Matryoshka Off-Limits Chapter 9 Part 2

Chapter 9.2 Night of the Ancient Castle

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Wen Shi was taken aback. The other party had already taken action today, so she probably shouldn’t take action again.

“My powers are sealed, but I can still handle a few snakes.”

Blood splattered on his clothes, and in that instant, Wen Shi could clearly feel it. He closed his eyes to prevent blood from splashing into his eyes.

Xie Tangyan acted cleanly and neatly, as if she was harvesting not snake heads but just plucking a wild grass by the roadside.

“You misunderstand my powers,” Xie Tangyan said as she dodged the splattering blood with each step. “Walking and speaking require strength support. The power sealed inside me is internal strength.”

After hearing this, Wen Shi didn’t relax much. As a player, he was always the target of attacks in the instance. Xie Tangyan couldn’t use her original strength, and with her injuries, he feared being a burden to her if they stayed together.

Time passed. After a while, Xie Tangyan said, “It’s done.” Wen Shi opened his eyes in the nauseating stench of blood.

There was some blood on Wen Shi’s cheeks. He tried to wipe it off with his sleeve, but the blood area only increased. He finally realized he was covered in blood.

He glanced at the countdown interface: 【39：39】

It was the first time Wen Shi felt the agony of time passing slowly.

The maze’s structure was intricate, with each wall having exceptionally neat lines and similar lengths. Apart from the greenery, there was no other color. After walking for a while, they felt like they were going in circles, experiencing a different kind of frustration.

Climbing up the wall using vines to scout for an exit was possible, but it would indirectly reveal their position.

They could only rely on their instincts to move forward.

The plant leaves grew larger and darker as they advanced.

Xie Tangyan’s ears twitched, “There’s a sound.”

Wen Shi heard it too.

This sound was different from the noises the snakes made earlier. It was even more brutal and heavy.

“Aaron.”

Without any warning, a voice filled with panting anger echoed through the maze.

Wen Shi’s expression changed, “It’s A’Ao, the insane director of the mental hospital.”

“Aaron, you liar! The Earl never invited me to treat him.”

Wen Shi didn’t know what happened after he ran away earlier, but now he was sure that the clumsy lie had been exposed.

The castle master was efficient. First, he used the snakes, and then he threw A’Ao into the maze, waiting for a gruesome show of mutual slaughter. Whether it was the annoying snakes, himself, or Xie Tangyan, all were equally disliked by each other.

It didn’t matter who died. Death was death, and it was all the same.

“Aaron!” The angry shouts grew stronger, but after a while, they turned into a creepy laughter. “I found you.”

The sound of running replaced the curses.

Wen Shi shouted at Xie Tangyan to run quickly, “He’s over two meters tall, almost reaching the height of the maze.”

This meant that Xie Tangyan could easily climb the high walls and discover their whereabouts. A’Ao had no concern about being discovered. He would climb the walls if he wanted to.

Misfortune never comes alone. Wen Shi received a notification from the dungeon: 【New Mission: Evade A’Ao and survive for 30 more minutes】

“The male servant sensed that there’s an intruder.”

“The male servant is currently searching for the intruder.”

“There’s another pursuer.” Wen Shi explained the situation, “I sincerely advise you to run.”

Xie Tangyan: “Say one more thing I don’t like, and I’ll use my internal strength to pin you down and beat you up.”

“……Let’s split up.” Wen Shi changed his approach. “I’ll lead that madman to the east, and you lure the male servant over.”

Xie Tangyan was also an intruder, so they needed to make him collide with the male servant.

Xie Tangyan nodded at this plan. Leading someone away wasn’t difficult.

Wen Shi ran for his life for three minutes.

Gasping for breath, he spent five points in the in-game store to buy a small trumpet.

【Small Trumpet: Disposable item.

Not very useful item.】

In the game, the last thing people needed was to create noise, so the small trumpets had very few sales. Wen Shi held the trumpet and let out a long “howl.” Anyone who didn’t know would think it was a wolf howling.

The purpose of doing this was to attract both Xie Tangyan and the male servant. There was no need for both of them to take the risk together.

Daily act of kindness accomplished!

A strange airflow swept past from behind. Wen Shi instinctively bent down. A terrifying iron hook flew over his head and pierced into the nearby green wall.

