Chapter 20: Captured by the Red Dragon
Leon wandered alone in the ancient castle, though it wasn’t exactly aimless.
First, he headed to the spot where Little Light had been “slain.”
It was the entrance of a task room where he had just completed a trio mission with his two daughters. Before they had a chance to celebrate, Little Light had vanished.
Now, at the doorway, the staff had chalked out a human silhouette on the floor.
In the center of the outline were the words:
Friend B.
Little Light’s game identity.
This was how the game marked a “body.”
Leon stood at the “crime scene,” looking down at the outline on the floor, silently contemplating who was still left in the game.
“Noia, Moon, and Claudia should all be on the good side. The only two I can’t be sure about are Roswiser and my older sister.”
“One of the two lone wolves must be one of them.”
“But Roswiser had spent almost half the time bound to me, and I know almost all the item cards she has.”
“As for the times she acted alone… could it really have been enough for her to pull off a ‘remote assassin’ job?”
“And my sister… although there are no clues about her, that makes her the most suspicious.”
“Did she use some item to hide any information about herself, or have we just not found them yet…”
Leon’s investigation range had narrowed significantly.
As Noia had just said in the meeting, once you had a range for investigation, it was no longer like wandering around like a headless chicken.
But even so, Leon couldn’t ignore another speculation about this ‘remote assassin.’
Well, calling it a speculation might be inaccurate; it was more a vague conclusion based on the current situation and some Dragon Slayer instincts about dragons.
There was no decisive evidence to support it, so Leon hadn’t mentioned it to anyone else.
Moreover, it was still unclear who that long-range assassin was. If he brought it up recklessly, it would only bring disaster upon himself.
Lost in thought, Leon inadvertently wandered to another location.
Here, the floor also featured another human silhouette.
Guard
“Ah, it’s Little Helena’s ‘body.'”
Leon sighed as he continued on, lost in contemplation.
In the meantime, he completed a solo mission.
The task reward was surprisingly nice—it was an item card called Great Detective, which allowed him to check if a player had made a k*ll in the last six hours.
The Great Detective card he and Roswiser had previously found had been used to clear Leon’s name.
And now, with the game reaching this stage, a card that could check for kills was incredibly vital.
After all, the fewer players remaining, the more information a k*ll-checking card could provide.
Leon pocketed the Great Detective and resumed his aimless wandering through the castle.
About ten minutes later, he caught a glimpse of a staff member squatting at a corner of the hallway, doodling something.
Leon raised his brows, quickening his pace to investigate.
By the time he reached the spot, the staff member had just left.
Leon glanced after them, then turned back to where they had been.
Suddenly, he staggered back a half-step as if startled.
It was a small human silhouette.
In the center, it read:
Friend A
Moon… had been stabbed!
In an instant, even Leon couldn’t process this sudden turn of events.
When did… how did… Moon get ‘knifed’ by that wolf?
An inexplicable wave of fear began to spread within Leon.
Who would have thought a family team-building game could leave such psychological scars?
After calming himself, Leon slowly crouched down, brushing his fingers over the words Friend A, then breaking into a bittersweet smile.
“Little Moon, you didn’t even get to taste dad’s treats this time.”
Laughing through the pain, Leon stood up, clapped his hands, and his gaze grew more serious and heavy.
Even in a game, one shouldn’t underestimate the ‘revenge’ drive of a doting dad!
……
In the communal kitchen, Roswiser had just finished preparing a small cake, cradling it in her hands.
“Hope this will help.”
“What help?”
A familiar voice suddenly rang out at the kitchen entrance.
Good thing the queen had built up some courage from this game; she wasn’t scared.
She turned around; Leon was leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed.
“What are you doing here?” Roswiser asked.
“Moon has been knifed.”
Leon got right to the point.
Roswiser froze in place, her face going blank.
In a large interactive game with “role-playing” elements, there could be some “off-field factors” involved.
For example, in the game, the Friend Group wasn’t really related to the Royal Chef.
But the twist was that the two little members of the Friend Group were the daughters of the Royal Chef.
So now with the entire Friend Group wiped out, Roswiser couldn’t help but feel some emotional disturbance.
This emotional disturbance wasn’t negative, but it would definitely impact the rhythm and progress of the game.
And it could add some unexpected surprises to the originally straightforward gameplay.
“Do you know who did it?” Roswiser asked in a low voice.
