After finishing dinner, the setting sun slowly sank into the horizon in the distance.
The trainees stood up from the long table. They walked past golden tableware holding stacks of unleavened bread and grape wine, teardrop-shaped candle stands placed on white tablecloths. They came to the side door of the cathedral and gazed at the darkness outside.
The thick wooden door of the main entrance had already been closed and locked with a wooden latch thicker than a dictionary.
The sky and the earth had both become dark.
The Town of Good at night was completely different from the Town of Good during the day. During the day, holy light seemed to sprinkle all over the town. Everything was soaked in warm sunlight. As for the town at night, every household had their front doors tightly closed. Even the windows were tightly locked. Looking out into the street, there were only rows of dim street lights, making it seem bleak and desolate.
Soon, the night sky began to grow even darker.
Threads of rain began to fall from the sky, first as a light drizzle and then with a steady pitter-patter, hitting the ground.
Within the depths of the clouds, faint flashes of lightning flickered. Through the darkness, one could clearly see the electric sparks generated by the lightning in the pouring rain.
“Sorry, guests. Please rest in the side hall for a while.”
Panicked expressions showed up on the nuns’ faces. They quickly closed the cathedral’s side door as well and apologetically guided the trainees into the cathedral’s guest hall for a seat.
A vague premonition appeared in everyone’s hearts. They obediently followed behind them without a single word.
The side hall wasn’t large. It was located in the back of the cathedral near the bed chambers for the clergy. Inside, there was a circle of soft sofas with fluffy pillows.
The fireplace in the center of the side hall burned tirelessly, the high-quality firewood emitting a pleasant crackling sound. The air was filled with a warm and cozy feel.
In stark contrast, the atmosphere among everyone was solemn and heavy.
Because of the removal of their fuzzy memories by the system and the strange, unexpected events that occurred in this instance, no one spoke for a while.
Xu Su sat alone beside the fireplace, staring at the flames rising from the firewood, lost in thought.
He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Clearly, he was currently in a horror instance and didn’t have time to think about other things, but his emotions were in turmoil, and he couldn’t calm them.
When Xu Su entered the infinite loop, he was still in college, preparing for the Postgraduate Admission Test. Because he was studying abroad, he hadn’t returned home for an entire semester.
That day happened to be during a school holiday. He had packed his bags, and as soon as he arrived at home, he had a big argument with his family.
Xu Su himself had forgotten what the argument was about. Humans were always like this. Facing strangers, they were cautious and careful. All of their heated emotions and attitudes were saved for those closest to them.
In a fit of anger, he locked himself in his room and played games for several hours, refusing to come out.
He had always had a fiery personality. His temper flared up quickly yet went away just as swiftly. Inevitably, he couldn’t help but feel regret for his actions after he had time to calm down and think it through.
As a result, Xu Su got up from his computer, wanting to apologize and eat a meal, but in the blink of an eye, he was caught by the main system and sent into an infinite loop, unable to return.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Thinking back on everything, Xu Su had regretted it the entire time. Why had he argued with his family in the first place?
We Ve mbeivc’a tfiq yea gfugfa tlr jguewfca klat tlr ojwlis jcv ofia uelias obg la.
Po tlr ojwlis obecv bea tf vlrjqqfjgfv bea bo atf yief ogbw tlr gbbw, tbk kbgglfv, jczlber, jcv rjv kbeiv atfs yf? Po tf mbeivc’a gfaegc, ktb kbeiv ajxf mjgf bo tlr qjgfcar ktfc atfs uba bivfg jcv rfcv atfw boo lc atf fcv?
While they were in the square, when the NPC who looked identical to his mother shouted at him, Xu Su almost cried.
Because he knew that if the one standing there was his mom, his mom would also say such things.
But it was precisely because of this that Xu Su wasn’t as entranced as the others.
The more sincere the NPCs were, the more he thought about his family who was desperately waiting for him in reality.
Survive. He had to survive.
He clenched his fist.
It wasn’t only for him. It was also for…
Xu Su took a deep breath and thought about his confession in the confession stall just now.
He didn’t choose to confess his sins because confession had to be paired with sincere remorse and actions. If it wasn’t a sincere confession, merely going through the motions of this sacrament was meaningless.
Xu Su didn’t believe that there was anything wrong with liking someone.
However, that person… was the same gender as himself.
Thinking of this, Xu Su felt troubled and distressed.
He was very easy-going and slow-witted in terms of emotions. In the past, he thought that his care for Xu Sen was brotherly care. It wasn’t until the Rainbow Amusement Park’s Halloween event that he suddenly realized the truth.
But he was a straight man. Putting aside all else, he had truly never guessed that he would develop such feelings toward another man. Thus, at the start, he had attributed this emotion to the suspension bridge effect. He believed that he had subconsciously developed a reliance on another person because of the extremely dangerous situation.
Now that he came to this Judgement Day instance and saw his family members, Xu Su finally faced his own feelings and internal thoughts.
Even if he could complete this S-rank instance’s main task, he wouldn’t choose to stay here.
Ultimately, this beautiful, dream-like world was fake. Staying despite knowing it was fake was the act of a coward.
Xu Su wasn’t a coward. Because he had someone he wanted to strive for, he also wanted to become brave.
Survive this instance. Survive the infinite loop.
Thinking of Xu Sen who had led a team with the big-shot Zhuge An into another instance, Xu Su felt a bit worried.
He clenched his fist and made a decision.
