The Truth of the Manor

The battle remained in a stalemate for a moment.

After another dodge, Luo Wei stood coldly in place.

The blood core stirred all the blood in his body, and blood magic erupted to its maximum extent.

A heavy aura of death permeated the bedroom. If there had been any living things in this room besides Caroline, their life force would have been instantly drained, making them weak immediately. But even so, it didn't matter - it was enough for Luo Wei's current needs.

The blood mist gradually coalesced, transforming into countless dense, sharp arrow clusters, which pierced through Caroline as she charged forward.

As she froze, Luo Wei's [Crimson Blade] followed closely behind.

With a horrifying sound of flesh being torn apart, a nauseating smell of blood spread through the air.

Caroline was reduced to a limbless torso by Luo Wei, falling to the ground, no longer posing any threat.

Luo Wei merely glanced at her before ignoring her completely.

This thing couldn't be killed anyway. As long as it didn't interfere with his business, it was fine. He turned towards the broken bed and picked up his pillow.

After forcefully tearing it apart, with cotton floating in the air, Luo Wei found the revolver he had hidden.

Instinctively, he felt the pocket inside his clothes - the checkered neckerchief wrapping the [Eye of Insight] brooch was still there.

These two items were very important tools for him, so after entering the manor again, he had carefully hidden them away.

After he finished doing this...

At this moment, in the blood-filled bedroom, a strange writhing sound suddenly emerged, as if it was right in front of him.

Then, as if NPCs were respawning, several more maids wielding shackles appeared in his room.

Luo Wei coldly watched them, with his revolver already pressed against his temple.

Since his skills had failed to work, he had been suspecting one possibility.

This world might not be real.

The unkillable maids, their NPC-like rigidity, and their strange "respawn-style" appearances increasingly confirmed his suspicion.

However, last time he had indeed been forced to load a save because his sanity was depleted and he had fallen completely into madness.

This meant that to some degree, the manor did exist - otherwise, how had he gone insane?

So building on the false world theory, he developed another hypothesis...

To verify it, he needed to try dying once.

As the maids charged at him in unison, Luo Wei decisively pulled the trigger.

After the gunshot, the world fell silent...

...

The next second, Luo Wei suddenly awoke on the sofa.

His eyes were somewhat blurry, but he forced his tired eyelids open, sat up, and looked around.

Ophelia and Caroline turned to look at him puzzledly - they had seemingly been whispering about something before being interrupted by Luo Wei's behavior.

Luo Wei felt his head spinning, very confused. This state was like being woken up by an alarm clock early in the morning when the body hadn't gotten enough sleep.

Drowsy, fatigued, limbs weak...

Luo Wei forced himself to stay alert and quickly checked the system interface.

[Save Point: Ophelia's Manor]

[Available Loads: 4/5]

Still only loaded once! He hadn't died - this wasn't a save file reload!

Some vague, blurry memories appeared in his mind, and Luo Wei suddenly remembered what he had been doing at this time.

Because he had practiced horseback riding for an entire day until almost evening, he had collapsed exhaustedly on the sofa, almost falling asleep, but to test Ophelia, he had been waiting to talk with her.

Yet unexpectedly, he had fallen asleep just like that?

"Your Highness... he, he's awake?" Caroline looked at Ophelia with shock and confusion.

Ophelia frowned as she examined Luo Wei, then turned to Caroline with a cold glare.

"How did you handle this?"

Caroline immediately lowered her head in fear, "I don't know... this shouldn't have happened... How did Mr. Luo Wei suddenly wake up..."

"Hypnosis... it was hypnosis?" Luo Wei's drowsiness instantly vanished as he sat up straight.

Several maids immediately appeared, trying to hold him down on the sofa.

But with the eruption of blood magic, Luo Wei forcefully broke free from their grip.

"So that's it, that's how it is!!" Having discovered the truth, Luo Wei stared ecstatically at those indifferent light-colored eyes.

"It's a dream! It's a dream! The nighttime manor is a dream!"

No wonder he wouldn't load a save when he died, but did load one when he saw the manor's true bloody and grotesque form and went insane - the two weren't contradictory, because while he couldn't die in the dream, he could be frightened, could be driven mad by the unknowable things!

And there was now an explanation for why his [Negotiate/Pacify] skill wouldn't work - how could people in a dream be affected by his emotional influence when they weren't real?

Seeing Luo Wei's current excited state, a ripple passed through Ophelia's eyes, but quickly settled.

She silently watched the extremely excited Luo Wei.

"I didn't expect you to discover it so quickly. How should I put it... I should really praise you."

She smiled faintly, "As expected of the man I've chosen."

Luo Wei, holding the [Crimson Blade], slowly approached Ophelia.

"Your Highness, be careful!" Head maid Caroline threw herself in front of her.

"Get lost!" Luo Wei glared at her impatiently, swinging the [Crimson Blade] in an instant.

Caroline drew a sword to desperately block it, while all the other maids also grabbed weapons, surrounding Luo Wei.

"No need to be so tense." Ophelia's expression remained unchanged as she waved her hand. "Let me hear what else he has to say."

Ignoring the dangerous glares from the maids, Luo Wei looked directly into those indifferent light-colored eyes.

He had something more important to verify.

[Negotiate/Pacify (Master Level)]

Activated.

"Ophelia, what are you trying to accomplish with all this effort?"

Luo Wei smiled coldly, "Share dreams with me? Create a beautiful dream where we're together forever?"

"Of course—" Ophelia smiled enigmatically, "not."

She seemed completely unafraid of Luo Wei's blood magic, even stepping closer to him.

The maids all nervously watched Luo Wei's every move.

"Although I have thought about being together forever..." She smiled like a poisonous rose.

"But such things aren't difficult for me, because you'll belong to me sooner or later. There's no rush."

Looking at her confident expression, Luo Wei suddenly remembered something she had said before.

'I will remake you.'

'Inside and out, completely and thoroughly remake you.'

A chill ran through him.

He seemed to understand what Ophelia wanted to do...

The effect of [Negotiate/Pacify] was still active.

Luo Wei lowered his eyes, thinking quickly for a moment.

Suddenly, he raised his head, once again staring intently at her.

And slowly spoke a word that seemed completely unrelated to the current situation.

"Nodens?"

In that instant, Luo Wei saw a flash of surprise in Ophelia's eyes.

But she covered it up quickly, immediately returning to her completely indifferent expression.

However, by now Luo Wei had already gotten the result he wanted.

"Heh heh heh..."

"So that's how it is..."

"The Great King of the Abyss, Lord of the Dreamlands, the Ancient God Nodens..."

"So this is the deity you worship..."