In the brightly lit bedroom, the two exchanged a look.

"?"

That was certainly the case…

But Hyperion felt that if Augustine was controlled by Lan Qi, it would be a truly serious problem!

She had already understood Lan Qi's coded language.

This guy wanted to personally rescue Augustine.

Then, control Augustine.

Obtain a sixth-tier bloodkin test subject at his mercy!

You're not a traitor, but what you're doing is worse than betrayal!

"Stissela, you'll have to stay in this room for the next few days. Our livestream can't reveal the fact that you've become our companion. Publicly, we're still mortal enemies, but we'll bring you three meals a day, and you can tell us if you need anything."

Lan Qi said to the priestess Stissela.

Stissela nodded obediently.

Although she knew that the challengers couldn't directly trust her, Lan Qi's words made her feel very comfortable and secure.

"Hyperion, let's talk as we walk."

Lan Qi had already walked to the bedroom door with his notebook in hand. His fingers lightly grasped the doorknob by the doorframe, and with a gentle pull, the ancient door hinge emitted a slight squeak. The thick door quietly opened, and a biting chill of the late-night castle corridor rushed in.

"Okay."

The two walked out of Room 203, and the door slowly closed and locked. The carvings on the door cast mottled shadows under the corridor lights, as if telling of the ages that had settled in this era.

In the corridor on the second floor, wall lamps cast a warm yellow light, which shone softly on them, stretching their shadows long.

"What exactly are you going to do…?"

Hyperion asked Lan Qi as they walked along the castle's second-floor corridor.

They walked side by side, the black wooden floor beneath them was endlessly silent, and they could hear their own heartbeats.

"You think sealing a bloodkin viscount counts as merit, right?"

Lan Qi turned his head and looked into Hyperion's eyes with a smile.

"…?"

Hyperion's eyes widened slightly.

"Yes, that's right."

She knew that, generally speaking, completing this kind of key reversal step in a more circuitous process would add an achievement to the Shadow World's final score, and would also correspondingly increase the overall score.

Taking the most exaggerated SSS rating achieved by the Purgatory Corridor Academy last time, Lan Qi had completed a large number of unusual achievements that normal challengers couldn't possibly achieve.

This time, their team must have also completed some extremely strange achievements, but even Hyperion wasn't sure whether the final evaluation would be SS or SSS.

Under normal challenges, an A-level or S-level rating was already the limit. Going higher would only be possible by messing up the entire Shadow World in a particularly outrageous way.

Hyperion felt that Lan Qi might want to make one last sprint, to get a high score and ensure a stable SSS.

But compared to the achievements that Lan Qi and Frey had already achieved, even if there were still a few scoring points that could be mined on Mission Objective 2, how much impact could it have on the overall already exaggerated score?

"Hyperion, you also know, right? When bloodkin reach daytime, they hide in a safe place, sealing themselves in coffins to ensure that they won't be exposed to sunlight or be dug out by enemies."

Lan Qi explained carefully to Hyperion.

"I know."

Hyperion thought for a moment and nodded.

This was indeed common knowledge that had been mentioned at the beginning of the Shadow World.

Bloodkin themselves possessed sealing techniques that could protectively seal themselves.

"Then, if we can train the viscount and the coffin combination into a fully automatic sealing cycle machine, so that he repeats the 'unsealing' - 'sealing' - 'unsealing' process for four days, wouldn't that count as me sealing the viscount tens of thousands of times?"

Lan Qi spread his hands triumphantly and explained with a smile.

If each sealing of a bloodkin viscount counted as a merit, then he would definitely be accumulating immeasurable merit over these four days!

"…?"

Hyperion stared at Lan Qi's emerald green eyes, her eyes widening.

Her lips parted slightly, but she couldn't utter a sound for a long time!

Seeing the pure smile on Lan Qi's face, Hyperion was certain that Lan Qi had come up with a way to frantically farm merit by sacrificing it!

So, the achievements they had achieved in this Shadow World earlier were just foreshadowing, and the real scoring gift pack was just beginning.

And so, the corridor was eerily quiet.

They passed one bedroom after another, glancing through the windows, they could see the forest under the moonlight outside, like a sleeping behemoth, mysterious and quiet.

The rows of portraits on the walls, the landscapes and portraits in those paintings seemed to dance with their footsteps, their gazes seeming to carry curiosity, leisure, and even seriousness.

Since coming to this Shadow World, Hyperion hadn't been afraid many times because Lan Qi was by her side.

Now, she was very afraid because Lan Qi was by her side.

"Lan Qi…"

"Hmm?"

"Never mind…"

The two reached the stairwell, their palms sliding over the carved handrail, the traces of time carved into the stone were rough and cold.

After finding the traitor earlier, the focus had shifted to facing the Saintess of Destruction and Earl Palocas, and everyone had stopped caring about the identities of the werewolf and the witch.

Now, in addition to Hyperion, who was known to be a witch, to undo Augustine's seal, they also needed to find the werewolf.

Hyperion increasingly felt that Lan Qi had walked the path of two traitors' entire lives in just five minutes.

Continuing silence.

Stepping onto the staircase paved with whole stones, each step echoed slightly, like the heartbeat of this castle in the middle of the night.

Soon, the two of them arrived on the third floor. A breeze drifted in from the open window in the stairwell, carrying the fresh and cool night air from the higher reaches.

"Lan Qi, I always feel like this isn't really merit…"

Hyperion, who had been wanting to say something but stopping, finally expressed her thoughts euphemistically.

"Are we really going to make Augustine do sit-ups for four whole days…"

Hyperion muttered softly.

She was doing her best to save Lan Qi's humanity.

She remembered the first time she met Lan Qi, he at least seemed like a person.

Even during the third round of the entrance exam, when the two of them first cooperated, Lan Qi was still in the category of animals.

Ever since that trip to the Purgatory Corridor Academy, Lan Qi had begun to sprint wildly in an unknown direction.

His condition seemed to have worsened again.

She couldn't imagine what he would become after Lan Qi mixed into the Resurrection Church and experienced the remaining two Shadow Worlds of the Blood Moon Ruined World series…

"Don't worry, we'll leave the specific work to the poets of great love and the clergy. We're only responsible for rescuing Augustine and sending him to the clergy. The work done by the clergy, the merit is directly issued by the goddess of fate, officially certified."

Lan Qi explained logically.

Although the merit might be earned as a price difference by the three clergy members as middlemen, the official channels and authentic products were trustworthy.

"When we've finished developing the fully automatic Augustine cycle device, we can also record it in the report 'On Ecological Balance and Bloodkin Governance'."

Lan Qi even rubbed his palms expectantly, feeling that this trip to the Shadow World was truly rewarding.

"?"

Hyperion was stunned again when she heard this.

She covered her face with both hands and gradually began to sob.

She had worked hard for more than ten years to be recognized as a person by the people of Yikrite, but in the end, she met Lan Qi, and her dream was shattered in one morning.

——

Dads, please give me some monthly tickets at the end of the month. Xi Zhi kowtows, bang bang bang!

(End of this chapter)