The Person in the Well, The Soul in the Eye

Drip-drip...

Drip-drip...

Standing in the small courtyard, a strange dripping sound filled Zi Jin's ears. At first, it ticked away like the second hand of a clock. Then, it blurred, like ripples spreading across the surface of a placid lake.

Her consciousness began to fade.

She paid no mind to the voices of Xiaoxiao and Qiao Biluo calling out to her.

Her body moved like a puppet, inching toward the well.

With every step she took on the soft ground, she left an imprint behind. And with every imprint she made, another faint, watery footprint would inexplicably appear, following her.

This strange footprint was soaked, as if its owner had just climbed out from the bottom of the well.

Even Zi Jin's long robe began to grow damp, as though the very air had become thick with moisture.

“Yu, have you forgotten me…”

“You promised… to return the hairpin to my hand…”

“Zi Jin… Come back quickly…”

“Qiao Biluo… Come and help me pull her back…”

The voice from the depths of the well and the calls of her companions echoed in tandem. The conflicting sounds plunged Zi Jin's mind into even deeper confusion.

But her body continued its relentless advance.

Xiaoxiao, at her side, used all her might but was unable to hold her back. Furthermore, no item effect she tried seemed capable of purifying Zi Jin's state.

Qiao Biluo stood far off by the entrance, not daring to approach. She was terrified that she, too, would start walking toward the well.

Just as Zi Jin reached the well's edge, her entire body pressed against the massive stone millstone that sealed it.

A wave of frigid Yin energy drifted up from the well, passing through the stone and into her body.

In an instant, her already fair cheeks lost all color, growing deathly pale. Even her hair began to turn dry and white, her vitality as a living person rapidly draining away.

At that moment, a whistling sound cut through the air.

A pair of large hands, along with several silver needles folded from paper, descended toward Zi Jin.

“A loud bang in the sky! Your bro makes his dazzling entrance!”

Wu Wang's cheeky voice sounded from above.

【Heaven-descended Palm Technique】!

BOOM!

The immense impact instantly shattered the stone millstone, filling the air with a cloud of grayish-white dust.

The paper needles landed precisely on three of Zi Jin's acupoints; the Baihui, Taiyang, and Fengchi. The white paper instantly turned jet-black, as if some substance had been drawn from her body.

Her eyes immediately cleared.

A wave of terror and lingering fear rushed through her.

“I… I saw her!” Zi Jin stammered, taking several steps back as if the well were a demon.

“She's in the well! She's waiting for a scapegoat to pull her out! Don't go near it!”

Plop.

However, no sooner had her words fallen than Wu Wang, who had just smashed the millstone, landed on the edge of the well.

With a look of reckless curiosity, he peered down.

Thump-thump… thump-thump…

What he saw was utterly unexpected.

A gigantic pupil floated on the water's surface at the bottom of the well. It almost filled the entire opening, silently gazing upward.

As Wu Wang leaned over, he made direct eye contact with it.

It was only for an instant.

His body began to tremble. He felt a familiar sense of the Twisted, and his mind was flooded with nonsensical whispers that seemed to come from the distant horizon yet also echoed within his own skull.

The Red Vertical Pupil on his wrist began to blink frantically, mirroring the pupil in the well.

This was a genuine Abyss God's Mark.

“Aargh… my head is so itchy! I think I'm about to grow a brain!”

Wu Wang reached up and scratched his scalp frantically. Under the moonlight, his shadow stretched out, impossibly long and thin on the ground. As he moved, the shadow began to writhe madly like a demon, its strangeness no less terrifying than the masked ghosts outside.

“Pending Death!”

Xiaoxiao took a swift step forward. She raised her hand, intending to pull Wu Wang away from the well.

Swish swish swish!

In the next second, several long swords folded from paper flew over from a distance. They stabbed into the ground right in front of Xiaoxiao, forcefully halting her steps.

Then, the book boy's stern voice rang out from behind her.

“Don't go near him, and don't touch him.”

“Not unless you want to be contaminated and turned into a monster too.”

As he spoke, the Heavenly Eye on his forehead opened once more. This time, it was different from the Vertical Pupil on the tattered red cloth. He could clearly feel the aura of that existence.

It was a contamination devoid of good or evil, composed only of chaos and distortion.

So pure. So powerful.

“What on earth did he see?” Xiaoxiao asked with a frown.

The book boy glanced at the three female players in the courtyard. After a moment of contemplation, he spoke.

“If you had asked me this question in the Spirit Calamity Plaza, it would have cost you at least five thousand Calamity Coins or two Epic-grade pieces of equipment.”

“But now, I'm not sure if I can clear this instance alone, so the information is free.”