Bushy Beard was catching up, and to kill Wen Shi, he directly threw his right iron hook at him.

With the iron hook almost smashing his skull, Wen Shi coldly said, “I’ll get rid of him sooner or later.”

Fortunately, he didn’t encounter any dead ends along the way. Wen Shi’s sense of smell was exceptionally sensitive. He could even smell the faint floral fragrance in the air. He ran following this unique scent.

The overwhelming aroma of snake blood couldn’t suppress the scent. Wen Shi had an intuition that this flower was extraordinary.

Ahead was not just a single flower but a vast flower field, with crisscrossing paths among thousands of different kinds of flowers. The flowers were enormous, with large spaces between them.

Behind him, Bushy Beard caught up.

“Aaron!” He showed no signs of exhaustion from the chase. In the last hundred meters, Bushy Beard deliberately slowed his pace, approaching step by step, seemingly enjoying the thrill of cornering his prey.

He was wearing a pair of rain boots that made a creaking sound when he walked.

Wen Shi continued to use the trumpet: “Howl—”

“Why hasn’t the male servant come yet?”

……

Outside the maze.

Luo Xiao and Peng Lu, who just completed a side quest, were walking out from the servants’ residence at the back.

Luo Xiao felt a bit impatient. The clues obtained from the side quest were too fragmented, making it challenging to find the whereabouts of the real bride.

She overheard the maids discussing the incident of Dr. Aaron being chased by the director into the maze.

“Pei Wenwei is back.” Luo Xiao’s mood improved.

She had told the newbie that in the endgame, players would die, and the game would issue side quests that were more closely related to the main plot. However, this was an ambiguous statement. Based on past experience, special side quests were more likely to be issued to the person most closely related to the cause of the eliminated player’s death, which was Pei Wenwei himself. Wu Xiu’s plan targeted Pei Wenwei first, and ultimately, their fates were inextricably linked to each other through cause and effect.

After the newbie left, Luo Xiao had learned the identity of Pei Wenwei in the instance. “According to the maid, Pei Wenwei was not directly killed by the rules but was chased. There must be a turning point for him. The turning point can be either persisting for a certain period until the monsters stop chasing him or the instance issues other tasks. We can try our luck and intercept the task.”

Peng Lu was also interested in this proposal. “How do you want me to cooperate?”

Pei Wenwei had a layer of identity as a doctor, indicating a difference in the script. Trying to obtain clues from his perspective might lead to gains.

“It’s simple. We’ll wait outside the maze. The instance issues tasks based on trigger points. If the trigger point is inside the maze, we have to give up. But if it’s outside, we can take action. For example, if the coachman appears when Pei Wenwei was taken away yesterday, or if someone else tries to enter the maze.”

The maze was so big that it was impossible for players to successfully reach the exit while being chased. They just need to guard the entrance.

Peng Lu didn’t object and said as they walked towards the maze, “If everything goes smoothly, we’ll cut off his lifeline.”

Luo Xiao added, “It’s just his bad luck to enter the endgame from the beginning.”

If it were a normal instance and she encountered a promising newbie, she would choose to maintain a good relationship.

……

Inside the maze, Wen Shi stopped the howling.

His howl was wild and sweet, stunning the lurking Bushy Beard for a few seconds.

In a critical moment, self-rescue was necessary. Wen Shi employed a delaying tactic, “Director A’Ao, the money will arrive tomorrow as usual. My brother must remain insane all the time.”

He directly repeated the contents of the note.

Liao Shaohua’s expression changed, his eyes glinting with killing intent.

Wen Shi continued, “I’ve handed the evidence to someone I know. If I die, the evidence will be immediately made public.”

The air froze for half a minute.

In the man’s narrow eye sockets, there was a full display of malice, “I’ll kill you first, and then one by one, I’ll kill your friends.”

Creak, creak.

The surface of the rain boots reflected light as the man recited a list of names, “Edwin, Ann…”

Wen Shi realized that these were the identities of other players in this script. The player who played Edwin, Exiu, was already dead, leaving two others.

In the story background, their group of old friends had a gathering half a month ago, but everyone had given up on role-playing. Wen Shi had almost forgotten about this detail.

His momentary daze was interpreted as fear.

Bushy Beard laughed maniacally. “Aaron, the hospital has detailed records of every medical staff member, more than you can imagine. Your friends will soon all go to hell, I swear.”

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