[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-diary-of-a-dead-wizard":3,"chapter-diary-of-a-dead-wizard-diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-330":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Diary of a Dead Wizard",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1380735,1828,"Chapter 330: Courting Death","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-330",330,"\u003Cp>Blue sand trickled down grain by grain from the top of the hourglass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Throughout the process, Saul carefully observed the threads of mental power wrapped around Herman’s soul, while using his unique semi-immersive meditation technique to monitor other changes in the female corpse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After about ten minutes, Herman seemed to have completed the fusion and controlled the corpse to open its eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"How do you feel now?\" Saul picked up pen and paper, just about to record Herman’s response.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in the very next second, Herman suddenly opened his mouth wide, \"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sound was piercing! Shrill beyond belief!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Its frequency was so abnormally high that it instantly surpassed the range of human hearing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet Saul could still hear the shriek with his heightened mental perception.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Something’s wrong!\" Saul gritted through the sensation of invisible blades scraping against his skull and reached out a tentacle toward the female corpse, intending to extract Herman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“KILL ME!! KILL ME!! KILL MEEEEEEEE!!!!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul felt like an enormous hammer smashed into his head. His skull vibrated violently like a struck tuning fork.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mental will was instantly overwhelmed. In the final moment, it was purely on instinct that Saul managed to extract Herman’s soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, his eyes rolled back—and he passed out cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Darkness descended.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Rustle—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone lightly turned a page.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"That won’t do, Brother Saul.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Who?!\" Saul’s eyes snapped open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Above him stretched a clear, cloudless blue sky. A gentle breeze brushed his skin like sprouting blades of grass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A little girl’s face appeared overhead, her soft strands of hair brushing across Saul’s forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her eyebrows curved gently, and her silver irises sparkled like a starry sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"…Penny?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The girl smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, her face leaned in close, silver eyes nearly touching Saul’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this distance, he shouldn’t have been able to see anything clearly. Yet this time, he saw everything vividly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within her silver irises were countless tiny eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each of them a perfect hexagon, densely arranged. These hexagonal eyes formed a large, circular pupil. Sometimes bright, sometimes dim—as if stars twinkled within.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through her silver eyes, Saul saw himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each of his figures reflected in each hexagonal eye—thousands upon thousands of him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And every “Saul” was doing something different. Some were studying, some dissecting corpses, some meditating…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These… are things I’ve done before… Penny’s a Nightmare Butterfly. Could she still be alive?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is what I’m seeing… my own history?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul thought vaguely, a strange curiosity rising—about his own past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was odd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back when he had the power to observe history, he never once thought of using it on himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet compared to the diary or the Little Algae, wasn’t he the one closest and most familiar to himself?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only now, facing those silver eyes again and recalling the Nightmare Butterfly’s ability to peer through time, did he suddenly realize:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could observe himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He just… never thought to do it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now he finally had the chance—to follow these countless eyes back through his past; to uncover the mystery of his transmigration; the truth behind his death and resurrection; and the reason for his soul’s unique singularity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A flicker of unease stirred in his heart. A whisper of dread. But those feelings were quickly smothered by the gleaming starlight in her gaze, leaving only burning curiosity and frantic anticipation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Let me see what happened… between my death and rebirth. Let me see—I'm so close…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tension, the thrill of imminent revelation stretched his mouth into a wide grin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then—it was as if he really did see something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Light and darkness coexisted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blinding brilliance veiled unfathomable shadow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Closer… just a little closer…” he whispered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Light began to warp. Darkness followed close behind. The two swirled together like ice cream, exuding a seductive sweetness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Rustle rustle—\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul heard the flutter of turning pages, but the syrupy sweetness quickly drowned out the sound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Closer! Closer!!\" His voice grew wild.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"AHHHHHHHHHH!!!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Suddenly, a wretched, agonized scream shattered Saul’s trance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He snapped awake—saw the little girl above had staggered away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She clutched her temples, face twisted in utter torment. Black pus streamed from her tightly shut eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"AHHHHHHHH!! Brother Saul!!! I was wrong! It hurts! IT HURTS SO MUCH!!!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Penny, with her silver eyes, collapsed in pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul turned and watched her thrash across the grass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The once-soft, pale green blades suddenly turned black and rigid, transforming into sharp spears that slashed at the rolling girl without mercy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Black slime gushed from her wounds, soaking the ground.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul watched as her flesh was slowly shredded—until she finally rolled to a stop, barely twitching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her face turned toward him, hair tangled over her features, revealing only one eye.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That eyelid was deeply sunken, as if something behind it had melted into pus and dripped out through the socket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Penny.” Saul called softly, a tinge of sorrow in his voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>BOOM—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All sound halted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time itself seemed to pause—her hair, her clothes, frozen in midair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul felt a wave of fatigue.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He slowly closed his eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yaaawn…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before his eyes opened, a huge yawn escaped his mouth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stretched his limbs wide, enjoying the sensation of muscles pulling taut.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With one hand in his hair and the other pushing off the ground, Saul sat up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Felt like I had a dream…” he murmured, rubbing his bleary eyes. Only then did he realize he was lying on the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why am I on the ground? Did I sleepwalk?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in the next second, blurry memories slowly sharpened—his face darkening as they did.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He lowered his head and asked his left hand, “Herman, how are you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his transparent palm, a dark mass pulsed faintly—but it looked much more scattered than before the experiment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Saul watched, the shadow expanded a little.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That wasn’t good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without hesitation, he commanded the diary to retract Herman’s soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The shadow vanished instantly from his palm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul sighed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They had a few more experiments lined up, but that last entry into the female corpse triggered something—he must’ve accidentally provoked a lingering grudge inside the Wizard Tower.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what happened after that was even stranger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why did I dream about the Nightmare Butterfly… Penny? She even did something to me…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul jolted upright. “Why would I dream about Penny?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since becoming a wizard apprentice, he’d rarely dreamt—and each dream had meaning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After reaching Third Rank, he hadn’t dreamt once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But now, after fainting… he dreamt of a Nightmare Butterfly?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And met Penny in the dream?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That couldn’t be a good sign.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul rushed past the three corpses nearby and dashed toward the back of the shelves—where he had sealed the Nightmare Butterfly’s cocoon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when he arrived, the test tube that once held the eye-shaped cocoon…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was empty.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1118,"2026-06-05T22:22:08.873Z",1,"novelbin.me","319acd7e04a7f03dc45bc84099d708ce7f47aa492a08e824378b2243e748345d","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-331","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-84",1037,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fdiary-of-a-dead-wizard-cover.jpg"]