Chapter 372: Seeing Off

A sharp, piercing scream filled with terror reached the ears of every guest in the grand drawing room, causing their hearts to tremble and an uncontrollable sense of fear to take hold.

The painter Ma Lun was quite sensitive to this; pale and looking rather unhealthy, he looked toward Count Pu Yifu and asked with concern:

"What happened?"

At this moment, Count Pu Yifu was slightly furrowing his brows, looking somewhat puzzled.

Hearing Ma Lun's question, he snapped out of it and smiled in a relaxed, natural manner:

"Perhaps there was a small accident. I'll have a servant go and ask about the specific situation. Rest assured, this won't affect us. What could possibly happen?"

Having said that, Count Pu Yifu signaled his personal manservant, who was staying in a corner of the grand drawing room, to head toward where the scream had occurred.

Then he said to all the guests:

"Continue, please continue."

While speaking, this member of the Sauron family cast his gaze toward Lu Mi.

Ever since the gold bars were offered, he had been observing every move and subtle expression of this "Emperor," wanting to figure out why it was he who had eaten the piece of King Cake with the gold coin instead of himself.

Lu Mi endured the slight madness permeating his body and looked at the painter Ma Lun, saying:

"Paint a picture with your buttocks."

As the prank king of Cordu Village, his arsenal had plenty of choices, enough to arrange a "memorable" task for every game participant present.

But this was not the issue Lu Mi was most concerned about; the bloody spirit hovering above the sofa area made him very worried.

This strange, terrifying thing had not left because it couldn't invade Lu Mi's body; it still lingered in mid-air, showing no signs of weakening, and was even radiating irritability, bloodthirst, and anger outward.

Lu Mi even suspected that the scream from earlier and the lingering mad spirit had a certain connection.

The handsome but pale and exhausted-looking painter Ma Lun had never heard of painting with one's buttocks before, so he stood there a bit stunned, not knowing what to do.

Influenced by the thought that since they had already accepted their tasks, they couldn't let others escape, the novelist Anuo Li and the others not only excitedly egged him on and had the surrounding servants bring over paint and drawing paper, but they also actively "helped" Ma Lun undo his belt.

Ma Lun couldn't escape, so he had no choice but to apply paint to his buttocks and press them onto the drawing paper several times in succession, barely managing to complete a work that looked like a toddler's scribble.

Seeing this scene, the novelist Anuo Li had a sudden inspiration:

"How about we frame it and send it to those art critics? Let's see what kind of evaluation they give such a piece of work.

"The painting will be signed with the word 'Emperor', and for the title, hmm, Ma Lun, do you have any ideas?"

Ma Lun avoided the crowd, wiped his buttocks, thought for a moment, and said:

"Just call it 'Cafe'."

"What is the significance of that?" asked Kang Nai'er, editor-in-chief of the *Little Trier* newspaper, curiously.

"There is no significance; I just happened to think of that term." Ma Lun shook his head, threw away the paint-stained handkerchief and soft paper, and pulled up his trousers. "This painting itself has no significance."

While they were discussing, Count Pu Yifu's personal manservant walked back to the grand drawing room and whispered a few words into his master's ear.

Influenced by the hidden mad aura of the "Blood Emperor," even though Lu Mi concentrated his mind completely, he couldn't hear clearly what the other party was saying, only barely distinguishing a few words:

"Loss... injury... danger..."

Count Pu Yifu's expression sank slightly, revealing a sense of solemnity.

He immediately nodded slightly, signaling his personal manservant to return to his previous position, while he himself put on an appearance that it was nothing major.

While observing the expression of this member of the Sauron family, Lu Mi tried his best to think of a way to make that mad spirit leave:

Surely he couldn't wait until everyone had completed their assigned tasks? No, one step was still missing. When the last King Cake game ended, the piece of King Cake offered to Vermond Sauron had been eaten by Count Pu Yifu...

Thinking of this, Lu Mi cast his gaze toward the piece of sacrifice still on the plate, then leaned his body forward, reached out his right hand, and picked it up.

Regarding this, Count Pu Yifu had no questions.

In his view, it would be problematic if "Xia Er" didn't go to take that piece of sacrifice!

Almost simultaneously, the mad spirit that was hovering and radiating negative influence seemed to have been provoked, suddenly fixing itself above Lu Mi's head.

It poured out all kinds of negative emotions, as if cursing this lowly human who dared to eat its sacrifice.

Lu Mi felt anger, hatred, and a gnashing of teeth as if it wanted to tear his soul apart.

Not only was he not afraid, but he even revealed a smile.

This meant he had done the right thing!

If that mad spirit hadn't reacted much to his taking of the sacrifice, he wouldn't have known how to stop it from continuing to linger above everyone's heads.

This didn't mean it would definitely succeed, and there might still be danger, but at least it was better than the King Cake game participants becoming increasingly irritable and bloodthirsty, eventually killing each other.

By then, Lu Mi could still "teleport" away, while the others, except for Count Pu Yifu, probably wouldn't survive.

Of course, he couldn't predict whether any mutations would occur or new dangers would arise after he ate the sacrifice, but in the current situation, doing something was better than doing nothing.

For the participants of the King Cake game, if Lu Mi didn't try, they would definitely die; if he did, there was still a significant hope.

Lu Mi brought the piece of King Cake that served as the sacrifice to his mouth and took a big bite.

That mad spirit became increasingly angry and violent.