His words stunned the others. What kind of information was so expensive? And who was this person, so confident that he had considered clearing a nightmare-level instance by himself? Just how strong was he?

“If I'm not mistaken,” the book boy continued, “a power resides in that well that doesn't belong to this instance's world. In essence, its source may even be higher than a Venerable. It is very likely the highest level of all known existences in the Spirit Calamity Game.”

“It can appear in any instance at random and contaminate its very origin.”

“This power is filled with chaos and distortion. As players, forget about touching it. Merely seeing it makes it difficult to escape the fate of being contaminated.”

“Its name is Wang.”

Seeing the book boy's extremely serious expression, which also betrayed a hint of fear, the others exchanged a look. They believed him. This guy wasn't lying.

“It really exists? That post wasn't just a fabrication?” Zi Jin said in astonishment.

She suddenly remembered an absurd rumor that had once circulated on the Spirit Calamity app. It was said that a high-level team of five players had all perished in an easy-level instance.

The information they transmitted before their deaths was chilling.

【There is an unknown power in the instance. It is the calamity that ends all things.】

【It will bring The End to the entire universe.】

But the player who spread this news died in another instance not long after. According to those who knew him, he had already been suffering from some kind of Mental Contamination, and strange things would constantly flash through his mind. Because of that, the post was dismissed as the product of ravings.

The story had caused a stir on the forums, but the controversy eventually faded with time.

“He's most likely done for,” the book boy said, glancing at his long robe. “I'll find a way to take his mask off. I have a way to leave this Nuo Opera Garden with the 【Executioner】's corpse. We're running out of time.”

“I'll explain what story those ghosts were telling us after we get out, but you'll have to trade information for that.”

Only then did Zi Jin and the others notice an inexplicably light-colored White Dragon pattern had appeared on the book boy's robe. If you stared at it for too long, it seemed to come to life, slithering and roaring on the cloth. It appeared to be another piece of equipment.

“The more distinct the dragon pattern becomes, the further we are from the category of the living.”

“When the White Dragon slithers up to my collar and bites me, it means we've completely become members of the Yin World.”

As the book boy spoke, he once again pulled a large amount of paper from his sleeve. The sheets began to fly and spiral, folding into the shape of a long staff with a hook at its tip. It seemed he intended to knock the 【Divine Persona Mask】 off Wu Wang's face and then hook him over.

Unexpectedly, as the staff extended toward Wu Wang, a fierce glint flashed in Wu Wang's eyes.

With a slight shift of his feet, several phantoms of him instantly appeared in the courtyard.

【Big Dipper Seven Star Steps】!

These phantoms also seemed to be affected by something, darting about and forcing the other players to struggle to keep up.

At this moment, a hint of killing intent appeared in Qiao Biluo's eyes. With her remaining arm, she pulled out a small handgun.

If someone could appraise equipment, they would discover this little handgun was anything but simple.

【Little Dummy's Toy Gun (Fine Quality, Consumable Item): Contains only one bullet. A target hit by it will suffer double damage from mechanical items for three seconds, and any injuries caused by mechanical items cannot be repaired within half an hour.】

【Remark: A gun in the hands of a fool is still deadly. All players are urged not to give dangerous items to people of low intelligence.】

Bang!

The next second, she fired at Wu Wang's heart. The bullet tore through the air and pierced his chest.

Due to the item's property of preventing rapid wound repair, Qiao Biluo was certain of the outcome. In her eyes, even if Wu Wang were clear-headed, he couldn't possibly survive without a heart.

Seeing this, Xiaoxiao glared at her and cursed.

“You fat hag, what do you think you're doing!”

She started to rush over to confront Qiao Biluo.

But the other woman just spat disdainfully.

“He was contaminated anyway. Rather than letting him suffer and torment us, it's better for me to give him a quick end. And won't we be able to get the mask faster this way?”

Zi Jin and the book boy remained silent. Although the act seemed cruel, they didn't stop her. After all, what the fat woman said wasn't wrong.

The book boy, especially, knew just how terrifying the contamination of 【Wang】 was. He recalled the miserable sight of players in another instance. Contaminated, they had turned into monsters before exploding and dying in moments. Among them was a high-level player who specialized in mental defense, and he had only lasted three seconds longer than the others.

So naturally, he also believed Wu Wang was beyond saving. The top priority wasn't player camaraderie; it was escaping the Nuo Opera Garden alive.

Seeing that Wu Wang's chest was now an empty, bleeding cavity, the paper staff in the book boy's hand immediately extended, ready to flick the mask up.

