Witch Lynn awoke in the early dawn. Strictly speaking, Puppet Witches like her didn't need so much sleep. Still, she strictly adhered to the routine she followed when she was human—crucial for maintaining mental health.
During Nol's absence, the Lost Tower had become increasingly refined.
Nol had previously confirmed everyone's race and attributes, tailoring leveling strategies for each of them. He had written detailed guides about resource points and hidden dungeons around them. Everyone had goals, and their vitality and spirits gradually improved.
People had transformed into entirely different creatures, with gender and age becoming blurred and the competitive mentality in society completely disappearing.
Teenagers in their teens and elders in their fifties chatted animatedly, discussing the minutiae of life on Earth; young men and women talked freely, exchanging advanced leveling techniques.
Recently, Lynn heard cheerful conversations and laughter in the cafeteria. Many had transitioned to higher-level races, like Griffin Piel, who, after being well-fed, had grown significantly, running around with a wooden sword every day.
As the number of people increased, a management system was gradually forming.
Nowadays, the security of Paradise was managed by Officer Luo and Dr. Zhu, with Officer Luo occasionally patrolling the tower to reassure everyone with his "official law enforcer" presence.
Uncle Ma, with his factory management experience, took on the tedious tasks of labor distribution and resolving conflicts. The conflicts were efficiently coordinated by the succubus Ma Zhigang—men and women alike became more reserved in the presence of the succubus's naturally charming face.
As for Lynn herself, as Nol's designated deputy manager, she took on the tasks of research and diplomacy. She was responsible for the Tower's infrastructure and external relations.
It sounded burdensome but was actually easier than Lynn had expected. So far, few external forces had specifically visited the Lost Tower. She spent most of her time researching magical artifacts and searching for her sister through surveillance.
Lynn was ready for a new era of stability. Unfortunately, as of last night, her workload increased. The events of the previous night revisited her mind. She lay rigid in bed, unwilling to get up.
Nol—Mr. Xu Yue—emerged unpredictably, like mushrooms after the rain.
Last night, just as Lynn was enjoying her freshly baked egg cake, she was suddenly summoned for a meeting. Nol only called for herself and the Luo-Zhu couple, not even Uncle Ma.
Whenever there was a "management only" meeting, Nol always dropped bombshells. Lynn sensed trouble, suspecting Nol had discovered something at The Manor.
She shared her warm cake with Piel and the little ghost girl, bracing herself before entering the meeting room.
Regrettably, her preparation was still insufficient—
The strange situation after the neighbor was expelled by the letter opener. The suspicion of the Demon King's corruption was a god's corpse. Three destroyed worlds and their relics. And the message presumably from the Demon King, "To My Compatriots: Please kill me."
"…What?" Faced with a barrage of shocking news, Lynn summed it up with a dazed question. In comparison, the issues she prepared to report seemed trivial.
"The research of Zhuang Shuhang, I'm afraid I'll have to entrust it to you," Nol continued sincerely. "In a few days, I can take you underground to collect some research samples."
"I understand," Lynn responded vaguely. "I'm not very knowledgeable about biology, but I can look into the mechanical aspects."
Nol nodded. "The corruption itself is dangerous. I'll handle that research. I ask you all to keep today's matters confidential."
Compared to their first meeting, there was a subtle change in Nol's demeanor.
His tone was steadier, without the excessive caution of looking back and forth, and his gestures carried an odd sense of oppression. Lynn had seen such demeanor in the eyes of her military ancestors.
Whatever Nol had experienced, he must have come to terms with many things. If not for the Mad Monk sitting beside him, Nol might have appeared even more reliable—
Teest sat close to Nol, his face bearing a wary smile. God knows why he attended this kind of internal discussion of Earth.
Lynn originally thought Nol and Teest were only cooperating temporarily, using each other until Paradise took shape. After that, there would be no need to contact such dangerous people.
However, not only did their relationship not drift apart, but the atmosphere between them also grew more intimate.
What on earth had happened between these two in these few months?
Teest's hand was always on Nol's knee, as if glued there with superglue. Lynn stared doubtfully at that hand but ultimately decided to remain silent.
"Wait, wait, let me get this straight…" Opposite Lynn, Officer Luo said in a daze, "So, there were three worlds before, and they're all gone? And these worlds are like games, which Xu Yue doesn't recognize?"