After he survived this instance and returned to the broadcasting studio, he would tell Xu Sen his true feelings. No matter what the future was like, at least he would have no regrets and wouldn’t have to continue worrying about gains and losses.
……
After everyone had rested for a while, they all picked up a purification gun and decided to survey the surroundings as a group.
There was only one trainee like Xu Su out of the thirty-something team. Although the other trainees were embarrassed to say it out loud, in their hearts, they leaned towards staying in this S-rank instance.
After all, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to withdraw from the competition. They were well aware of their own strength and abilities. Returning to the competition would be akin to suicide. Additionally, the Magician Zong Jiu had revealed that the next instance was very likely to be a super S-rank instance. One instance would ultimately decide the one hundred people debuting.
As a mere B-rank trainee, who dared to pat their chest and guarantee that they would survive a super S-rank instance?
The chance in front of them now was the best chance.
It was a pity that the Magician could win without doing anything in this instance. He didn’t have to think about how to pass Judgement Day.
As such, the trainees who wanted to stay in this instance formed a group, planning to form a team and probe the situation outside. After all, there were only six days until Judgement Day, and the Town of Evil only showed up at night, meaning they only had five nights to eliminate the seven lines of sin on their forearms.
After everyone confessed a while ago, they cleared one line. There were six lines remaining. They had to work harder.
The only exception was Anthony. After listening to them discuss, he hesitated for a moment and then took the initiative to take over the leadership role.
He didn’t forget the words Zong Jiu had told him. He was also aware that as the NPCs had said, he probably couldn’t survive Judgement Day. After he had confessed, the seven blank lines on Anthony’s forearm were still there. There wasn’t the slightest hint of them clearing up.
The most troublesome issue appeared here.
The second main task and the first main task conflicted with each other.
If this instance was destroyed, it would inevitably harm the benefits of the trainees who wished to stay in this instance. With the addition of this benefit being so huge, there was a high chance it would evolve into infighting or mutual destruction.
The system really played its cards well this time.
Who said there had to be cooperation because it was a team instance? A team that entered together killing one another for the sake of profit and benefits; that was also a show that the immoral system loved to see most.
Anthony had to be careful and cautious to not reveal his intentions. Even if these people hated him tremendously once they returned to the trainee dormitory, he didn’t care. A dead end was placed in front of him. Fighting for his right to live was completely justified and natural.
“Okay. Then let’s have senior Anthony be the temporary team leader.”
Thankfully, he was a top-ranked A-rank. Other than the Magician, he was the most prominent trainee in the team. The others didn’t think too much about it before agreeing to his request to be the temporary team leader.
At that moment, the sound of the little pope’s immature voice came from far away, near the entrance of the side hall.
“Nighttime is when the Town of Good and the Town of Evil are connected. Are you all certain you want to go out?”
Zong Jiu, who agreed to accompany the little troublemaker, was also by his side.
“We’re certain.” The trainees all nodded.
He swept a glance over them and silently exchanged a glance with Anthony. Unsurprisingly, Zong Jiu confirmed his earlier guess. The white-haired young man paused for a moment and then said, “I will also go.”
Although he didn’t have to think of a bunch of ways to eliminate the black lines on his forearms like the other trainees, in the end, he was still the team leader. He had to fulfill his responsibilities. He couldn’t wash his hands clean of everything because it didn’t affect him.
“You have to eliminate the sins yourself. If others help, you won’t be able to eliminate the sins.”
The little Devil standing beside him kindly reminded in a quiet voice, “Big Brother, it would be better to go later. Tonight is the first day. You have to give them some time to adapt.”
Zong Jiu’s intuition told him something was wrong.
With the little Devil standing in the side hall and waving at him while smiling, that feeling of unease and foreboding became stronger and stronger.
“You guys go first. I’ll join after I change my clothes.”
Thus, he deliberately came out a little later. Unsurprisingly, thunder abruptly came from beyond the heavy rain.
“Booooom——”
After the thunder passed, noisy shouts and screams appeared within the rain. All the trainees who had gone out, in less than ten minutes, threw away their umbrellas and were running towards the cathedral in the heavy rain. Their expressions were frazzled and full of fear.
They were carrying a trainee whose four limbs were twitching with their eyes rolled back in the center as they rushed into the side hall. They placed the person beside the warm fireplace and anxiously surrounded him.
“What happened here?”
The white-haired Magician had finished changing into a raincoat and rain boots. He was planning to go outside to take a look with an umbrella. The white-haired Magician frowned, lifted the hem of his clothes, and squatted down. Using his finger, he checked that the trainee was breathing.
“Outside. Outside, there’s…”
The other people had fear on their faces. They looked like they hadn’t regained their senses yet. Due to their rapid running, they couldn’t even speak clearly.
Zong Jiu didn’t rush them and let them catch their breath first before continuing his questioning.
At least there wasn’t any life-threatening danger.
But a second later, the Magician narrowed his eyes.
Under the flickering light of the fireplace, a faint black shadow stretched out infinitely from below that trainee’s feet to the opposite wall. It flickered continuously.
“How come his shadow came back?”
Edited By: snoflakesun
Oh, I forgot about Shadowless
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
I also forgot… Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
No Xu Su! That is a death flag!
xu su raising as many death flags as possible 💀
It’s either something will happen to Xu Sen or to Xu Su
I SWEAR— IF XU SEN OR XU SU DOESN’T MAKE IT OUTTA THEIR INSTANCES I WILL CRY!
Hope Xu Su doesn’t die..