[{"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-333":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},1380740,1828,"Chapter 333: Curiosity Killed the Butterfly","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-333",333,"\u003Cp>Hayden's second persona had a thirst for adventure—impulsive, but highly proactive. Before Saul even said a word, she’d already seated herself on the sensor chair and affixed the connection patches to her body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul didn’t stop her. He walked over to adjust the instruments for her. Once everything was set, he pulled out the control pad and began recording.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Stay still now. Relax. I’m going to record the baseline data.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hayden was cooperative.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Five minutes later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, now start performing fine movements—like flexing your fingers and toes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hayden followed his instructions obediently, but she added plenty of extra gestures herself. For instance, she smiled at Saul and slowly swept her tongue across her lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, Saul remained entirely unfazed by the suggestive behavior. He didn’t even pause in his note-taking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Next, try breaking free. Try to struggle against the restraining formation behind you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul found this second persona braver—or perhaps more reckless—than the original. She withstood a number of painful procedures, the kind that would make others flinch just from hearing about them, with an utterly calm demeanor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was especially ruthless during the escape trials. Even when the pain twisted her face, she continued fiercely resisting the golden restraining formation that bound the vessel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eventually, it was Saul who had to call the experiment to a halt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For three days straight, it was Hayden’s second persona who worked with Saul. It wasn’t until the fourth day that the original persona finally emerged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul felt a measure of relief—Hayden’s second persona could be rather bold in certain ways.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet even with two Haydens cooperating nearly unconditionally, Saul still wasn’t satisfied with the progress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how he measured the changes in Hayden’s soul body and vessel, her soul remained fixed within a vessel locked by Mentor Rum’s formation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With Saul’s current ability, he still couldn’t unravel a restraining formation meticulously developed and refined over years by a seasoned First Rank wizard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I really should be using someone like Herman—a flexible consciousness that can move between vessel—for these experiments.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One afternoon, Saul sat with his arms crossed, reviewing the results from the past few days, contemplating the next breakthrough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What I want to observe is the commonality in rejection responses when a soul enters a different vessel. Too bad Mentor Rum and the others never addressed the contamination souls suffer in the outside world—so they generally don’t allow a soul that’s entered a vessel to switch again. Too risky to damage the specimen during transfer.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul could understand their reasoning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He still hadn’t figured out why Herman had suddenly shouted “Kill me”—a phrase he hadn’t heard in ages—during his second possession attempt in a female vessel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could it be that he’d accidentally disturbed a powerful soul within the Wizard Tower during the transfer?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul still hadn’t identified the source of that phrase. Even in Mentor Gorsa’s resurrection experiments, no one had ever mentioned those words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet he had a vague feeling… that it might be related to Lady Yura.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, in resurrection experiments, the one with the least say was probably the one being brought back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul had been staring at Herman’s logs in a daze for quite some time when a silver butterfly drifted in from afar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reborn as a silver butterfly, Penny now had limited freedom—with Saul’s permission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes she perched on Saul’s left shoulder, other times she circled him, and occasionally, she’d flutter around the second storage chamber.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She seemed to have lost all her powers—reduced to little more than a mascot fluttering near Saul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, Saul warned her never to stray far from him and under no circumstance was she to enter anyone’s dreams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Each time, Penny readily agreed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul never made her swear oaths—he simply told her that if she crossed the line, she’d be trapped between the pages forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Penny was terrified of being locked back into the diary. Every time, she’d swear up and down like a little girl.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, after her little excursion, she was headed back to rest on Saul’s shoulder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But just as she drew within a meter of him, a black shadow shot from behind Saul’s neck—rows of jagged, shark-like teeth gaping wide, a dark tongue flicking like a snake’s tail.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The long-ambushing hunter launched its fatal strike at its unsuspecting prey.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Chomp!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ahhhhh!! You disgusting Little Algae, that’s so gross!!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Nightmare Butterfly had been devoured by Little Algae in one gulp—only to emerge a second later from the top of its head, twirling in the air as if trying to shake off nonexistent spit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Algae, triumphant, stuck out his tongue at her, blowing exaggerated “blorp-blorp” noises.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed Penny’s presence had triggered a sense of competition in Little Algae. It would always launch sudden ambushes whenever the butterfly returned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though it could never actually touch her, it never gave up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And as for Penny… Saul couldn’t help suspecting that this seemingly innocent creature was just playing along.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe she was deliberately making a fool of herself—trying to lower her standing so she could more quickly integrate into Saul’s little circle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching his smug, head-wiggling Little Algae, Saul could only rub his forehead helplessly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whatever. As long as Penny doesn’t mean any harm to Little Algae, let them play. Between the diary’s souls and the two of them, we’ve already got six members in this group.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Maybe I’ll have to get used to an even rowdier environment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Penny dodged Little Algae’s tongue and landed on Saul’s notebook.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She wiggled her antennae like she was seriously reading.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then, the very next second, she expressed dissatisfaction with Saul’s experiment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Saul, Saul! Why aren’t you studying the battlefield of the Mental  Realm anymore? Why are you studying corpses? Corpses aren’t fun at all—they don’t even dream!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul shot to his feet, the stool behind him clattering to the floor with a loud thunk.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Algae, not yet hidden again, was startled by the noise. He looked up, tongue still sticking out, clearly confused about what had just happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul glared coldly at the butterfly, eyes sharp and tense. “I never once told you that term. Where did you hear Mental battlefield?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Penny flinched too. She fluttered in a small circle before landing again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I… I did some observations on you. I accidentally caught glimpses of your history. I don’t remember much, but a few fragments stuck.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Saul sneered inwardly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d suspected from the start that this Nightmare Butterfly hadn’t really lost all her powers like she claimed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the diary, her form was a bookmark—not a page.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike the pages, bookmarks could exist independently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And since she wasn’t a page, she couldn’t be judged by the usual standards of truth-telling under interrogation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, Saul had the upper hand. A single thought, and the diary would clamp down on her like a trap, squashing her into a flat little pancake.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for why she’d lied at first, pretended to be powerless… likely because she’d just been imprisoned in the diary and had become Saul’s possession, so she acted with caution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for now…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Algae rolled the stool back into place. Saul sat down slowly, resting his chin in his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Well then. Since you still remember something, go ahead and share. Why did you suddenly hatch? And what did you observe in my history?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…Perhaps, after realizing Saul wasn’t the violent type, she’d decided to gradually reveal herself—to raise her own value and status.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Nightmare Butterfly perched quietly on the paper, looking entirely harmless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She let out a soft sigh. “Ah… we Nightmare Butterflies are just too curious. That’s how we ended up becoming an endangered species.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1274,"2026-06-05T22:22:08.873Z",1,"novelbin.me","119d43b1d055c21216e1d22e5b16bd1dda588caf0f8370887f6bcf0c1d7e3c09","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-87","diary-of-a-dead-wizard-chapter-86",1037,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fdiary-of-a-dead-wizard-cover.jpg"]