"Not necessarily games. It could be other things, like novels, movies," Dr. Zhu added precisely. This couple had been oblivious to the world at first. To them, this world was already absurd enough, and hearing even more ridiculous news, they were relatively calm.
"It seems that something is deliberately replicating the worlds from the works of Earth." Lynn pressed her temples hard. "If this hypothesis holds, Xu Yue must have been involved. Speaking of which, I have something to report."
Nol nodded. "Please, go ahead."
"While you were away, we found a young neighbor. He lives in Building No. 4. That night, he was working overtime at home… He was greatly traumatized before and didn't speak. Just a few days ago, he started to recover. He saw what happened that night."
Lynn projected a recorded image with magic. In the image, a scarred zombie sat cautiously. To cover his pale, decaying skin, he was wrapped in a uniform. He wore white gloves and a small round hat to cover his thinning hair. Unfortunately, he couldn't cover the bloodless, horrifyingly curled flesh on his face.
"I work in advertising and usually sleep late," the zombie said in a sticky, throaty voice. "That night I was sleepy. I went to the kitchen for tea… then I saw light, not the good kind."
He struggled to gesture, slurring his speech. "Just in those two seconds, the sky suddenly turned red, extremely bright outside. It felt like an earthquake, but not quite. Something flashed in front of me—a dark shadow. I couldn't see clearly, then my head hurt, and I woke up here."
After speaking, he seemed to remember something and shivered several times.
"I thought I'd encountered one of those sudden-death transmigration situations," he said listlessly. "That's all I saw."
"It sounds a bit like an explosion." Officer Luo furrowed his brows.
"So, what Mrs. Meng said isn't very reliable. If it started with an explosion in Building No. 7, Building No. 4 wouldn't have had this situation—unless Xu Yue hacked into the nuclear weapons system, he couldn't have killed everyone instantly."
Lynn put away the projection. "I'll ask around more later, but given Mr. Chen's testimony, the whole process was too short, so don't get your hopes up too high."
"There was a similar incident in City B," Officer Luo said. "But that was in a suburban detached house, a self-built home. There was a major explosion there, flattening nearby farmland and killing two people."
"That was many years ago," he continued, shaking his head. "'The sky turned completely red' sounds familiar. At that time, the nearby farmers also said they saw the sky bright red."
"What happened then?" Nol perked up.
"The public explanation was 'suspected high-risk explosive made by the homeowner.' My predecessor said that was the only possibility, as the house was blown to bits, making it difficult to gather evidence. In our view, it's still somewhat of an unsolved case."
Officer Luo's tone became serious when talking about the case.
"That could explain Zhuang Shuhang's situation." Lynn shifted the topic. "If it was an explosion, it's understandable to end up like that. It's a miracle his brain is still intact."
Perhaps everyone was already fragmented under the guise of monsters. She didn't voice this thought, but those present might have guessed something. Nol's expression darkened, and Officer Luo cleared his throat uncomfortably.
Nearby, Teest's hand on Nol's knee moved slightly. Then, as if hearing something, Nol's expression softened a bit.
"Too bad we can't verify it," Nol said with a forced smile. "I can't exactly go around poking people."
"Right, let's set aside unverifiable matters for now. Regarding the worlds, the gods, and the underground research, we'll do our best. And about that Demon King… what do you plan to do next?"
Officer Luo changed the topic, patting his face. "Brother, you're not planning to meet the Demon King, are you? It might just be tricking you."
"I'll be careful," Nol said gently, his hand lightly brushing over Teest's hand on his knee.
As expected. Lynn sighed inwardly.
If Nol only wanted to save everyone's lives, he wouldn't need to be so dedicated. He could comfortably stay in Paradise, letting the Players figure out a way home.
But as his power grew, he became more proactive—not being pushed forward for survival, not cautiously moving forward to return home, but willingly charging towards the truth.
A strange person.
Regarding last night, after recalling everything, Miss Lynn turned over a few times on the pillow, finally sitting up—regardless, Nol's proactiveness was beneficial to her. The more she knew about this world, the more clues she would find about her sister.
For the sake of her cherished ones, she too must be at the forefront… Wait, why did she say "too"?
Teest's hand on Nol reappeared in her mind, and Lynn squinted, pondering for a full ten seconds.
…It couldn't be, right? Hmm, definitely not what she was thinking! Lynn got out of bed firmly.
Gossiping about colleagues wasn't good; work was more important.
...
"You didn't mention our relationship to them, have you?"
