Chapter 1 The Forgetful Courtyard

The story splits into two, let's look at the entrance to [Chaos] in the [Garden of Oblivion].

After Ruoyu heard Dracula's response, she asked again, "You said you 'never intended to destroy the amulet from the beginning', then how do you explain your agreement with Feng Bujue?"

"That agreement was proposed by him, not me," Dracula replied. "Crazy Unbelievable assumed that I wanted to destroy the amulet, so he proposed such an agreement." He paused. "In that case, I went along with it."

His explanation was reasonable. Since the players had already seen what happened on the "Night of Resurrection" a century ago through the opening CG when they entered the script, everyone, including Brother Jue, was implanted with the concept that "the dark forces want to destroy the Holy Amulet" under the guidance of the narration.

"Then..." Xiao Ling looked at the Count and asked, "What is your real purpose...?"

"My purpose does not conflict with yours," Dracula replied. "You want to open the Gate of Purgatory, right?" He paused, and without waiting for the other party to respond, he said, "And I... want to close that door forever."

"I feel like these two things contradict each other," Ruoyu replied.

"No, they don't contradict each other," Dracula said. "If you know the method and principle..."

"Then why don't you explain it?" Ruoyu asked again.

Dracula thought for a while, then pointed to the amulet in Xiao Ling's hand and said, "[Holy Amulet] represents the power of light and holiness in the world. Its power ensures that our dark race cannot break out of Purgatory." He raised his hand and gestured to the energy-surging entrance a dozen meters away. "[Chaos] symbolizes darkness and depravity. Its power makes our race immortal, eternally reincarnated in Purgatory."

The Count paused for two seconds, looking into the distance. "Every century, this world will usher in a special night, which you humans call the 'Night of Resurrection'. Because on this night, I and some of my old friends will reappear in the world, which is like 'resurrection' to you, but in reality... we have never 'died'. We are just summoned back from Purgatory."

"Since it's a 'summon'..." Xiao Ling replied, "...then who summoned you?"

"Of course, it's the 'evil' in this world," Dracula replied. "The power source of [Chaos]... is 'the evil of human nature'. It is you humans yourselves... who created the boundless Chaos. So every 'Night of Resurrection', the power of darkness will prevail, summoning us from Purgatory and temporarily disappearing the 'indestructible' characteristic of the Holy Amulet."

"Alas..." Speaking of this, the Count sighed and continued, "Such things... happen over and over again, for thousands of years. In older times, there was a group of noble, powerful, and devout vampire hunters among you humans, their bloodline passed down from generation to generation... Not only on the Night of Resurrection, but at any moment when darkness descends, they will stand up and confront us head-on." His eyes became a little complicated, as if he was recalling something. "But... with the changes of the times, these families have declined, and even their bloodlines have been cut off... The people who came to fight us have become pure 'mortals', like... Van Helsing." He snorted coldly. "Hmph... I have to admit that although he is not as powerful and devout as those vampire hunters of the past, he is still brave, selfless, indomitable, and admirable. It's a pity... the power of mortals is limited after all. The exorcists of Van Helsing's era... had to use some spells from the 'darkness' and the power of certain holy objects to send us back to Purgatory."

Xiao Ling asked, "Are you referring to the ritual to open the 'Gate of Purgatory'?"

"That's right," Dracula replied. "But that... is just a temporary measure. As you can see, tonight... my clan has returned to the world as scheduled, repeating this endless curse." He shook his head and flicked his cloak. "I... have had enough. In the past, I always wanted to destroy the Holy Amulet and let my clan break out of Purgatory to rule the human world. But now... I understand that this is just another Purgatory."

As the Count spoke, his tone became a little excited: "I have been watching your human activities in the world year after year. Your depravity and arrogance make me unbelievable. Your cruelty and greed make me astonished. What you have done... makes the demons of Purgatory ashamed."

