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Chapter 162: Lanchi's Virtuous Plan
Chapter 162: Lanchi's Virtuous Plan
In the brightly lit bedroom, the two glanced at each other.
"Hmm?"
Indeed, that was true...
But what truly concerned Lady Hepburn was the idea of Viscount Augustine falling under Lanchi's control. That would be a disaster!
She had caught on to Lanchi's subtle hint.
He wanted to rescue Viscount Augustine himself and bring him under his control, gaining a sixth-rank vampire as his personal guinea pig to do with as he pleased.
You might not be a betrayer, but your actions speak louder than any betrayal!
"Stacy, I'm afraid you'll have to stay cooped up in this room for the next few days. Our live broadcast cannot reveal the fact that you've joined forces with us. On the surface, we're still enemies, but we'll bring you three meals a day, and you can let us know if you need anything." Lanchi explained the situation to the priestess, Stacy.
Stacy nodded obediently.
While she understood that the challengers might not fully trust her yet, Lanchi's words made her feel at ease.
"Hepburn, let's talk as we walk." Lanchi, already holding his notebook, stood by the bedroom door. He gently gripped the doorknob, and with a slight pull, the ancient door hinges creaked softly, and the thick door opened, allowing the chilly air of the castle corridor to wash over them.
"Mhm."
The two stepped out of Room 203, and the door slowly closed and locked behind them. The carved flowers on the back of the door cast intricate shadows under the corridor's lighting, as if whispering tales of the era's passage.
In the corridor on the second floor, wall lamps bathed the area in a warm yellow glow, casting long shadows of the duo on the floor.
"Just what are you planning to do...?" Hepburn asked Lanchi as they walked down the castle's second-floor hallway.
They walked side by side, their footsteps silent on the black wooden floorboards, the only sound the steady beat of their hearts.
"Wouldn't you consider it a virtuous deed to seal a vampire viscount just once?" Lanchi turned his head and asked, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth as he looked at Hepburn.
"Huh?" Hepburn's eyes widened slightly in surprise.
"Yes, indeed," she replied, knowing full well that by completing such a pivotal reversal step in a more convoluted process, one would gain an additional achievement that would boost their final score in the Shadow World.
Using the last time they were in the Inferno Corridor as an example, Lanchi had achieved an outrageous SSS rating by accomplishing a slew of abnormal feats that a typical challenger could never have hoped to attain.
Undoubtedly, their team had accomplished some bizarre achievements during this challenge as well, but even Hepburn couldn't be sure if their final rating would be SS or SSS.
Normally, an A or S rating would be the highest attainable, and anything beyond that would require an extraordinary performance that threw the entire Shadow World into chaos.
Hepburn sensed that Lanchi was aiming for one last sprint to boost their score and secure the SSS rating.
However, given the already extravagant rating that Lanchi and Fred had likely achieved, how much of an impact could a few extra points from Task Objective 2 really make?
"As you know, Hepburn, vampires hide during the day in a safe place, sealing themselves within a coffin to ensure they aren't exposed to sunlight or discovered by enemies," Lanchi explained patiently.
"I'm aware," Hepburn nodded, remembering that this was common knowledge in the Shadow World.
"So, if we can train Viscount Augustine and his coffin to function as an automated sealing machine, having him repeat the 'unseal'–'seal'–'unseal' process under my command for four days... wouldn't that count as me sealing the viscount tens of thousands of times?"
Lanchi spread his hands out proudly and explained with a smile.
"If sealing a vampire viscount once counts as a virtuous deed, then I'll surely accumulate boundless virtue over these four days!"
"..."
Hepburn stared at Lanchi, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. She couldn't find the words to respond, even as her mind raced.
Seeing the innocent smile on Lanchi's face, she knew he had devised a sacrificial plan to rack up virtue points! It seemed that all their previous achievements in this Shadow World had merely been laying the groundwork for the true point-scoring extravaganza that was about to unfold.
The corridor fell into an eerie silence.
As they passed by each bedroom, they glanced through the windows and saw the moonlit forest outside, silent and mysterious like a slumbering beast.
The portraits lined up along the walls, their landscapes and subjects appearing to dance with their footsteps, their gazes curious, leisurely, and even stern.
Since arriving in this Shadow World, Hepburn had rarely felt afraid, thanks to Lanchi's presence.
But now, she was terrified because of him.
"Lanchi..."
"Hmm?"
"Never mind..."
Their hands trailed over the carved stone balustrade as they reached the staircase, the marks of time etched into the stone feeling rough and cold under their palms.
After identifying the traitor earlier, their focus had shifted to countering the Destroying Saintess and Count Palocas. The identities of the werewolf and the witch had taken a back seat for now.
Besides Hepburn, who was known to be the witch, they still needed to find the werewolf to break Viscount Augustine's seal.
Hepburn felt that Lanchi had, in just five minutes, walked the entire treacherous path that two traitors had walked in history.
Silence prevailed as they continued their descent.
Each step on the solid stone staircase produced a faint echo, like the heartbeat of the castle in the depths of the night.
Soon, they reached the third floor, where a gentle breeze blew in through the open windows, carrying the crisp, cold air of the higher floors.
"Lanchi, I can't shake the feeling that this might not really count as a virtuous deed..."
Hepburn, who had been hesitating to speak her mind, finally voiced her concerns gently.
"Are we really going to make Viscount Augustine do sit-ups for four straight days...?"
She muttered, her voice laced with worry.
Hepburn was doing her best to salvage whatever remained of Lanchi's humanity.
She remembered the first time she had met him; he had still been somewhat human.
Even during their first collaboration in the third round of entrance exams, he had been within the realm of animality.
But ever since their journey through the Inferno Corridor, Lanchi had started sprinting down an unknown path of madness.
And now, his condition seemed to be deteriorating further.
She dared not imagine what he would become after infiltrating the Resurrection Church and experiencing the remaining two Shadow Worlds of the Blood Moon Calamity series...
"Don't worry," Lanchi reassured her. "We'll just focus on rescuing Viscount Augustine and handing him over to the clergy. The actual work of sealing and unsealing will be done by the clergy, and the virtue points will be dispensed by the Goddess of Fate herself—it's an officially sanctioned transaction."
Lanchi's explanation was logical and well-reasoned.
Even if the three clergy members took a cut of the virtue points as intermediaries, it was still an official channel, guaranteeing genuine virtue.
"Once we've developed the fully automated Viscount Augustine cycling device, we can even document it in the 'Report on Ecological Balance and Vampire Governance,'" Lanchi added, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He felt that this trip to the Shadow World was turning out to be incredibly fruitful.
"?"
Hepburn was stunned once again by Lanchi's words.
She covered her face with her hands, her shoulders beginning to shake as she struggled to hold back her tears.
For over a decade, she had strived to be recognized as human by the people of Ikelyte, but now, because of Lanchi, her dream lay shattered.
...
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(End of Chapter)
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