Chapter 37: Attempting the Sacrifice

There was no more time to waste; Agnes the witch, who had brought out the gallows, quickly began drawing a magic circle on the ground. She had to complete the circle before those Gold Ties arrived.

"... I request that the god grant me a new life, grant me the favor of the divine, grant me a vessel to inhabit... All feedback shall curse these sanctimonious City Hall workers; they shall lose their lives, and you, you shall descend!"

"... May they look down upon the earth with you, may your breath walk upon the earth, released from the soil..."

The Red Tide poured out of the room like a waterfall, the sky instantly turning a scarlet color. The breath of the sunset was completely obscured, and half a Red Moon appeared in the sky, flickering in and out of existence.

Agnes revealed her sharp fangs in satisfaction. Her skin was undergoing a transformation, beginning to reveal a hideous face, and her flesh and blood were fusing back together.

Outside, after the Gold Ties quickly finished evacuating the last of the office staff, a bottle of potion exploded inside the hall. Faint smoke mingled with the Red Tide, resembling ocean waves.

If the Ritual had proceeded normally, Agnes could have basically achieved her goal.

Even if she hadn't achieved it, it wouldn't have ended up like this.

Her two legs were covered in cracks, and a gash had split open on her back, as if black threads were stitching it from within; her bones were pulling against each other.

With her scarlet eyes, she stared uncomprehendingly at the gallows before her. She had already pushed herself to the limit; although the process was not perfect, it should have been enough.

It clearly should have been enough!

Why?

Why was there no reaction at all?

"Don't go in; there's no one inside right now. We'll talk after the Ritual," Feng Buer said, pulling back his teammate Bulu. "Let these Municipal Hall people evacuate first. Be careful not to let those damn Reporters come over; we've already caused enough trouble."

Bulu had no choice but to wave his hand, waiting for the final night to descend.

The NPCs had stopped, but the players couldn't stop so easily. They had logged on to play, so what was the point of waiting for the plot?

Especially the players who had already given up on their jobs; they just wanted to know what had happened inside the Municipal Building.

"Shall we go in and take a look?" Li You, who had logged back in, said with a shrug. "The forums are urging us to provide some new information."

"Go in and look? We'll die, won't we? It's full of the smell of blood in there," Mengmeng said, feeling a bit scared. "I saw those people saying it was terrifying on the forums during the day, and Ai Ai even died twice."

Li Yong patted Mengmeng on the shoulder and said, "It's fine, I'll go with you. Besides, we don't all have to go in; we'll just let a few people go in to scout the path."

"Exactly, I've already scouted it out. There's a small window in the restroom over there that isn't closed; we can just crawl in and take a look." Luolita had already put down her shovel, eager to try. She just wanted to see what this witch was trying to do inside.

That Red Tide on the ground seemed to be breathing, constantly swallowing and spitting out the life force within the entire building.

It just couldn't get any effective feedback, so it could only keep sweeping through every room.

There were no humans left in this building.

The so-called Curse was merely cursing an empty, hollow house.

Chen Zhi felt the evil aura from above and breathed a sigh of relief. He had originally thought those auras would affect him, but fortunately, they didn't.

It seemed he could continue to hole up here. As expected, after getting used to the Sewers, he didn't want to change locations.

Overhead, Li You, along with his two good brothers and Luolita, climbed in through the restroom window.

The hallway was wet and sticky, covered in traces of blood. That blood was devouring the life force of the players' bodies, but... players were not considered living beings to begin with.

Even their physical bodies were fabricated by Chen Zhi, to the point that they were existences the Red Tide could not touch. The Red Tide that saw the players kept churning, approaching and then pulling away.

"So spectacular." Luolita, the last one to climb in, opened her mouth wide, only to have Li You stuff a rag into it.

"Be careful, the smoke rising from this stuff has a paralyzing effect. A lot of people got hit by it during the day," Li You said with some experience. "These things flow in a certain direction; we can look for where that witch is."

Li You had figured it out: since the test time was only two weeks, he would just treat it as an adventure.

If he died, he died; he could log back in a day later. Besides, it would be a loss not to see such a massive plot script.

If the game allowed recording, he would have logged off to edit it already. Just the content he had seen these past few days, if it could be recorded and posted online, would definitely cause a sensation.

It was just that the officials were keeping it under wraps. Well, that was a standard marketing tactic, nothing new.

The four of them walked lightly up the stairs. The Red Tide and thick fog around them swirled and parted to both sides, as if they were avoiding them.

Agnes, inside the room, was already on the verge of death.

She could not withstand the backlash from the failed Curse. Her whole body looked like a dried-up corpse; even as she breathed, it was clear her days were numbered.

Climbing to the top floor, the only open room in the entire Municipal Building was the utility room leading to the terrace.

That Red Tide was gushing out from this room.

Luolita saw the open door at a glance and ran over excitedly, intending to watch the plot.

The black, dried-up corpse kneeling on the ground rolled her eyes, as if she had seen something she craved.

How could this be? Why did the Curse avoid them?

Agnes doubted herself infinitely. She had killed so many people; why, at the critical moment, could she not kill them?

The Red Gallows emitted a dark red light, which dimmed as Agnes's life force came to an end.

"Is this some kind of quest item?" Looking at the slowly shrinking Red Gallows, several players seemed to recall something.

"I remember our notebook had the incantation for the Ritual written in it. Shall we try it?" Li You touched the gallows and asked.

"I think that works. We can't take this thing out, but it's definitely a good item. We might as well try the Ritual," Luolita affirmed, then took a Tana coin out of her pocket.

The currency of Tana City contained more or less some metallic tin; this metal could be used to guide and communicate with the gods.

It was also a relatively cheap Spiritual Substance.

The players set the coins in place and, following the pronunciation in the notebook they carried, began to chant the prayer.

"... Great Lord of Calamity, the combination of suffering and misfortune, master of natural disasters..."

(End of chapter)