During the night, in the depths of the thicket, Teest sighed heavily.
"The people from our side don't really believe in God. Even if I spoke of it, they wouldn't understand," Nol said, making his way towards the depths of the Black Forest in the darkness. "If I told them you are my 'knight to whom I would entrust my life', they would just think I've been scammed—those guys know you're the Mad Monk."
Teest: "…Tsk."
Nol glanced back at him. "Don't tsk at me. That's what you hurriedly promoted yourself as."
Teest: "…Tsk!"
Mr. Mad Monk, frustrated, trampled on the leaves under his feet, not knowing exactly what he was upset about. Eventually, he took a few steps forward to walk alongside Nol.
"Why are you leading me into the woods in the middle of the night?" Teest muttered. "If it's just to change clothes… Ah, I see, you also want to interrogate Kando."
"Interrogate whom?" Kando screamed in Nol's arms. "This is biting the hand that feeds you!"
"No, I have something else to confirm," Nol said, holding down the wildly jumping candle. "Just bring the skill enhancement stone."
"It's not necessary to come to the forest for that," Teest said, casually playing with two crystals.
After walking for two or three hours, Nol finally found his target—a patch of gray-white fog drifting through the depths of the Black Forest, obscuring vision.
Nol stood at the center of the fog, took out a skill enhancement stone, and motioned for Teest to step back.
Upon seeing the "skill enhancement stone" as a reward, Nol's first thought was to use it to strengthen [Fallen Death]. He suppressed the impulse and, after calmly thinking for a few days, had a new idea.
[Fallen Death] was his most useful skill and his biggest reliance. The current [Fallen Death] perfectly suited his situation, with no waste.
Enhancing a skill would bring changes. If the ability of [Fallen Death] to absorb attributes was enhanced and lost, he would have nowhere to cry, so it was better not to tamper with it lightly.
Teest's "declaring his body as territory" gimmick came to mind, and Nol suddenly thought of something interesting.
By design, the skill enhancement stone would logically enhance a skill and then write it into the user's skill bar.
Players' skills were of course in the skill bar, and they all had corresponding enhanced versions. But he wasn't like that—he still had skills in the external skill slot of [Fallen Death], which were monster skills that he hadn't considered strengthening.
What would happen if he used the skill enhancement stone on such skills?
[Bloodline Suppression: As the apex of all creatures, you instill innate fear in other species. Only those with strong wills can resist.]
This skill was designed for dragons. Dragons were the apex of all creatures in Tahe, but in today's world of Tahe, above dragons, there existed "gods".
Let's see how far the system can go.
With a snap, Nol crushed the skill enhancement stone.
[Please designate a skill to enhance.] The system's voice sounded smooth.
"Bloodline Suppression," Nol responded softly.
[…] The system fell silent, and the enhancement light didn't light up immediately.
Nol waited patiently, and after a full five minutes, the system finally responded.
[Enhancement calculation complete. Enhancing this skill involves… involves a significant risk of failure. Please confirm again…]
"Confirm enhancing Bloodline Suppression." Nol was unhesitant.
He was now a Dracolich. Although his attributes were still suppressed by a curse, with the relentless accumulation of [Fallen Death], they were somewhat respectable. Even if he lost this skill, he could bear the consequences.
[Enhancing skill… Enhancing skill… Enhancing skill…]
Nol waited with anticipation.
Twenty minutes later.
[Enhancing skill… Enhancing skill… Enhancing skill…]
Nol grabbed Teest silently and chased the fog through the forest for a walk.
More than three hours passed—
[Enhancing skill… Enhancing skill… Enhancing skill… Skill enhancement successful…]
A dazzling blue flame ignited on Nol, and he suddenly pushed Teest away, listening to the system's prompt and holding his breath.
[New skill loading into skill slot…]
[Loading complete]
[Breath of a False God: You possess the authority above all beings, invoking the innate fear of all species. ※Your power hasn't reached the standard. This skill is a weakened version adapted to you.]
He succeeded!
This skill was definitely not weak and was successfully written into the permanent skill bar.
Nol turned to Teest, intending to share his fresh joy. He had just stepped half a step closer when his bones crackled.
In Teest's shocked gaze, a huge shadow unfolded before him.
The author has something to say:
At the beginning:
Miss Lynn (to Nol): Although a person's XP is free, you… (hesitates)
Much later:
Miss Lynn (to Teest): Although a person's XP is free… (omitted)