fen wasn’t ready to admit it. “...I—I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sister Tang Mu. If I was really a Black Attendant, how could you still be alive? So, Sister Tang Mu, you’d best worry about yourself. The seal on Zhu Wenshi is about to break. When that happens, you’ll be caught between An Xiaoyue and Zhu Wenshi.”

Heh.

The name of that elegantly dressed old man had never been revealed to the group.

So how did Xue Fen know the old man was called Zhu Wenshi?

Joseph noticed this too.

His eyes darkened and he turned at once. “An Xiaoyue! The Black Attendant has revealed himself! Now more than ever, we need to join forces and deal with Xue Fen! Otherwise, he could ignore the game’s protection and wipe us all out!”

An Xiaoyue roared back in anger, “Are you trying to tell me what to do?”

An Xiaoyue’s outburst clearly cost them the best chance to deal with the small monsters and the Black Attendant.

A sinister laugh echoed—Zhu Wenshi was unsealed!

With a fiendish sneer, Zhu Wenshi lunged at Tang Mu and the players!

But just as his talons were about to reach Tang Mu, Xue Fen suddenly interjected, “Kill An Xiaoyue! She’s a high-tier puppeteer! Kill her, make her an NPC, and she’ll help the master harvest even more lives!”

Zhu Wenshi was displeased. “But I want to kill Tang Mu first! Her skin is so beautiful—if I kill her, I can play with her every day.”

...

Tang Mu narrowed her eyes.

Zhu Wenshi’s words had clearly pushed her to kill.

Seizing a moment when no one was watching, she secretly split the red thread of the Red Thread Bell into two strands.

One coiled around Zhu Wenshi, the other crept silently toward Xue Fen.

The instant the red thread twined around Zhu Wenshi’s limbs—

Zhu Wenshi screamed in agony, a wail like a slaughtered pig.

“You! You—!”

Black mist spread from his wounds.

At the same time, another scream rang out from elsewhere—

Everyone looked over.

It was Xue Fen?

His hands and feet were bound as well, black mist seeping from his wounds.

The spiritual power of SS-level was truly terrifying.

To restrain three people at once!

But this was not the limit of Tang Mu’s control over the Red Thread Bell (A)!

The bell split another three threads, shooting straight for the hearts of An Xiaoyue, Zhu Wenshi, and Xue Fen!

An Xiaoyue had all her focus on controlling her dolls; she had no spare hand to deal with this sudden new thread!

Just as the red thread was about to pierce her heart—

An Xiaoyue begged for mercy in a flash.

“You can’t kill me! If you do, the Ayu Association will never let you go!”

Tang Mu’s eyes were cold. “If they come for me, I’ll come for them.” The red thread pressed on, undeterred.

An Xiaoyue’s face turned deathly pale. “You really dare? Do you know what kind of revenge awaits you if you kill me? You—”

The thread pierced her chest.

Her terrified voice broke off abruptly.

Her empty pupils lingered in a moment of abject terror at death.

Blood from her chest dripped down the red thread, drop by drop.

She had likely never imagined Tang Mu would be so decisive.

Next, it was Zhu Wenshi’s turn.

Killing Zhu Wenshi was even easier than killing An Xiaoyue.

As an NPC transformed into a monster, his mind was already frayed; he couldn’t even beg for his life, only cackle and snarl.

Facing death, he couldn’t even utter a plea.

Then came Xue Fen—

He still had that pitiful, tear-stained look.

“Sister Tang Mu, can you really bear to kill me like this?” Xue Fen’s gaze was tinged with sorrow. “Even if I am a Black Attendant, I’ve never hurt you along the way.”

Tang Mu’s eyes were icy. “Why are you wailing? You won’t die.”

“But I’ll lose my memories! I’ll become a soulless, emotionless NPC, governed only by the game’s plot!” At the mention of memory loss, Xue Fen grew frantic. “I’ll be trapped in the game forever, never able to return to the real world... But I was once just like you! I had family and friends of my own... That’s all I have left, all that keeps me going. I really don’t want to lose that...”

“Then tell me—where is Yan Xingwen?”

At the mention of that name, a flicker of something crossed Xue Fen’s eyes. But he hid it quickly; no one noticed.

“I don’t know... I really don’t!” Xue Fen sobbed, tears streaming down his face. “There are so many Black Attendants like me, how could I know which one you’re looking for...”

“Then die.”

Tang Mu had no patience to spare.

A Black Attendant could contact Spade Q at any time and report on Yan Xingwen. If Spade Q learned of Yan Xingwen’s situation, her boyfriend would have no chance of ever being restored.

Therefore—

To keep Yan Xingwen safe, Xue Fen had to die.

With a thought, the Red Thread Bell drove its thread through Xue Fen’s heart, swift and unyielding.

Xue Fen, dead.

“What a pity. I thought you might know some secrets.”

Staring at Xue Fen’s corpse, Tang Mu’s eyes were void of warmth, cold as ice.

As if whatever feelings had existed between her and Xue Fen had never been real.

Only five players remained.

B-rank player protection protocol, forcibly activated.

When the Specter King Jiang Lang arrived, ferocious and menacing, this was the scene that greeted him.

The one he hated most, Zhu Wenshi, was dead.

Only four brides remained.

Of the male players, only Joseph was left.

The Specter King was dumbfounded.

In fact—

The original ending of this scenario was:

The brides, tortured and killed by Zhu Wenshi, lay in bloody ruin when Jiang Lang, transformed into the Specter King, arrived.

He would then kill Zhu Wenshi and the script would end.

But now...