Chapter 535: Under the Blood Calamity, Events Between Buildings and Within Buildings |
Titan Ruins.
Shadow Prison Building.
Inside the Safe Zone, the Gothic structure rose imposingly, two searchlights at its summit like the twin eyes of a troll.
Suddenly, a black tide released from the base of the Shadow Prison Building, sweeping rapidly over the entire Safe Zone.
Monsters burst out from the Blood Mist World and immediately fell into the black tide, as if sinking into another dimension, disappearing completely.
“Heh heh heh heh~”
On the top floor, a man with a birthmark on his left cheek laughed in a sinister, rattling way. “All of our Shadow Prison Building’s traits are for defense. This Blood Calamity will definitely be something we can withstand!”
Another young man laughed the same way and chimed in, “By then the other dorm buildings will be in trouble!”
The two were twins, one with a birthmark on his left cheek, the other on his right.
“Tsk tsk, our Shadow Prison Building’s difficulty is just too high. We didn’t dare pick growth traits, so now we’re almost third-tier with such weak foundations.”
“This Blood Calamity is our chance.”
“When the other dorms are exhausted by the calamity, that’ll be our moment to take over the battlefield!”
“Hahaha, I’ve always heard conquering other dorms yields huge rewards. I wonder what the Shadow Prison Building will give us then!”
The speaker was a handsome man, his jawline delicate and refined—an otherworldly kind of handsome, clearly someone who had invested heavily in charm.
“Xiao Wu, Da Wu, our leader asked me to check with you: did you confirm the intel you were probing?” the handsome man asked.
“Brother Chen, you can trust us to handle it!” The left-cheek-birthmark youth took out a locator with three red dots on it.
The handsome man’s gaze flicked over the other two red dots and landed on the leftmost one, his eyes shining.
The other two red dots were old rivals of the Shadow Prison Building; there wasn’t much to say about them.
Pointing at the leftmost dot, the left-cheek-birthmark youth said, “This is a dorm we discovered while scouting ‘Ghost Tomb’. It wasn’t there before; it should have just been unsealed recently!”
At that remark, the handsome man’s eyes lit up terrifyingly bright, excitement flooding his expression.
“Hahaha, there’s a newly unsealed rookie building so close to us—this is our big break!”
Just then, a green-haired girl with woolly curls jumped onto the roof, sleeves billowing, grinning like a little demon.
She was extremely beautiful—high forehead, swanlike neck, square shoulders, skin whiter than snow—only her height was a bit lacking.
“Don’t celebrate too early. If that building can’t withstand the Blood Calamity and turns into Forbidden Land, that won’t be good,” the handsome man inhaled deeply to steady his rapidly beating heart.
“Makes sense. Hope they pull through,” the woolly-curled girl nodded repeatedly; shadows behind her bared fangs and claws, as if hiding many monsters.
“This building should be fine,” the right-cheek-birthmark man hesitated, “I think this is the Mad King Building.”
“I’ve heard rumors about this building. Seems Taleblade Building has been targeting it. It’s a zero-tier dorm,” the handsome man pondered.
The woolly-curled girl hurriedly added, “Then after the Blood Calamity ends, we have to get over there fast—don’t let Taleblade Building snag the loot!”
The handsome man frowned, thought it over, and nodded, “Alright!”
The expedition route can start from the Mad King Building, of course they could also split their forces.
The other two buildings were slightly stronger than the Mad King Building—one first-tier, one second-tier.
Pick the low-hanging fruit first, claim the reward for successful conquest, then go after the other two—let the snowball grow bigger.
……
Grandmaster Building.
Hundred Flowers Contemplation Emperor sneezed, peered out at the blood rain through the lookout window, and murmured, “The doors and windows should be shut tight, yet why do I feel a chill?”
The tenants’ expressions changed at once; they hurried to check and confirmed everything was sealed tightly, no wind or rain getting in.
“Don’t scare us, Sister Nian!” Tao Xiu patted his chest.
Anyone drenched by the blood rain mutates into a blood corpse monster. Unless one has Legendary-level or higher purification ability, it’s a death sentence.
Because there’s an incubation period, many Grandmaster Building dorms were breached from within.