It no longer hovered above the heads of others, but circled right above Lu Mi's head, occasionally wanting to descend, occasionally trying to tear the target apart, but all held back by the aura of Alista Tudor, instinctively stopping.

Another scream suddenly rang out.

This came from somewhere in Red Tianebao and did not belong to the same person as the previous scream.

The previous one was male, this one was female.

Count Pu Yifu's eyelids twitched, and he smiled, saying:

"It must be the servant cleaning up the accident who was frightened by some rather terrifying scene."

Literary critic An Yong and the other guests all accepted this explanation.

On one hand, they were guests and had no right to ask about what happened in the castle; on the other hand, they were gradually immersed in the King Cake game, a bit fanatical, a bit impatient, a bit anxious, and not as concerned about other things as before.

Lu Mi ate the piece of King Cake that served as the sacrifice bite by bite, treating the invisible anger and curses of the mad spirit as music playing in his ears.

Compared to the terrifying whispers he heard every time he obtained a Gift, this was a wonderful performance by a symphony orchestra.

Under the premise that it couldn't truly make a sound and didn't dare to invade his body, the mad spirit could only indirectly affect his emotions and state.

During this process, Lu Mi also distracted himself by arranging tasks for different people, discovering that the participants only had the game in their eyes.

From time to time, a scream would ring out in the castle, making one's hair stand on end and one's back turn cold.

Finally, Lu Mi finished gnawing the sacrifice, and the mad spirit hovering above his head stopped abruptly.

The next second, it disappeared mysteriously, as if it had evaporated into thin air.

The participants of the King Cake game still appeared fanatical, but were no longer so irritable and violent.

Lu Mi quietly let out a breath and turned his head to say to Ai Luodi beside him:

"Dance a twist, and if you don't know how, find someone else to teach you."

Compared to the can-can, which was full of sexual suggestions, the twist seemed relatively normal as long as it wasn't a dance between a man and a woman; it just looked a bit funny.

Ai Luodi relaxed, left her seat, and began to twist her body in an unskilled manner.

Amidst everyone's laughter, Lu Mi arranged tasks for the remaining participants again.

After all the participants had taken a turn, he straightened his body and said in a posture of looking down on everyone:

"The last task:

"Keep it a secret; you cannot tell anyone about today's game situation."

"Yes, Your Majesty the Emperor!" Ai Luodi and the others, still immersed in the game atmosphere, responded in unison, their expressions respectful.

Of course, this was also because a trace of the "Blood Emperor" aura still remained on Lu Mi, secretly influencing them.

Seeing that every participant presented an instinctive obedience, Lu Mi quietly let out a breath, revealed a smile, and said:

"Today's game ends here."

Count Pu Yifu stood up accordingly and made a gesture of invitation with a smile:

"Let's go to the dining room now."

Going from the drawing room to the dining room would inevitably pass through the main hall of the castle. Lu Mi, who had returned to normal, saw out of the corner of his eye several manservants and maids busy near the corridor.

They were using mops to clean up a patch of reddish water stains.

Reddish... Lu Mi's eyelids twitched slightly, and he withdrew his gaze.

After dinner ended and everyone had bid their farewells, Lu Mi also found Count Pu Yifu and smiled as he took out the five heavy gold bars.

Count Pu Yifu shook his head:

"Since it was a game I proposed, I must follow the rules. Are you looking down on me, thinking I'm short of these 30,000 Felkins?"

"This is politeness." Lu Mi responded with a smile, not declining, and swiftly and smoothly stuffed the gold bars back into his pocket.

According to the agreement, he let the poet Yi Lai Te sit in his four-wheeled, four-seater carriage and, using the excuse that he had limited cash on him, only gave the other party 3,000 Felkins.

Yi Lai Te didn't care at all, put away the banknotes, and chatted about his aesthetic views.

When the carriage started moving, Lu Mi asked:

"Which district are you going to?"

"Just send me to the Sacred Heart Monastery." Yi Lai Te said with a face full of smiles. "I'm going there to find a friend. A poet who has received sponsorship always finds friends to have a big drink with."

Sacred Heart Monastery, huh... Lu Mi nodded slightly, raised his voice, and gave an instruction to the coachman.

Not long after, the carriage arrived at the monastery, which was as beautiful as an oil painting. Even in the dark night, the gold on the surface of the walls reflected the crimson moonlight, appearing exceptionally dreamy.

After watching Yi Lai Te walk into the monastery, Lu Mi instructed the coachman to return to Spring Street in the Memorial Hall District.

Amidst the *da-da-da* sound of horse hooves, patches of forest and fields were left behind.

Suddenly, the magnificent, layered voice of Te Er Mi Bo Luo Si echoed in Lu Mi's ears:

"A dangerous creature has been following you since Red Tianebao.

"It is full of hostility and is about to launch an attack."

A dangerous creature... Lu Mi narrowed his eyes, calmly opened the carriage door, and jumped down easily.

He said to the coachman, using the majesty remaining from his role-playing as the Emperor:

"Wait for me at the small town ahead."

The coachman hesitated for two seconds before finally choosing to obey the order.

While watching him and the carriage leave, Lu Mi unhurriedly took out the "Torture" gauntlets from the briefcase he was carrying and calmly and casually put the iron-black items on his hands.

The nearby forest suddenly became darker, and the small river flowing through here seemed to have been stained with a blood-like red.

PS: The audiobook for *Fate* can be reserved today~

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 373 =====