073 Shadow World: Snowstorm Illusions in the Wild Mountains
“I’m… I’m sorry!”
Cornelia suddenly panicked; she hadn’t expected the cat to react so strongly.
She was worried that the cat, which had finally shown a willingness to be close to her, would run away.
“Meow…”
The cat seemed to sigh, reluctantly walking back to Cornelia’s side and lying down beside her.
This made Cornelia’s eyes light up in an instant.
She picked up the cat again, gently stroking it with great affection.
So they stayed together, as the sun began to set, and the evening glow appeared.
“Meow.”
The cat called out.
It had to leave.
The transformation had lasted this long, and its magic was nearing its limit.
“Can you… can you live with me?”
Cornelia understood the cat’s meaning, full of reluctance and sorrow.
She wanted to take the cat back to the dormitory.
The cat shook its head.
“Then… will I still be able to see you?”
“Meow.”
The cat raised its paw.
Cornelia joyfully extended her hand to gently high-five it.
Then she watched the cat leave until its figure disappeared from sight.
…
In the compulsory class on Monday morning, Dekan noticed that Cornelia was distracted throughout the entire lesson.
Until they went to the library together in the afternoon.
Cornelia continued to stare blankly at the book for quite a while.
In what seemed to be an unconscious state, the tip of her pen sketched a cat’s head on the paper.
Dekan leaned in slightly to take a look.
Though it was quite abstract, he could roughly recognize that the cat’s head was that of the cat he had transformed into yesterday.
At this moment, it seemed that Dekan’s hair color caught Cornelia’s eye, stirring up her memories and affecting her expression.
Unconsciously, she sniffed near Dekan.
Dekan immediately felt a bit uneasy.
But maintaining his composure, he subtly pulled away from Cornelia.
Cornelia looked at Dekan, seeming to hesitate for a moment.
“Have you… have you seen it too?”
“Ah, yes, that’s Teacher Cat’s friend. Sometimes they come over to eat at my house.”
Dekan spoke a simple truth.
Cornelia nodded.
After all, Dekan was quite popular with cats, and the kind cat must have also been close to Dekan.
“Next time, can you bring me to play with it?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks!”
From that moment, even while studying, the corners of Cornelia’s mouth couldn’t help but curl up slightly.
This made Dekan feel relieved but also a bit worried.
What if one day, the truth came out? The severity of the situation could be rather unpredictable.
He had to ensure that playing both roles went seamlessly.
They passed a calm Tuesday, and it was time for the Beautiful Soul Squad’s Shadow World.
Early Wednesday morning, Dekan and Cornelia brought Teacher Cat to the entrance of the Shadow World.
Of course, there was also Chloix to see them off.
Chloix’s expression was a bit forlorn; it was obvious he wanted to join Dekan and Cornelia.
But he could only hope that Dekan and Cornelia would quickly reach the fourth level.
“Even if you’re waiting outside, you’re still a part of our team. Wait for us.”
Dekan patted Chloix’s arm and said.
“Mm, good luck!”
The three of them fist-bumped and then bid a quick farewell.
Teacher Cat was already growing impatient as it lay on Dekan’s head.
“Let’s hurry up, meow!”
Under Teacher Cat’s urging, the three of them stepped through the Void Gate together.
What followed was the familiar darkness and silence.
Soon, their vision became clear and bright, signaling they had successfully entered the Shadow World.
It seemed they hadn’t been forced into some mini-game at the start this time.
They appeared to be in a more free state.
Cornelia was right beside him, while Teacher Cat had stealthily slipped into his shadow the moment they arrived in the Shadow World.
Cornelia’s appearance hadn’t changed.
It seemed they all retained their original looks.
Only their outfits had changed; both he and Cornelia were wearing slightly heavier winter clothing.
Indeed, they looked quite human.
The two began to examine their surroundings.
This was a living room that looked extravagantly exaggerated.
A huge golden chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating a classical-style carpet that nearly covered the entire floor in a mix of golden and brown hues.
The warm-toned décor and the soft beige curtains offered no hint of the endless chill coming from outside the window.
Cold winds howled, occasionally smashing the falling snowflakes harshly against the tall, closed windows of the living room.
Even though the thick curtains didn’t move, the noise made it seem as if the wind and snow could break the glass at any moment, causing chaos within.
Outside, the sky was a bleak white, and if it weren’t for the few magical lamps still lit in the garden, the ground outside might not have been visible at all.
The grass and flowerbeds were covered in a layer of snow, turning them into a thin sea of white cotton candy, and the continually falling snowflakes seemed to raise the ground slowly.
Soon, a prompt appeared before them.
[Shadow World: Snowstorm Illusions in the Wild Mountains]
[Level: Fourth]
[In this mountain villa, subjected to harsh weather, the 10 challengers will take refuge here. Unbeknownst to them, 2 of them have been granted the power of the curse hidden within this ancient house, which will transform them into formidable beings at night.]
[Mission Objective: Survive for 72 hours.]
[Total Number of Challengers: 10]
[Regular Challengers: 8]
[Reverse Challengers: 2]
[The Reverse Challengers have an additional mission objective; should they succeed, it will threaten the original world.]
[The ancient house offers a total of 10 bedrooms, blessed with protective magic, capable of resisting attacks of the sixth level and below.]
[The Reverse Challengers are endowed with the following two types of cursed powers.]
[Witch’s Power: Can break the blessing of a specific room, usable twice each night; once broken, the blessing cannot be restored.]
[Werewolf’s Power: Can transform into a werewolf with sixth-level combat strength, only applicable from 10 PM to 6 AM.]
[Time remaining: 2 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes.]
[Current time: 6:30 AM.]
[All challengers start in the villa’s hall.]
…
The spectator room erupted in chatter once again.
“Did Dekan and the others enter a confrontational instance this time?”
“Yes, the basis for this type of internal conflict triggered in the Shadow World is that there are challengers among them who have a strong desire to cause damage to the real world, and these individuals will become the Reverse Challengers.”
“A villa in the mountains, late-night slaughters… It feels like this Shadow World will be bloody…”
“Such mutually suspicious and murderous instances often test the psychological resilience of the challengers. Sometimes before reaching the final moment, a challenger’s mental defenses might already have collapsed.”
“Come on, with these two unlucky souls in there, even Death would have to crawl to get out.”