At this point, Dracula's face showed a look of loss: "I gradually realized... even if my clan came to this world, we would not be able to conquer you - because humans are the most terrifying monsters in this world. If Purgatory and the human world are merged, humans will soon climb to the top of all dark creatures through learning and evolution, becoming the strongest race. Then... you will recklessly transform any space you can set foot in according to your own will."

"So..." Ruoyu heard this and said in a deep voice, "...you want to isolate these two spaces forever..."

"Midnight has arrived..." At this time, Dracula's tone returned to calm. "You... can start the ritual." As he spoke, he slowly retreated. "After you open the Gate of Purgatory, I will enter the gate and use my power to temporarily suppress its expansion." He looked at the two players. "And you... must throw the amulet into [Chaos] as soon as possible, and then... run away with all your strength." He looked up at the entrance of [Chaos]. "When two completely opposite extreme forces merge, a huge space-time fault will be generated. This fault is similar in nature to the Gate of Purgatory, but more powerful. After the two come into contact, the connection between the two worlds can be completely blocked, and the [Holy Amulet] and [Chaos] will also disappear forever."

Hearing this, Ruoyu and Xiao Ling exchanged glances and quickly reached a consensus.

Although they couldn't be completely sure that everything Dracula said was true, one thing was certain: in any case, as long as the "Gate of Purgatory" was successfully opened, their mission would be completed. As for whether Dracula would go back on his word afterward, and whether the amulet would really produce the kind of reaction the Count said after entering Chaos... it would have no impact on them.

"Okay, we can believe you..." After a few seconds, Ruoyu looked at Dracula and said solemnly, "But I have one last question..."

"Ask," the Count replied succinctly.

"If everything goes as you said..." Ruoyu asked, "At that time... what will happen to you... who is at the 'door'?"

"Hmph..." A wry smile appeared on Dracula's face. "If I'm lucky and not destroyed in body and soul... I should be able to return to Purgatory."

…………

Dang—Dang—Dang—

As midnight arrived, the clock tower on the top floor of [Clock Tower] rang loudly.

At this moment, Feng Bujue stood opposite Long Aomin and Tanlang, silent.

The three of them had not agreed on anything, but they had all tacitly agreed that... the moment the last bell rang was the beginning of the fight.

Dang—Dang—Dang—

"To actually say he has a ten percent chance..." Tanlang looked at Brother Jue and thought to himself, "There has to be a limit to being arrogant... Now that everyone has become a child, Brother Long is stronger than you in all aspects just by virtue of his size advantage; and it is absolutely impossible for you to have the combat power of a Blood Corpse God to kill me in seconds... With one main attacker and one support on our side, even if we can't win quickly, we can exhaust you to death..."

Dang—Dang—Dang—

Long Aomin was also thinking in his heart: "Although Brother Feng's strength is indeed very strong, to say that he has a ten percent chance of winning... isn't that a bit of a bluff? Is this some kind of psychological tactic? Trying to make us anxious at the beginning of the battle? Or is it to make us not afraid to act because of this momentum..."

Dang—Dang—

"Sorry, you two," Feng Bujue suddenly said one second before the twelfth bell rang, "For the sake of time... I'll make a quick decision."

Dang—

As soon as he finished speaking, the last bell rang.

In that instant, Long Aomin rushed forward, followed closely by Tanlang.

Brother Long's tactic was straightforward. He wanted to try out the opponent's strength with a [Shield Bash] first. In any case, he definitely had the advantage in physical skills, and he was followed by a teammate who was a level S healing specialist. There was no reason to be timid.

But facing this fierce attack, Feng Bujue just stood there, crossing his hands in front of him to block, without even activating the [Shield] effect of Death Poker.

Duang—

Two seconds later, the Orichalcum Shield hit Brother Jue's arms solidly. A burst of crackling bones immediately sounded, and then Brother Jue was knocked back, spitting out blood.

…………

"Hey, hey... Is this guy really bluffing?"

"It's not surprising, is it? This is Crazy Unbelievable's usual trick."