“I don’t.”
“Why wasn’t Noia with Moon? And… why didn’t you call for a Emergency Meeting?”
Leon closed his eyes and took a deep breath, as if hesitating over a decision.
After a moment of turmoil, he pulled out the Great Detective card from his pocket.
“Before I answer your questions, do you mind if I use a checking card on you?”
Roswiser shrugged, “I don’t mind.”
Leon activated the Great Detective.
The result of the k*ll check was…
“Player Royal Chef—”
“Has not made a k*ll in the last six hours.”
Roswiser breathed a sigh of relief. “You wasted a precious checking card, you know.”
Leon shook his head slowly. “No, it wasn’t wasted. I think I might have figured out the nature of the ‘remote assassin.’”
“What nature?”
“In fact, the ‘remote assassin’ is just a facade. Instead of ‘remote,’ it’s more like ‘timed.’”
Leon explained slowly,
“You see, from Little Light to Helena, and then to Moon—did you notice they were all stabbed at a similar time after a meeting ended?”
Roswiser’s silver eyes flickered, her mind racing.
After a moment, she exclaimed, “Each stab has been after a meeting’s end!”
“Exactly! That lone wolf has definitely found some item card that makes one of us d*e every time we finish a meeting.”
Leon added,
“This not only creates the illusion of a ‘remote assassin’ but also successfully conceals their identity.”
“It could even cause us to doubt each other, creating uncontrollable chaos.”
“And then this lone wolf can sit back and enjoy the spoils, comfortably snatching the final victory.”
Once Roswiser absorbed Leon’s reasoning, she pondered for a bit, then asked,
“But can there really be such an exaggerated item card? Wouldn’t that disrupt game balance too much?”
“I guess… to achieve such a ridiculous effect, it wouldn’t be enough to rely solely on item cards. There would need to be some… means. Some means that could affect all players…”
At this point, the couple exchanged knowing glances.
In that moment, they spoke in unison,
“Collective fate!”
“And the only collective fate triggered throughout the game is the potion room.”
“After the potion room’s disease spread, all of us went—”
Before he could finish, a series of footsteps approached from the doorway.
The couple instinctively shut their mouths and turned to look.
A blue-haired figure stepped into view.
It was Claudia.
“Hey, you two! Isn’t it a bit too unique to have a date in the kitchen?” Claudia teased with a laugh.
The couple chuckled along, and Leon quickly inquired, “Did you find anything—”
Leon was interrupted again by another set of footsteps.
But this owner didn’t belong to any current player.
It was a woman in a standard uniform, appearing next to Claudia and politely hooking her arm.
Claudia sighed resignedly. “As you can see, Leon, I’m being sent to the Divine Observation Room.”
Leon and Roswiser both gasped sharply.
Oh no, the Red Dragon has gone mad!
Why not just give her the title of “Strongest Dragon Slayer” already!
“Is… is it because the last meeting exposed your identity and purpose, so you were knifed?” Leon asked.
“I think so.”
Good players who revealed their identities are the easiest to be ‘stabbed.’
Besides, Claudia’s hidden task was to destroy the Black Holy Stone.
So for a lone wolf who wanted to take the black stone, Claudia was a threat that had to be eliminated.
“Was it also a remote stab?”
Claudia blinked, then revealed a knowing smile, subtly shaking her head.
“Miss Claudia, ‘the deceased’ shouldn’t speak too much,” the staff reminded her.
“Okay, sorry.”
Claudia then turned to the couple and said, “Now it’s up to you two. You’ll win, right?”
Before Leon and Roswiser could respond, Claudia was led away by the staff.
Before leaving, she blew a wink at the couple.
Probably a gesture of encouragement.
Once the footsteps faded, Leon slowly turned to Roswiser.
The queen also met his serious gaze.
“Should we just kn*fe my sister directly?”
“I don’t have a card to do that. How about you?”
“I…”
Roswiser looked at the freshly baked cake in her hands. “This dessert is different from the one you had earlier; the one who eats it will be directly eliminated.”
Leon raised an eyebrow, then sighed, a bitter smile creeping on his face.
“But your sister is too clever; she definitely wouldn’t eat it.”
“Yeah… so now we can only find Moon or Claudia’s ‘bodies’ and hold an Emergency Meeting to vote out my sister.”
