Chapter 585: Carnival of Desire [17]

Unlike the museum curator’s drab, ashen appearance, the young man looked flamboyant and impossible to overlook.

His golden hair and sea-blue eyes were striking, while the robe he wore only accentuated his holy, radiant appearance.

At this moment, he rested his chin on one hand, smiling as he looked down at them.

Although they still had no idea what had happened, quite a few people had already guessed that their resurrection was probably thanks to this man.

Moreover, his appearance was almost absurdly attractive.

Clearly, he was a member of the Erebus Guild—and judging by his demeanor, his position was certainly not a low one.

The players’ minds gradually began to clear after their long period of unconsciousness. Their gazes unconsciously shifted from the fragments of stone beneath their feet, slowly traveling upward toward the imposing dark-gray throne standing at the center of the Museum of Petrification—the throne that had once belonged to the museum’s eerie ruler.

Gulp...

The unmistakable sound of someone swallowing greedily, as though desperate for the taste of life itself, rang out in the utter silence.

Countless players instinctively took half a step back, their eyes filled with wariness.

Adrian looked at the cringing expressions and trembling legs of the people below. The corners of his lips curled into his familiar, mocking smile. He tilted his head slightly and spoke in a voice as gentle as the sound of a harp on a winter night:

"Why are you looking at me like that? Do I really look like the sort of person who would slaughter innocent people indiscriminately?"

Not a single person in the crowd dared to answer.

[Does he really have to smile that beautifully?!]

[Who was that who just swallowed?]

[It was me, okay?! It was me!]

[In my experience, whenever Adrian is about to do something bad, his smile gets even sweeter, and his voice gets even softer.]

[You guessed right.]

[Am I the only one who thinks Adrian looks kind of sleepy?]

[I think so too...]

At this moment, Adrian finally spoke again, his tone calm and unhurried:

"All right, I have two small requests for everyone here."

Adrian raised his left hand, holding up two slender, snow-white fingers before the crowd.

"First, describe in as much detail as possible every passage, hidden trap, and path in the maze that you went through before you were turned to stone."

"Second... split into two groups and have half of you go find Nick and Ember and bring them back to me."

The vaulted hall immediately descended into a suffocating, tense atmosphere. The request itself sounded gentle and casual enough, but it instantly stirred waves of hidden resistance among the players who had only just escaped death.

"I... I’m not going anywhere!"

A burly man with a long scar slashed across his face was the first to speak up, his voice rough and defiant. He gripped the hilt of the greatsword strapped to his back, slowly retreating toward the distant gray stone door.

"The mercury mist outside is devastating to the Joy Index! Going out there right now is no different from committing suicide! We’ve only just come back to life. We have absolutely no reason to risk our lives to go find your teammates for you!"

"Exactly..." Another male player standing beside him nodded in agreement, keeping his hands raised defensively.

"Providing you with information about the routes is already more than enough! You’re powerful enough to crush the entire maze Boss, so why don’t you go find them yourself?!"

"Besides..." A young artist in a gray robe standing in the third row whispered to those around him, a shrewd calculating gleam flickering in his eyes.

"...the structure of this Mirror Maze is constantly shifting over time. Who knows whether the maps or paths we traveled before are even useful anymore? Why should we risk our lives for that guy?"

Whispers and grumbles gradually spread throughout the crowd. Some hesitated, some were frightened, but there was no shortage of calculating gazes, defiance, and outright opposition.

They believed that, with so many of them and having just been rescued, the elegant-looking young man would have no way to force everyone to obey him.

Adrian listened to every objection echoing around him. He did not interrupt. He showed no anger, nor the slightest trace of impatience or urgency.

His sapphire-blue eyes swept leisurely across every face in the crowd, calmly taking in even the smallest changes in their expressions—from fear and hesitation to those who wore arrogant, cowardly, or openly defiant looks.

"Oh? Is that so..."

Adrian let out a soft sigh, his gentle voice carrying what sounded almost like genuine regret.

He slowly raised his left hand.

His slender, snow-white index finger rose into the air, casually pointing straight at the burly man with the long scar—the very first person to raise his voice in defiance.

SWISH!

A streak of golden light tore through the air and pierced straight through the man’s chest in the blink of an eye!

It happened so fast that the man did not even have time to realize what was happening. The sneer on his face froze.

He slowly lowered his head and stared at the smoking hole in his chest.

Then, in the next instant, his entire body exploded into a pile of pitch-black ashes that scattered across the stone floor.

The incident happened so abruptly that the entire vaulted hall fell deathly silent.

But that was not all.

Adrian’s index finger drifted lightly through the air, casually pointing next at the young mage in the gray robe and the three people standing beside him in agreement.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

Four pillars of golden magical energy descended from above like savage bolts of heavenly lightning!

There were no screams or pleas for mercy, nor any chance to raise a weapon in retaliation or cast a defensive spell. The four bodies immediately crumpled onto the cold stone floor, the life within them completely snuffed out in the span of a single breath.

Fresh blood and ashes were scattered across the museum’s dull gray stone floor.

The atmosphere in the vaulted hall instantly plunged to freezing point, the terror so suffocating that it was difficult to breathe.

The remaining players went deathly pale, their limbs trembling uncontrollably. A few with weaker mental fortitude had even collapsed to their knees, clutching their heads and curling into themselves in sheer fear.

Adrian yawned. By now, a trace of boredom had appeared on his face.

He lowered his gaze toward the people crawling and trembling across the stone floor, the corners of his lips curling up slightly.

"So? Does anyone remember the route in detail now, and feel willing to happily go find Nick and Ember for me?"