Chapter 3209: Mind Beast and Friend (Revised)

The light on the second floor of the Gubao was very dim, and cold fog permeated here.

Compared to the intricate terrain on the first floor, the layout of the second floor was much simpler. There were walls and doors on both sides, and a space less than 10 meters wide in the middle, with several square pillars standing.

After preliminary observation, Su Xiao discovered that there were a total of 15 doors on the second floor, 14 of which were on the walls on both sides, all wooden doors. Dozens of meters directly opposite, a pair of silver-gray metal doors were tightly closed.

Su Xiao stepped forward and came to the silver-gray metal doors, raised his hand to press on them to sense. Preliminary estimation: without considering the consequences of violent destruction, there was a 20% probability that this door could be opened, but what evil consequences it would trigger was unknown.

This pair of silver-gray metal doors was about 2.5 meters high, looking heavy and sturdy, with dense patterns covering the surface.

If you stared at them, you would find that the patterns on the silver-gray doors looked like distorted characters, but after a while, you would feel that they looked like a kind of marine organism, a group of people gathering in the deep sea to worship, with dark white skin, like marine organisms evolved from humans. They were slippery, cold, and grotesque.

A sense of discomfort struck. Su Xiao lifted his hand from the silver-gray metal doors. At the same time as touching this thing, staring at the patterns on it would bring a sense of tearing of the spirit and soul, just like many hands grabbing his soul and pulling in different directions. The feeling was very bad.

Su Xiao looked at the keyhole on the door. Before obtaining the key, he would not destroy it by violent means. This silver-gray door was very evil.

Su Xiao's tenet was that as long as he could detect the data, commonly known as the enemy with a bright health bar, he dared to fight them. And for things like the silver-gray door that were both evil and unknown, even if Su Xiao was a Law-Breaker + Tier 8 Hunter + Sword Art Grandmaster + Alchemist, he would hold awe for such existences. He could explore, but he could not lose caution. In the Paradise, when a person was floating, the death date was not far away.

On the wall beside the silver-gray door, there is a metal ladder embedded in the surface. Su Xiao follows the ladder upward, his upper body probing into the recess of the ceiling. He knocks on the metal cover above his head; it is made of the same material as the silver-gray door below.

After passing through here, one can reach the roof of the castle. If the roof were not covered in that purple-black semi-fluid, perhaps something could be found.

Both the silver-gray door and the ceiling cover require keys to open. This makes Su Xiao wonder: when his friendliness with the Young Lady reaches 100 points, will he be able to obtain one of these two keys? Or perhaps both?

Su Xiao grips both sides of the metal ladder with his hands and slides down. After his feet touch the ground, he discovers that Zuiyas and Wood have also come up to the second floor.

Su Xiao glances at the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise just now and learns that this place is called the "Shelter Hall."

Inside the Shelter Hall, besides the "silver-gray door" and the "ceiling cover," there are 7 wooden doors on each of the two side walls.

On the 7 wooden doors on the left hand side, each has a mark. One of the marks is a 'ф' mark, and there is another mark that is a ''.

The former mark represents Reincarnation Paradise, while the latter represents Apocalypse Paradise. Su Xiao walks toward the room door with the 'ф' mark. Just as his hand pushes against the door, a prompt appears.

【Prompt: Brand resonating...】

【Wave frequency correct, Giyami resonance synchronized, space-time lock sequence matches...】

【You have activated Room (III). Room (III) is an absolutely safe area notarized by both Reincarnation Paradise and the Tree of the Void.】

Pushing the door open to enter, the light of an incandescent bulb illuminates the room. This room is about a hundred square meters, with old furniture and only one bed. The dark red carpet is clean and tidy, the bookshelf holds many books with a sense of history, and the grandfather clock has stopped because it hasn't been wound.

Although it is a bit old here, it is cleaned frequently. Overall, this safe point gives a good feeling.

Beni jumps onto the bed, while Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang habitually explores what is under the bed. It has just entered under the bed.

"Woof-howl-woof!!!"

Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang almost bolts out from under the bed. After its dog head hits the underside of the bed with a 'thud', it scrambles out from under the bed and runs to Su Xiao's side, hurriedly hugging Su Xiao's leg. Su Xiao can feel that Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang is shivering.