Now, as the other lone wolf, Leon must team up with the good players.
Just thinking about it, that sly Red Dragon King’s assassination skills were too OP; how could they play without teaming up?
There’s a chance a three-on-one could still result in a counterattack!
So holding an emergency meeting to vote her out was the best option for now.
“Alright, let’s hurry.”
The couple dashed out of the communal kitchen, warily watching their surroundings, cautiously searching.
After seeing Claudia get stabbed, it was clear that Isar was no longer satisfied with simply using “meeting ends” to k*ll.
She had started using k*ll item cards!
Just as Leon predicted at the start of the game, Isar was bound to be the toughest opponent throughout.
“Leon.”
As they ran, Roswiser suddenly spoke.
“What?”
“What if I captured you by my sister again?”
Leon abruptly halted, “What do you mean by again?”
“Remember when I was pregnant with Little Light, and you lost to my sister during that game in the shopping event?”
“…There will absolutely not be a second time! What I lost before, I will reclaim with my own hands!”
Roswiser covered her mouth, softly chuckling. “Alright, good luck then.”
After a little teasing, the couple continued searching for a ‘body’ horror in the castle.
The game required them to stand next to the ‘bodies’ that appeared in that round to hold an Emergency Meeting.
However, after running a couple of laps, they only found Little Light and Helena’s ‘bodies,’ but there was no sign of Claudia.
Even the ‘body’ of Moon that Leon had just seen was gone.
“How could this happen… our precious daughter was just here!”
Leon pointed at a corner of the hallway.
“You all truly are the loving family,” Roswiser snickered as she searched the vicinity, wondering if Leon had made a mistake?
“Excuse me, Little Light, Brother-in-law, are you searching for the clues Little Moon left behind?”
A magnetic, sultry voice sounded from the other side of the corridor.
The couple turned their gaze to where the voice came from.
A red figure in a sleek silhouette stood elegantly, smiling, holding an item card.
“The item card Scene Cleanup can erase the traces of the ‘body’ after causing a k*ll.”
“So before a fixed meeting, you can’t hold an emergency meeting.”
“Now let’s calculate how long it is until the fixed meeting at eight?”
“Oh, it’s a full hour.”
Snap—
Isar took a step forward, her stiletto heels touched the ground with a crisp sound, which echoed eerily like the Grim Reaper dragging a scythe along the floor.
“Perfectly, I have three k*ll item cards left. You three… will be a family affair.”
With a lone wolf revealing herself, it meant she would certainly stab all remaining players before the fixed meeting started.
An hour’s time… was more than enough.
Leon’s gaze locked onto Isar as he slowly backed away, quietly holding Roswiser’s hand.
“Are you going to follow your brother-in-law, Little Light? Well, let me tell you something, you might want to brace yourself.”
“Actually… your brother-in-law is the second lone wolf.”
Roswiser furrowed her brows. “How do you know?”
“Information Card, the only one that almost everyone found from the start.”
“But the aim of ‘the only one’ is too vague; didn’t we rule it out long ago…”
“No, no, no, Little Light, ‘the only one,’ only. Try rearranging those four letters and see what they spell.”
“Only…..o, n, l, y……”
“Ly…on, Leon……”
The Red Dragon Queen smiled with satisfaction. “Exactly. The answer was right in front of us all along; it was just cleverly avoided by my brother-in-law.”
“But if we inferred this based on players’ names, wouldn’t that involve off-field elements?”
“I think that’s part of what makes this game interesting. It only provided the identities of the characters in our story—like Princess, Doctor, Old Friend—but it didn’t give the characters their names. So the players’ names are also a part of the game.”
Roswiser bit her lip, recalling, “So you were doodling on that paper during the second meeting to piece this clue together?”
“Yes. And I haven’t actively targeted Leon because I wanted to see how you two would work together as a couple.”
A flash of victorious pride gleamed in Isar’s crimson eyes as she continued,
“Though it’s a shame; it seems you didn’t quite satisfy me.”
“So let’s wrap up this game quickly. Once I’m done taking care of you two, I’ll go find my lovely niece, and you’ll all be reunited.”
“Run… Roswiser! Quick, run!”
Leon finally made up his mind and pulled Roswiser towards the corridor’s other end.
Watching the couple vanish at lightning speed, Isar wasn’t in a hurry.
“No worries, let’s take care of the Princess first.”
