The Last Gentleman

After this period of interaction, Yi Chen had come to understand Catherine quite thoroughly, if not completely.

Although Catherine was better at playing underhanded tricks, like her nightmare arrangement in Zion—keeping the Prophets in the dark, using a completely new pathological concept such as “Thought” to infiltrate and evade all medical scrutiny.

Her combat level wasn’t bad either, after all, she was composed of countless women who had auditioned for the circus; her “Regenerative” ability could be said to be endless.

If any part of her body was injured, the females from other regions could rapidly crawl over to fill in.

Moreover, Catherine had also defeated Kimberly Cabrella, the deputy director of the Power Station and the leading authority on prosthetics research, which attested to her combat strength.

“My chat with Prophet Marko shouldn’t have lasted long, right? Twenty minutes? Half an hour?

In such a short time, Catherine died once? Could it be that when she reached Center Street, the skin had completely covered it, causing her to lose her nightmare-related privileges.

Did she get caught off guard and suddenly fell victim to a joint sneak attack by Spacy and Teacher Zede?”

No… Catherine couldn’t have made such a rookie mistake, otherwise, she would have been caught in Zion long ago.

Unlike others who would habitually speculate about the mysterious Wrinkled Skin Spacy,

when a variable was mentioned, an image instantly surfaced in Yi Chen’s mind—a ‘paradise full of gym equipment, with Teacher Zede sitting in the center beckoning’.

As Yi Chen was thinking, drip-drop~

A highly viscous liquid smoking like ink dripped down from above, and Yi Chen hastily stepped back.

The liquid increased in volume until something dissolved through the floor…

Thud!

A Human Egg with tentacles on its base smashed down, its surface etched with lines corresponding to countless smiling faces.

Creak~ The top of the egg split open like a blooming flower into four sections,

and there sat Catherine, knees hugged to her chest, coated in nightmare slime, her eyes opening in shock.

Ah!

A piercing scream, a blend of multiple female voices, echoed through the Library.

Catherine, clothed in slime, rose and threw herself into Yi Chen’s embrace.

Her petite body shook with fear, her arms tightening around Yi Chen.

“So scary, to be forcefully killed! William, how could such a terrifying monster be mixed among you humans… I’m done playing! I want to go home!”

But Yi Chen showed no sympathy, his face dark as he said:

“Hey~ can you stop pretending, Catherine? Spit it out, what exactly happened? You, such a cunning person, actually faltered, what did you encounter?”

With Yi Chen’s words, Catherine naturally lost her enthusiasm.

“Tch~ even if you see through someone’s acting, don’t call it out~ really, no sense of fun at all.

What else is there to explain? I was killed, that’s all! Anyway, I’ve realized it’s not just me who was killed.”

“Not just you, what do you mean by that?”

“Mozander was killed too~ That guy is probably sitting on the little bed of the circus, crying his eyes out right now.

I never expected that a small human tribe could cultivate such a monster; it truly exceeded my expectations. The old Skin Market seems quite knowledgeable in nurturing talent.”

“Is it Zede or Wrinkled Skin?”

“Just look at the scoreboard, I’ve already modified the scores.”

On the scoreboard, the Prophet’s name had been crossed out after his departure.

Out of the remaining two, Wrinkled Skin’s score remained unchanged, while Zede’s score had been revised once more.

[Corpse-Hogney Zed]

*As this person’s strength far exceeded the game’s settings, the method for acquiring scores has been changed.

Permission is granted to form alliances to kill and expel this individual. Once successful, a total of 50 points will be distributed according to each person’s contribution. If a game participant manages to enslave this person, they will achieve ultimate victory in the game.

“So it is Teacher Zede, isn’t it…”

Yi Chen didn’t reveal his relationship with Zede, feigning a solemn demeanor as he replied:

“Catherine, do you want to join forces with me?”

“What’s the matter~ There are two of them, too, right? One erodes my nightmares through skin transplants, while the other hides in the shadows, stalking and hunting.”

“If we really manage to kill in alliance, how can we ensure the fairness of score distribution?”

When Catherine heard this, she pouted angrily, which was uncharacteristic of her usual ‘well-behaved’ self, “William, we’ve been together for so long, can’t we even trade the most basic trust?”

“Just kidding, let’s join forces if you want to.

How about I go deal with Wrinkled Skin Spacy first? Otherwise, he might keep causing trouble during our alliance, spreading his ‘skin’ influence incessantly.”

“Pah! Missy here has already investigated at the cost of ‘death’, and the one responsible for the skin transplants basically doesn’t act, but focuses entirely on performing dream skin planting. He seems to trust that eyeless corpse a lot.

We just need to join hands to deal with Zede alone, and if we encounter any interference from the skin along the way, we can figure out a temporary solution to break it.

Remember, William, you and I are allies. Any tendencies to hold back, or even to lead me to death during our collaboration, will be detected by the Soul Contract.

You must cooperate with me earnestly to kill the opponent.”

“Don’t worry, as long as you, Catherine, keep your promise, I definitely won’t play any tricks.

It’s just a corpse, isn’t it? Let’s take care of him!”

Having learned that both the third ringmaster of the Circus and Catherine had been killed by Teacher Zede once before, Yi Chen had already begun to predict the final course of the game.

Moreover,

Yi Chen was also curious to see,

how high the true level of Teacher Zede was, who had always treated him as a student, and how he managed to defeat, and even kill, the two circus members head-on.

…

[Power Station – Dream Room]

Upon awakening, Prophet Marko and Martin performed a self-check with the highest speed.

He didn’t share any experiences from the dream, nor did he call for any assistance. He simply left early, citing physical discomfort as his reason.

The reason was simple; he could deduce that many in Zion were already affected by nightmares on a subconscious level, and even the Power Station might have been infiltrated.

Otherwise, the opposition couldn’t have accessed their personal data to create this nightmare game.

If the Prophet made a show of eradicating the nightmares, there was a high chance that he would prematurely trigger the ‘switches’ embedded in the citizens’ brains, leading to a city-wide outbreak of nightmares.

Marko and Martin had to move in secret, trying their best to remove the latent nightmare threats from the brains of Zion’s citizens before the end of the game.

After a perfect disguise, he randomly appeared in the residences of some solitary gentlemen, starting from the lower streets. Before the residents could react, he used mental suppression to forcibly induce unconsciousness in them.

Utilizing the detection method he learned in the nightmare, he implanted a ‘spiritual wave band’ similar to an antigen into their thinking.

The results were shocking to Marko,

Five randomly-selected residents all produced reactions, with a small amount of nightmare substance leaking from their nostrils, and one even underwent a mutation, showing an eerie smile with tiny tentacles growing from all five orifices.

“Such a high proportion?

If the lower sector is over 80% eroded in thought, relying solely on myself will not be enough to eradicate it by the end of the game. It’s necessary to call for help.”

Just as Marko and Martin stepped out of the lower sector residence in their disguises, a crisp and rhythmic sound of hammering attracted his attention.

The stall of [Maid Pancakes] came into view,

A maid, who looked quick and professional at her task but was actually quite unskilled, was making pancakes for her customers.

“Is that… Yuri’s maid?”