"Xiang Bubu, have you seen a ghost? Damn, it really is one."

Bahar spreads its wings, and a cold light flashes on its eagle talons.

A ghost wearing a gorgeous red long dress floats out from under the bed. Seeing this ghost, Su Xiao immediately thinks of Little Red No. 2.

"Respected guest, I am your servant, Frederica Verly Tavi Anath."

The red-dressed ghost bows slightly to pay her respects. Clearly, this is the maid that comes with the castle room. After hearing her name, Bahar says:

"Hello, Little Red."

"This guest, who is Little Red?"

The red-dressed ghost floating in mid-air is very puzzled.

"It's you."

"I am Frederica..."

"Let's just call you Anath."

"Very well, guest."

Anath is polite and courteous. Although she is not a beauty, she has a particularly gentle temperament. If she were still alive, this gentle temperament, along with her full figure, would definitely attract a large number of suitors.

"Anath, if you are a servant, are you responsible for taking care of our daily lives?"

When Bahar asks this, it scrutinizes the changes in Anath's expression.

"Yes, we will take care of the daily lives of the guests and soothe the beasts in your hearts."

"Soothe the beasts in our hearts? You are a translucent ghost. If you were to target my boss, that bond would be a life-and-death friendship."

Bahar shakes its head repeatedly. Beside it, Xiang Ignoring Bubu Wang, who is hugging Su Xiao's thigh, suddenly feels as if something has rolled over its face, leaving only tire tracks.

Anath tilts her head slightly, looking as if she doesn't understand.

"Guest, when your sanity is missing, your consciousness will become beast-like. Even if your appearance does not change, your heart has already become a beast. Beasts... will be eliminated. The world in the painting is sick, suffering from a disease called 'Mad Beast'—frenzied beasts."

At this point, Anath's expression is sorrowful. If the World of Paintings only had Mad Beast Syndrome, it wouldn't have ended up like this. Besides Mad Beast Syndrome, problems arose in the Land of Scorching Sun and the Bottom of the Water here, which led to the World of Paintings being reduced to only one castle. The people who originally lived here all hid inside the Inner Painting World.

"Now that you put it that way, it's really quite dangerous. If consciousness becomes beast-like, wouldn't that be 'GG'? Little Red... cough, Anath, how can Mad Beast Syndrome be avoided?"

Bahar is very worried. It was wondering before why sanity values appeared in the data when entering the painting world.

"Before our dynasty perished, Soul Attendants appeared for the warriors. When you are asleep, I will use a Lullaby to dispel the encroachment of the 'beasts'."

"A Lullaby? When we sleep, you sing?"

Hearing Bahar's words, Anath smiles gently and explains patiently: "No, guest. The Lullaby is not a song, but an ability to soothe the mind and soul."

Su Xiao understands what Anath means; her greatest value is accelerating the recovery of sanity.

Su Xiao's previous sanity was 295/330 points. After fighting the Nightmare King, his sanity slipped to 283 points. One must know that the Nightmare King's attacks never hit him; he was mostly affected by the opponent's aura.

Even so, his sanity still slipped. This means that being attacked by certain enemies in the World of Paintings will cause sanity to drop significantly. Just as the world introduction says, madness spreads to every corner of the World of Paintings.

Anath also mentioned the concept of 'consciousness becoming beast-like.' This can also be understood as a small number of strong individuals who, despite their sanity slipping very low, resist the mental beast-transformation and are in a process of self-confrontation.

When fighting these strong individuals, because their minds have begun to become beast-like, they conduct beast-transformation through body energy when attacking, thereby affecting the mind of the person being attacked. This is why beast-transformation is called Mad Beast Syndrome. This mental beast-transformation can spread through combat; the more severe a person's mental beast-transformation, the more bellicose, bloodthirsty, and powerful they are.

At the peak of mental beast-transformation, they may even experience physical beast-transformation. This is a terrifying situation, representing that the power of the mind has affected the flesh. Once that situation occurs, as long as the heart is sufficiently eager for power, the body will also make corresponding changes.

Mental beast-transformation is transmitted through body energy. When attacking, it causes an impact on the sanity of the person being attacked. This is the reason why sanity slips when enduring attacks from certain enemies.