At the critical moment, the floor leaders voted to use the dorm trait, which once activated cleansed everyone’s abnormal statuses; otherwise the Grandmaster Building’s outcome would have been catastrophic.
This trait originally added a shield and purification for players charging out—a long cooldown—yet it was used on the first day of the Blood Calamity.
“Everything’s precarious. When do you think this blood rain will stop?” a woman older than Tao Xiu sighed.
She was voluptuous, her figure excellent; her face showed a bit of weariness, the corners of her eyes and mouth carrying mature charm.
She was a tenant newly recruited after the Epiphany Abode’s Netherworld excursion.
“No idea. As long as the blood rain continues, our brawler build players will keep being suppressed,” Hundred Flowers Contemplation Emperor’s face darkened.
Although this was a second-tier dorm, the Grandmaster Building’s situation wasn’t optimistic. Compared to other buildings’ players, Grandmaster players had invested most of their resources into themselves.
Now with blood rain outside, their individual strength was essentially sealed.
“Heh, maybe our Grandmaster Building will be the first dorm to fall,” Tao Xiu said awkwardly.
After speaking, he noticed everyone staring at him and immediately realized his mistake, mentally slapping himself.
He’d been too low on social tact.
……
Celestial Demon Building.
This was a top-tier third-tier dorm in the Titan Ruins. Each suite was extremely luxurious, and the Safe Zone had been widened a great distance.
At this moment, three players stood in the corridor drenched by blood rain, yet showed no signs of mutation, acting as if nothing was wrong.
All three were very high in charm, dressed strikingly.
“Do you think this rain will stop, or will it continue for the entire Blood Calamity?”
“No idea… the Celestial Demon broadcast warned that Scarlet End might end with flooding.”
“Should be fine. The Celestial Demon Pool has been draining; it seems to enjoy these blood rains.”
“Tsk tsk, haven’t you noticed Celestial Demon Building acting restless lately? The closer it gets to obtaining ten Dorm Owner Tokens, the more unsettled it becomes. Maybe it’ll use this Blood Calamity to stir things up!”
While they were speaking, a dorm door suddenly opened and a snake-type handsome man walked out.
A man with high brow ridges and strong masculine presence turned, asking coldly, “You told them?”
“Yeah, the Taleblade curse did start spreading outward from Xia Xingyuan, and…” The snake-type handsome man inhaled sharply; his face flushed, and in a low voice he said, “he was willing to trade a Dorm Owner Token for his life!”
That sentence landed like a gagging spell; for a moment even the sound of rain seemed to grow faint and drift far away.
The next second,
A powerful, ferocious aura erupted from the three men. The blood rain hadn’t even reached them before it was vaporized!
Without questioning the snake-type handsome man, the three moved almost in unison toward Thousand Illusions Dorm, utterly unconcerned.
Watching their backs, a trace of apprehension flashed in the snake-type handsome man’s eyes, then he followed them inside.
All three were floor leaders of Celestial Demon Building. They happened to be gathered out of interest and were chatting when the topic of the spreading Demon Box Curse came up.
They themselves bore curses, which is why they brought it up.
The Demon Box Curse couldn’t be cleansed by eliminating a single host, because it would quickly spread to others. The options were to completely sever all possible contagion paths or suffer together—an enormous headache.
As they talked, they singled out Xia Xingyuan.
Sometimes, a casual chat among big players can be lethal.
Inside Epiphany Abode, Xia Xingyuan’s tenants lay dead or wounded in the corners. The main door and the turret were intact, because the three big names stood in the corridor; they had intentionally let people in.
Now Xia Xingyuan sat on the sofa, all his skin flayed, the nails of all ten fingers gone, his pinkish-white body twitching like an incompletely processed bullfrog.
His crimson-tinged lifeless eyes rotated toward the three floor leaders, and he managed to force himself to stand: “Greetings, floor leaders!”
His voice was like a torn bellows; the tendons in his neck trembled when he spoke.
The high-browed man said nothing, his tiger-like pupils blazing as if flames were dancing within.
The arched-eyebrow female floor leader remained silent as well, blue light flickering in her eyes as if she was activating a probing skill.
The slightly plump man in an executive jacket hurried forward with a concerned expression: “Told the Red Snake to go easy—just ask a few questions. How did you get hurt like this? Does it hurt?”