"Not necessarily... I still remember the Butterfly Battle in S1. At the beginning of the battle with Xu Huaishang, he also said that he only used 8% of his strength. At the time, it felt exaggerated, but judging from the subsequent battle process... it seemed to be true."

"But this time he was directly beaten to the point of vomiting blood. He also said 'make a quick decision'. Could it be that he meant a quick decision in the sense that he would be killed in seconds..."

"But..."

"But..."

"I always feel..."

"There's a conspiracy..."

It seemed that the audience watching the game had some doubts about Brother Jue's performance, but... no one dared to say with 100% certainty that Feng Bujue really couldn't fulfill his declaration of victory.

The only reason was because he was Feng Bujue.

…………

"Don't be careless! He's not dead yet!"

On the Clock Tower, Brother Jue hadn't landed yet, and Tanlang was loudly reminding his teammate.

"Don't worry, I won't relax until he turns into white light!" Brother Long also knew very well that when competing with Feng Bujue, even if he had a great advantage, he couldn't assume that he was "sure to win". Once he had such an idea... he was probably not far from death.

Bang—

In the blink of an eye, the sound of stepping on the ground suddenly rose. Brother Long took another heavy step towards the ground, chasing after him, trying to catch Feng Bujue off guard.

However, Brother Jue did not "stand firm". After flying dozens of meters, his back slammed heavily into the wall, creating a huge, concave, spider web-like crack, and he was embedded in it in the shape of a "大"... motionless.

"What's going on..." Long Aomin and Tanlang thought at the same time, "Is he pretending? Is there a trap? That's impossible... Feng Bujue can't just be so easily..."

"Feng Bujue can't just be killed so easily..." At this moment, Brother Jue, who was slumped against the wall, suddenly spoke, saying what everyone was thinking, "You're thinking that... right?"

"Savage Charge!"

"Voodoo Blast!"

Brother Long and Tanlang responded to Feng Bujue's words with two skills.

They really couldn't guess Feng Bujue's thoughts, and no one could guess his thoughts. All they could do was avoid making mistakes and do their best in a reasonable and objective situation.

"Ha! Hahahaha..." Just as the two men's attacks were approaching, Feng Bujue burst out laughing.

Buzz—

In the next second, accompanied by a burst of energy gathering, a strange magic circle composed of black light appeared in front of him.

Long Aomin's Orichalcum Shield and the stone hammer in Tanlang's hand, two legendary equipment, both hit the magic circle. Layers of ripples rippled in the circle, and then... the two men simultaneously felt a violent recoil force transmitted back through their weapons, knocking them both away.

"Damn it..." Tanlang, who was flying while vomiting blood, realized at this moment why Brother Jue didn't use this move when he was hit the first time, "We shouldn't... have attacked at the same time..."

"This is not the [Shield] of Death Poker at all..." Long, who was also flying backwards in the air, exclaimed in his heart, "...what exactly is this?"

[Name: Crazy Demon Poker]

[Type: Spiritual Weapon]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Attack Power: ???]

[Attribute: I think I should be a sadist]

[Effect 1: Infinity (The number of Crazy Demon Poker is always considered to be fifty-four)]

[Effect 2: Distortion (Crazy Demon Poker does not accept cheating, so each card in this deck is considered to be a Spade A, any combination of five or more cards of the same suit is considered a Straight Flush)]

[Effect 3: Magic Drive (The attack speed and hit rate of Crazy Demon Poker are extremely amazing, so its driver's license has been revoked)]

[Effect 4: Mania (Crazy Demon Poker values fairness very much, so when fighting against many enemies, it will guide the enemies' power to impact each other; of course, it will only let this happen once a day, because it thinks fairness is a dangerous friend)]

[Effect 5: Crazy Kill (Crazy Demon Poker is full of curiosity about death, but it is still keen on ensuring its own safety through killing. When asked why it does this, its answer is - I don't like getting to the bottom of things)]

[Equipment Condition: You think you're my master? Only a madman would think that! Hahahaha!]