Chapter 1014: The Difference Between Reality and In-game
Translator: CKtalon
“My father reached the back of Witch Castle a long time ago and saw the mask there, so the mask is behind Witch Castle. There’s no mistake about that,” Gaiman said.
“So Old Hero Frod has been there before. Then there’s no mistake about it,” a big shot from the North District said.
Everyone nodded. It looked like Frod’s reputation in the North District was unparalleled. Just the mention of his name made everyone reveal looks of awe.
“So the old hero has been there before. I wonder in which spot the old hero saw the mask?” Zhou Wen continued asking.
This was because he knew that there was only a garden behind the castle without any mask to be seen, so he had to ask clearly. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time for so many people to risk entering.
Gaiman smiled and said, “Behind Witch Castle is a garden. My father saw the mask there. Unfortunately, my father was alone. He was afraid that taking the mask would trigger a dimensional zone anomaly, so he didn’t take it back.”
“Which part in the garden?” Zhou Wen was somewhat convinced when Gaiman mentioned a garden. After all, it was impossible to know that there was a garden if one hadn’t been there before.
“According to my father, the mask is embedded on a grave’s tombstone in the middle of the garden,” Gaiman answered.
Zhou Wen couldn’t help but frown when he heard that as he thought to himself, That’s strange. Why do I only see a tree in the middle of the garden and not a tombstone?
Zhou Wen couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong. What he had seen in-game couldn’t be wrong, but if Frod hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t have known that there was a garden.
Zhou Wen had a nagging feeling that something was amiss. After some thought, he asked, “I wonder if you can tell me the details of the situation?”
“Aren’t you being a little too rude? Mr. Gaiman has already made it very clear. It’s also something that Old Hero Frod saw with his own eyes. What else do you have to doubt? Do you want the old hero to crawl out of his grave and personally explain it to you before you believe him?” Someone felt that Zhou Wen was being too rude by repeatedly pressing for answers.
Furthermore, they had said that because they didn’t know that Frod wasn’t dead.
Gaiman waved his hand and said, “The stakes are high, so it’s good that Zhou Wen is cautious. Zhou Wen, did you notice a problem?”
“No.” Zhou Wen could only shake his head. He couldn’t say that he had already been there in-game, and there were no tombstones or masks there.
Gaiman continued explaining the plan and even played some 3D animation. There were introductions to the skills of the Devil Clown, the Divination Witch, and other dimensional creatures.
However, this introduction was clearly not comprehensive enough. It only introduced some skills.
After the meeting ended, Gaiman stopped Zhou Wen. “Zhou Wen, if it’s convenient, follow me.”
“I’ll wait for you outside,” w.a.n.g Lu said when she saw Zhou Wen look over.
“Alright.” Zhou Wen followed Gaiman to his office. Gaiman looked at Zhou Wen and asked, “If you have anything to say, feel free to say it now. It’s inconvenient to communicate inside the maze. If anything happens, it will be very troublesome.”
“Can you let me meet the old hero again? I want to know the details of when he saw the mask,” Zhou Wen said.
“You might not know this, but my father is trapped in the ice wall. He can’t communicate with others at any time. Most of the time, he’s just an ice sculpture. Occasionally, he will regain partial consciousness. When you saw him previously, it was already the last time he was relatively conscious. Not long after that, he turned into an ice sculpture. I don’t know how long it will take for him to regain consciousness again.”
After a pause, Gaiman said, “However, my father recorded down the situation in detail. If you need it, I can make a copy for you.”
“Thank you.” Since he couldn’t see Frod, he had no choice but to accept.
Gaiman quickly handed a copy to Zhou Wen. “If you discover anything, remember to inform us immediately.”
“I will. I’ll head back now.” Zhou Wen flipped through the doc.u.ments and realized that there were more than ten pages of content that recorded many things. He probably wouldn’t be able to finish them in a short period of time, so he planned on taking them back to slowly read them.
Gaiman got his secretary to see Zhou Wen out. When the secretary returned, he asked, “Do you really believe that Zhou Wen has discovered something?”
“It doesn’t matter if I believe it or not. One can never be too careful. This matter can’t go wrong. It’s best if he doesn’t discover anything. If he does, it will be beneficial to us,” Gaiman said.
Zhou Wen arrived at the entrance and saw w.a.n.g Lu, Lance, and company waiting for him.
“Zhou Wen, did you discover something?” Lance was also present, but because everyone present was his elder, he had no right to speak.
“I keep feeling that there’s something amiss about this matter, but I can’t put my finger on it. It would be great if I could meet your great-grandfather again,” Zhou Wen said.
“Great-grandfather’s situation is highly variable. Even if we meet him now, there’s no way to communicate,” Lance said with a sigh.
“Then I’ll think about it again. After all, there will still be a period of time for us to build our teamwork. We won’t immediately head to the Maze of Lies. We still have time.” Zhou Wen flipped through the doc.u.ment.
According to the records, it had happened not long after the Maze of Lies had been discovered. Back then, Frod didn’t know that the state of the maze differed daily. The first time he had entered was on Monday, but he didn’t go in again during the next few days. It was Sunday when he wanted to go to the maze again, so the outcome was obvious.
Thankfully, when Frod saw that the situation wasn’t right, he released his Companion Beast to resist the Devil Clown. He wanted to escape the maze at full speed.
Unfortunately, there was no such chance. Frod was struck by the black-and-white magic ball and he lost control of his body. The Devil Clown that phased into existence used its dagger-like nails to slice open the aorta on his neck. Soon, he fainted.
Frod originally thought that he was doomed, but to his surprise, he woke up not long after. He was in a narrow and confined s.p.a.ce.
Frod pushed the lid for a long time before he crawled out and realized that he was lying in a grave.
On the tombstone in front of the grave, he discovered the mask.
And the spot where the grave was was the garden Zhou Wen had seen in-game.
When Frod escaped from the garden, he saw the twin Destiny Witches and the ancient castle. Only then did he know that the garden was behind the witch’s castle.
Strange, how did he enter the garden? Who took him in? Is there really a grave and tombstone in the garden in reality? Zhou Wen was still puzzled when he read the information.