Chapter 177 — Light Slumber
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
The term "supplementary setting" that Gao Yang used was quite novel to Amber and Philip Kanse, but explaining its meaning was not complicated. Gao Yang needed only a few words for the two of them to understand what it meant.
"So what's happening in this castle is like a stage play, and everyone inside the castle is an 'actor' who doesn't know they're in one?" Philip Kanse said, offering his interpretation. "Normally they live here as if hypnotized, and because of long-term mental interference they don't notice anything off about their daily lives at all. But outsiders like us break the 'logic' of the stage play—the plot contradicts the facts, so the play can't go on. That's why the mastermind behind the scenes who created and maintains this stage has to patch up his 'script'?"
Amber looked Philip Kanse up and down several times, staring until this upright and honest young man was covered in goosebumps, before she finally spoke: "Ugh, the way you put it gives me even more goosebumps!"
"My lord, I believe we should put a stop to this evil ritual at once!" Philip ignored Amber and said with a solemn expression. "The Kant Domain's practice of seizing refugees probably didn't start recently—their wicked deeds may have been carried out in secret for decades! All the innocents who entered this land and vanished without a trace during that time must have become sacrifices to maintain the illusion. The cost of placing the entire castle under the influence of such dark magic must be enormous!"
"Right," Amber said, showing a rare eagerness, "every minute and every second, it's human lives!"
Gao Yang frowned and looked at the two before him: "How do you think we should go about this?"
"If all else fails, just lay our cards on the table with that old man—confront him face to face. If he admits it, cut him down. If he doesn't, find a way to make him admit it, then cut him down," Amber urged vigorously. "There's probably no one in this castle who can beat you, so you go first."
Not only Gao Yang—even Philip was long accustomed to Amber's style of "anyone can go first as long as it's not me." He merely glanced at the half-elf with disdain, then slowly nodded: "My lord, without a doubt, Viscount Victor Kant is the mastermind behind all of this. In the entire Kant Domain, only he has both the motive and the ability to carry out such an evil scheme..."
"So Victor Kant is the black hand..." Gao Yang didn't directly respond to their proposal, but voiced his own doubts instead. "Actually, there's one thing I can't figure out: no matter how little the Kant Domain normally interacts with the outside world, surely there'd be at least two or three basic visitors each year? Are we really the only ones who've caused a flaw in the castle's 'grand illusion'? Did no one who came here before ever notice? Lady Lilith Kant comes out of the north tower every night and walks about the castle—has no other servant ever seen her? And if some servant did see her, did those servants never mention to anyone else in the domain, when they left the castle on errands, that 'there's a living viscountess in the castle'?"
Amber frowned at this: "The part about no other visitors noticing is easy to explain—normal guests probably wouldn't come in with the mindset of digging up someone's secrets and gathering intelligence everywhere like we did from the start. As for the people in the castle... they're all hypnotized, aren't they? Maybe the moment they leave Xuanyue Castle, their perception and memories change completely?"
Seeing Gao Yang still looking deep in thought, Amber finally couldn't hold back her muttering: "If I were you, I wouldn't hesitate. That old man is obviously off. Just grab him and give him a beating—wouldn't everything become clear then?"