When sanity slips to 50 points, mental beast-transformation begins gradually. When sanity slips to 0 points, it is an uncontrollable, continuous mental beast-transformation + physical beast-transformation. The consciousness is devoured by the beast born in the heart, which is more terrifying than death.

"Guest, just consider it my small request: can you... leave? You have your own world, or... please, may your mind never become beast-like. I can feel that after you become beast-like, it will be... very terrifying."

Anath stands in the corner with her head bowed. Su Xiao has no interest in how strong he would be after his mind becomes beast-like; he walks out of the room alone.

After going out, he sees Wood standing in front of the room door opposite. There are seven more doors on the wall on the right side of the Shelter Hall, each locked, with a tenant inside each.

Su Xiao comes to the No. 1 door and knocks. The No. 1 tenant is female, making lewd laughter inside. Judging by the voice, the No. 1 tenant is around 40 to 50 years old.

"Go away."

The No. 1 tenant's attitude is poor. There isn't much anger in the shouting, but rather fear. One can imagine a middle-aged woman with messy hair standing behind the door with a sharp table knife, her expression twisted.

Su Xiao comes to the No. 2 door and knocks.

"I have nothing to give you, don't bother me."

This is a man with a slick voice, carrying a hint of cunning.

Su Xiao moves to the No. 3 door and knocks.

"Big brother, I already... have nothing left. Please... please let me go, okay? Woo~"

Crying sounds come from inside.

"..."

Su Xiao walks to the No. 4 door and knocks.

"Get lost! You, you, you, if you dare to come in, I'll fight you to the death."

The sharp male voice inside the room expresses cowardice to the extreme. It is the kind of: 'Get lost, you bastard. If you dare to break in, I'll kneel down to you immediately.'

Su Xiao comes to the No. 5 door and knocks.

"Have you ever been to the desert? The sand in the painting."

An aged voice comes from inside the door, without obvious hostility or a vigilant tone.

"Never been."

"Not yet? Come back to find me after you've been. Strong one who uses a blade, good luck. Don't lose to the beast in your heart. Come back, I'll be waiting for you here."

The aged and hoarse voice fades away. The old man behind the No. 5 door has no more sound. Su Xiao temporarily calls him the No. 5 old man.

Arriving at the No. 6 door, just as Su Xiao is about to knock, he hears a thud inside, as if someone fell, or perhaps someone knelt down. Su Xiao knocks on the door.

"Don't, don't kill me."

Hearing this sentence from inside the door, it is basically certain that the guy inside has knelt down.

He hasn't negotiated with many people before and didn't feel much, but at this moment, Su Xiao deeply feels the effect of -9 charm. He negotiated with 6 people in total: 1 was normal, 2 were in a posture of fighting to the death, 2 were scared to death, and the last guy was even more straightforward—he knelt down through the door.

There is still the No. 7 door left. After Su Xiao lights a cigarette, he goes up and knocks. He knocks intermittently several times, but there is no sound inside.

Trying to pull the door open, Su Xiao finds this wooden door is exceptionally sturdy. If he cuts it with a blade, there is a certain probability of cutting it open, but that would be courting death. The main painting world seems to only have the castle left, but in fact, it hides many secrets. Acting recklessly here is a very unwise choice.

Su Xiao perceives the situation inside the door, but his perception is blocked. Just as he is about to leave, a folded calendar paper is pushed out from the bottom crack of the No. 7 door—the kind of calendar paper as thin as a cicada's wing.

Su Xiao opens the folded calendar paper and finds that it has been used to wrap fried food, with breadcrumb residue still on it. Judging by the shape of the creases, someone once used it to wrap a fried chicken leg.

Confirming this, Su Xiao has a rough guess in his heart. Crystal layers wrap his hands to avoid accidental contact with 'unknown substances.' He unfolds the calendar paper, and on the back of it is written:

'My dear friend, long time no see.'

PS: (Two chapters today, but the word count is okay, not short. One chapter is 3000, one is 3600. I don't know when it started, but Feiwen's updates changed from the 6 PM slot to the 6 AM slot. Dear readers, even if you want to kick Feiwen, Feiwen has one request: please don't kick the crotch.)