She Was Sentenced to Life Imprisonment [Unlimited] - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Rose Manor [19]

◎There’s a Liar◎

Red bird feathers fluttered down like a shower of bl00d. A few seconds after the eerie green candlelight went out, the flickering flames ignited again, casting a vivid red glow that looked like a warning of some terrible mistake, bizarre and horrifying.

The candlelight reflected on the face of the instigator, whose faint smile held a hint of subtle schadenfreude.

Jiang Nan turned her head to look at her. The “shhh” sound from the system just now must have been an attempt to give a warning, but it ultimately said nothing.

Luo Ning was more “favored” by the system than she had realized.

At that moment, a chaotic noise erupted, startling even Gabriel.

“What’s going on? Why did we turn into these lowly birds?!”

“Someone just slapped me, and when I woke up, I was here…”

“What happened…”

Ancient, hoarse voices came from the sharp beaks. Their black eyes were filled with bewilderment as they looked at their companions.

Listening to their chattering, Jiang Nan realized what Luo Ning had done and stared at the pile of broken stone on the ground in thought.

The thirteen shamans had been released in this manner. The absence of two of them was of little consequence.

Suddenly, a mechanism turned, and the giant birdcage was slowly lifted, releasing Gabriel.

Seeing this, some obscure emotion flashed in the depths of Gabriel’s eyes. He grabbed one of the vultures, his ruthless grip making the bird shriek. Then, Gabriel’s grim voice was heard.

“Mordred?!”

The chilling voice seemed to want to confirm something. His gaze slowly swept over the other vultures that could speak human language. A terrifying aura enveloped them, and their animated discussions came to an abrupt halt.

The wings of the captured vulture hurt from the grip, but feeling Gabriel’s displeasure, it frantically nodded.

The sight of a nodding vulture was somewhat comically laughable, but Gabriel couldn’t smile. His face instantly darkened, and the aura he exuded made the candlelight flicker.

His hand gradually tightened. The sound of a bone cracking sent chills down one’s spine. The vulture’s screams in his hand irritated him.

He had never encountered a situation like this before. He could feel the power that had helped him in the past reappear for a moment, but for some reason, it had suddenly vanished.

However, he had never tried to transfer the souls of all the shamans to these cursed vultures. Today’s accident made him discover another way to get out quickly.

With this thought, Gabriel no longer worried about where things had gone wrong. Instead, he considered another possibility, and his face became maniacal again. He cackled, muttering to himself, “This must be a divine instruction, telling me to kill the demon Helianna faster!”

With that, he strode quickly toward the exit, but as he neared it, a mysterious force repelled him dozens of feet away. He fell to the ground in a heap, startling the flock of vultures into a chaotic flight.

“Sir, Sir, what’s wrong with you?” the vultures cried.

Gabriel got up, the sound of his bones cracking making their skin crawl. He shouted in annoyance, “Shut up!”

The vultures fell silent. Gabriel’s bloodshot, terrifying eyes glared at the spot, and he said in a sharp voice, “There’s still a restriction! Why is there still a restriction! That demon Thanatos is still not dead!”

Hearing the name “Thanatos” again, a strange feeling flashed through Jiang Nan’s heart. She looked at Luo Ning, but the other woman looked perfectly normal, as if she didn’t know who “Thanatos” was.

At that moment, Gabriel, his anger turning sinister, looked at them.

“You, who among you is willing to dig something up for me?”

His gaze scanned them, so menacing they didn’t dare to look him in the eye.

As his lackeys, “Hu Tian” and “Xu Hao” naturally seemed more than willing, but Luo Ning pulled Jiang Nan with her and answered first.

“Dear Sir Gabriel, we are willing to serve you.”

Luo Ning put away her smiling demeanor and feigned a servile piety.

Jiang Nan saw Gabriel’s scrutinizing gaze on them and nodded slightly, imitating Luo Ning’s respectful manner.

“Yes, Sir Gabriel.”

Seeing how obedient they were, Gabriel nodded in satisfaction. He could have called the other two, but “Hu Tian” and “Xu Hao” had been inside for too long, and sending them out now would only arouse suspicion.

“In the manor, behind the castle in the flower field, take three steps forward. What I need is down there.”

“Only by digging her out will the roses here disappear.”

They listened to Gabriel’s words but didn’t know what this thing was that could control the life and death of the manor’s roses.

Behind the castle, a place that wasn’t marked with a red tag on the map, a place they had all overlooked.

Meanwhile, at the castle, after the recent earthquake-like shaking, players poked their heads out of their rooms, confused, and saw Helianna going downstairs.

Helianna’s face was as pale as paper, like a lifeless corpse. The dull sound of her high heels echoed in the silent, gloomy castle, arousing fear.

In her hand, just like the first day they met, she held a rose, but it was withered. Yet, she held it carefully, as if it were a precious treasure.

“I wasn’t wrong. The one who was wrong was…”

Who was wrong?

Her muttering became softer and softer, so much so that the other players couldn’t hear the rest of what she said.

The players, who had thought Helianna was coming to catch them, changed their expressions. As they considered whether to close their doors, they watched Helianna walk out the door. Coralie came running down the stairs behind her, having lost her previous composure.

“Helianna.”

Coralie said with concern, and after catching up with the other woman, they disappeared together into the sea of crimson roses.