Rumble rumble rumble…

Suddenly, a violent sound erupted from all around. A closer look revealed that the strange masked ghosts were leaping over from all directions. They formed a protective wall in front of Wu Wang, letting out deafening roars.

“What do we do? There are too many of them, we can't beat them,” Zi Jin said, her face grim.

A sharp glint flashed in the book boy's eyes.

“All the masked ghosts have come here!” he said quickly. “The 【Executioner】's corpse outside is unguarded! Let's go get his body first!”

With that, he turned and ran toward the courtyard exit. The other three exchanged glances and followed closely behind.

As Zi Jin ran, her eyes scanned the ground. She wanted to find the hairpin she had dropped and take it with her. With Wu Wang now acting as the scapegoat for the woman in the well, the hairpin should be safe to touch again.

But no matter how she looked, she couldn't find it. There were only chaotic footprints on the ground and a continuous flood of masked ghosts pouring in. If they stayed any longer, they might not get out at all.

Sighing, she finally fled the small courtyard.

Xiaoxiao, at the very rear, paused for a final moment before she ran out. She looked worriedly toward the well. The ground, now teeming with masked ghosts, had almost completely obscured Wu Wang's figure from view.

But it was through a tiny gap that she noticed something.

Wu Wang's eyes, which had been glinting with madness, had at some point become incomparably clear, even holding a hint of playfulness. He didn't look contaminated at all.

He turned his head and looked at her through the gap.

The moment their eyes met, Wu Wang raised a hand to his lips and made a shushing motion.

Shh, trust me.

The moment she understood his silent words, Xiaoxiao realized something else. The hairpin that Zi Jin couldn't find was now lying in Wu Wang's other hand, glittering brightly under the moonlight.

When did that happen?

A flash of his phantoms' frantic movements suddenly went through her mind. No, they weren't frantic at all. That guy had used the phantoms to distract everyone. His seemingly chaotic writhing had perfectly pulled his own shadow over the fallen hairpin, hiding it from view.

Although she didn't know his reason for doing this, Xiaoxiao could guess that he must have used some ability to pick it up.

Finally, the courtyard was completely filled with masked ghosts. The moment she retreated, the arched doorway became a solid wall once more.

Xiaoxiao stood there, stunned, feeling like her brain was about to fry.

He wasn't contaminated at all! What on earth did he see at the bottom of the well? Why did he stay behind alone?

“Hey! Are you okay?” Zi Jin came over and patted Xiaoxiao's shoulder. “We've got the corpse. Let's go back and report to the troupe master. The book boy said there's another way to leave the Nuo Opera Garden. It's a bit risky, but it's better than facing that group of ghosts again.”

She thought Xiaoxiao was just hit hard by Wu Wang's death. After all, it was clear the two of them knew each other. How could she have known that Xiaoxiao was simply shocked by Wu Wang's insane plan?

Could that guy really make it out of there alive? Xiaoxiao asked herself.

But then she remembered how he had handled things so effortlessly in the Puppet Show Garden. On top of that, his master, 【Yan Shuangying】, also liked to pull off stunts that defied common sense, yet always managed to clear instances while bouncing around cheerfully.

Thinking of that, she felt a lot more at ease.

Back in the small courtyard, Wu Wang rubbed his chest where Qiao Biluo had shot him. That shot definitely had some personal resentment behind it. That fat woman had probably wanted him dead for a while.

Just wait 'til your bro gets out, he thought. I'll settle the score with you then.

Klak klak…

The next second, a familiar clicking sound started in his ears. It was the same strange noise from the Dilapidated Opera Building, right before a memory appeared.

As expected, one had to be holding this hairpin to trigger certain things. As for why Zi Jin had failed, Wu Wang looked down into the well again. He suspected it was because she hadn't seen what he had.

Besides the Abyss God's pupil, there was also a skeleton curled up at the bottom of the well. And next to this skeleton stood an Overlord's Spear.

“Heh, you bunch of riddle-speakers, you'd better be telling the truth,” Wu Wang said with a smile to the masked monsters around him.

“Otherwise, I won't be your Lord Guan anymore.”

Hearing this, the masked ghosts all let out urgent hisses, as if they were making him a promise.

That's right. In the Nuo Dance earlier, he didn't just ask the ghosts about good and evil. He had also promised them that he would eliminate the “evil” in the Opera God's Righteous Garden.

Before that, he needed to know what really happened that night, and why in the ghosts' story, the one who disappeared was Yu Ji and not Lou Yu.

Thinking of this, Wu Wang took a deep breath. He held the hairpin before him, crossed his arms, and fell straight backward.

Into the well.

CRASH!

It was like falling through a mirror. Amidst the sound of shattering glass, he sank into the memories of that night.