The players looked at each other, and an eerie silence permeated the air.

Finally, Yan Xin, looking a little sleepy, yawned. Frowning, she asked, “What just happened? What set her off?”

“It seemed like an earthquake,” Yang Yi said after tidying up her slightly ruffled skirt, thinking for a moment.

Lin Jia looked toward the staircase leading to the second floor. A faint red light was visible in the gloomy stairwell.

“I told you to go with her. Now who knows if they can even come out.”

She held onto Su Yue’s arm, feigning a sad and frightened look, and complained.

Su Yue looked down at her but said nothing, just adjusted her glasses.

Yan Xin yawned again and glanced at the two people beside her. As if she had remembered something, she said casually, “Hey, do you know what people on the outside say about Helianna?”

Hearing this, Lin Jia looked up from Su Yue’s arms, her face full of curiosity. “What do they say?” she asked.

As a manor owner, they probably just talked about her misdeeds.

But Yan Xin glanced at Lin Jia’s feigned innocence, frowned, and scoffed. But she still answered the question, though it wasn’t what they expected.

“They say Helianna is a good person and she doesn’t kill.”

Hearing her, the others remembered that the system had only given the ambiguous phrase “they disappeared,” and had never said that these people were killed by Helianna.

Then, Yan Xin spoke again, her voice sinking, as if she were displeased about something.

“Later, they said Helianna was sick.”

Yang Yi saw her expression and knew she was angry. She then answered for her.

“In a morally corrupt family, this kind of ‘sickness’ is our current situation.”

Hearing this, Lin Jia’s face changed slightly, but she turned back and smiled again, saying, “Nonsense, I’m not.”

What Yang Yi said wasn’t subtle. She understood it, and while she denied it, she tightened her grip on Su Yue’s hand.

Su Yue frowned, wanting to push Lin Jia away, but found she couldn’t. She gave up and let the other hold on.

They only knew now that Helianna didn’t kill people. So were the bodies buried in the flower field killed by Coralie?

They remained silent, unable to find an answer. At that moment, footsteps were heard on the stairs.

Given that they had seen Helianna and Coralie leave, they were instinctively on guard.

They saw a part of a beautiful dress, and then two people appeared on the stairs.

Jiang Nan looked at them with an indifferent expression. Noticing their vigilance, she thought for a moment and said calmly, “It’s not a ghost.”

Hearing her voice, everyone was stunned for a moment.

Yan Xin squinted and frowned, “You’re still alive?”

After she asked, she suddenly realized she had stated the obvious and fell silent again.

The system had not announced their deaths, including the previously missing Xu Hao and the captured Hu Tian. There had been no news of their deaths.

Luo Ning raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “We’re alive.”

Jiang Nan looked at the open door, remembered something, and asked them, “Did Helianna go out?”

As they came down, they passed a luxurious room decorated like a girl’s room, which they had determined was Helianna’s.

But that room was a mess. Even her favorite perfume had been smashed, as if someone had vented their frustration in a moment of collapse.

Helianna was not in that room, and they hadn’t found her on the entire second floor.

“She went out with a withered rose. She didn’t look very good. If you’re looking for her, be careful,” Su Yue said calmly and in detail. In the end, she didn’t forget to give a word of advice, proving that she was indeed as Lin Jia had said, a person who worried too much despite her appearance.

Hearing her, Jiang Nan’s expression changed. For some reason, the scene she had seen in the secret room flashed through her mind—Helianna’s question to her as she was on the verge of death.

Suddenly, she broke free from Luo Ning’s hand, and Luo Ning, as if knowing what she was about to do, didn’t pull her back.

Luo Ning looked at her retreating figure, the smile on her face growing wider. The candlelight didn’t reach her face, so others couldn’t see the emotion in her eyes.

Jiang Nan lifted her skirt and hurried down the stairs, her steps a little frantic, but then she remembered Luo Ning behind her. She turned back and saw the other woman just beginning to follow her.

She frowned, as if displeased with the other’s slowness. After a moment of consideration, she said to her, “You don’t have to follow me. Just go and dig up the thing in the back. I’ll bring her over to you later.”

Luo Ning showed no dissatisfaction with Jiang Nan’s commanding words and said with a light chuckle, “Okay.”

After hearing Luo Ning’s agreement, Jiang Nan left without looking back. Her figure passed through the flower sea, the biting wind whipping her skirt, making her look like she was drowning in a sea of bl00d.

Luo Ning went down the stairs, and under the puzzled gazes of the others, she found a shovel covered in mud, which was a stark contrast to the noble and elegant aura she exuded.

“You… may I ask where you’re going?”

Yan Xin blocked her path, looking at her strangely as she held the shovel. When she met the other’s chillingly smiling eyes, she quickly changed her questioning tone.

“I don’t know,” Luo Ning said with a smile. The gentle curve of her lips held no warmth, only a sense of chilling cold.

With Jiang Nan gone, her pretense had been completely shed.

The others thought Luo Ning didn’t want to answer, but they didn’t realize that she truly didn’t know what the item was until it was dug up.

Yang Yi quickly pulled Yan Xin back, preventing her from doing anything to anger Luo Ning.

Before leaving, Luo Ning turned to them and smiled, saying as if in a kind warning, “There’s a despicable and shameless scoundrel. He’s a liar. Don’t believe him.”