Pharaoh

The crescent moon hangs high in the night sky, and the noisy city in the daytime is completely silent, but a light can still be seen vaguely from some residential house, adding a trace of light to the dark street.

The city lord's mansion shrouded in darkness was quiet, only the guards on duty were quietly guarding the outside of the gate, and occasionally a group of patrolling soldiers could be seen passing by the gate.

In the northwest corner of the mansion, an extremely inconspicuous room for low-level servants because it was covered by trees and rockery seemed to be empty, and a bronze vessel gleamed on the desk.

Through the secret door that can be manipulated by this bronze tool, there is a wide secret room inside.

The young city lord closed his eyes and sat on the tall and exquisitely carved stone seat, his hands tightly clasped the tops of the stone handrails on both sides, and his fingertips dug deeply, showing signs of trembling.

He clenched his teeth tightly, his face was pale, and cold sweat kept breaking out from his forehead.

Even though he was covered by clothes, there was a faint red light constantly flashing on his left chest.

Five stone platforms carved and hollowed out into many complex runes are located at his feet, and the moonlight happens to be able to fall on the stone runes of the Talisman of Life, which is the size of a human head, on the top of the stone platform through the gap deliberately exposed by the roof.

However, the rune of the Talisman of Life is in an extremely awkward upside-down appearance, and it looks even colder and weirder when it is illuminated by the cold moonlight.

At this moment, five young teenagers were lying quietly on the stone platform. Their faces were ruddy, their breathing was steady, and they seemed to be asleep.Their serene faces were in stark contrast to the almost distorted face of the little city lord on the stone chair above.

The handsome-faced man in pure white priestly attire stood in a very graceful posture, and the flickering bright red fire light illuminated his cheeks half-hidden under the long black hair.

He raised the scepter in his hand that seemed to be twined with two snakes, and his every move was still extremely elegant and calm.

The slender black snake letter on the top of the scepter flashed with black brilliance, and the runes of the five life symbols standing upside down on the stone platform also emitted light.Then, five clusters of soft white light clusters floated up from the stone-carved Rune of Life, and submerged into the little city lord's body one by one.

Every time one was taken in, the face of the little city lord would improve, and his hand that was clenched on the top of the handrail slowly loosened.After the five light clusters had all entered his body, a healthy rosy color appeared on his cheeks, and the faint red light on his chest no longer flickered.

He let out a long breath, his tense body relaxed, and he opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was Priest Shaz who was standing across from him and smiling at him. His eyes moved slightly down and landed on the five stone platforms under his feet.The teenagers who were sleeping peacefully on the stone platform just now had their bodies icy cold and stopped breathing.

He glanced at them, and the childish face showed an indifference that did not belong to a child.

"Shaz."

"Yes."

"Don't forget my order."

"Please rest assured that these people are slaves bought from other places outside." The black-haired priest replied calmly, "I will obey your orders and will never use your people in the city as a means to extend your life." Sacrifice."

The young city lord was silent for a while, and put his hands gently on his chest.

"Why is it happening more and more frequently during this time? Are you sure it's not your magic that's about to fail?"

"My magic is flawless." Shaz replied, the bright red flames flashed through his black hair, and the expression on his face could not be seen clearly under the shadow, "Master, your father and your father a year ago My mother contracted the plague and passed away one after another, and you are also in danger, I forcibly cast magic on your body, relying on that gemstone with powerful soul power to barely keep your life."

"However, there is a price to be paid for absorbing a powerful power that does not belong to you."

He said, "My lord, if you don't have that strong obsession to live, no matter how strong my magic is, it won't help. If you want to give up your own life because you can't bear the pain, my The magic will fail."

"I won't die!"

The child who had been frowning and staring at the priest suddenly became excited, "I'm not such a cowardly guy, I will never die!"

"This city is the city my father and mother have always guarded and left to me! I am the master of this city!"

He shouted so excitedly with all his strength, clenched his hands into fists, and his fingertips were deeply embedded in his palms.

That bit of pain was nothing at all, he wouldn't give up his life so uselessly!

He had promised his lord father that he would become a powerful man capable of ruling the city, that was the agreement he had made with his lord father who died - he must become a great man like lord father!

"I am not afraid! I will never have the idea of ​​giving up because of fear of pain!"

"I will definitely protect this city on behalf of my father!"

The child's face is immature, but a pair of bright eyes are like burning flames at this moment, scorching hot and stinging.

He looked at Shaz without blinking, his eyes were firm and excited, without any sign of flinching.

Xia Zi glanced at the young city lord, the corners of his lips twitched slightly, as if he was smiling, but it passed by, revealing a trace of indiscernible trance.

He lowered his head, the shadow of his black hair covering his eyes.

"Then, maybe it's because the gem that sealed the powerful soul power has changed..." He made a low sigh-like voice, but the voice was flat, and the emotion in his words could not be heard.

"Please don't worry, I will find out as soon as possible."

He said, "I will definitely protect you, my lord, I... who is outside!"

The sudden loud shout surprised the little city lord. Xia Zi turned around quickly, pushed open the secret door and walked into the house that was concealed outside. He looked around but saw no one.

He looked outside the house, and he could see the standing figures of soldiers not far away.

Holding the scepter tightly in his hand, he closed his eyes and sensed carefully for a while, but he couldn't sense the existence of others around him.

Shaz frowned, pondered for a while, only to feel that he was being overwhelmed, then turned around and stepped into the secret room again, and the door of the secret room was closed again.

After a while, a figure loomed out of the opaque darkness on the right side of the room.

The moonlight fell into the depths of the dark brown pupils that squinted into a slender shape revealing deep eyes, and the scar on the dark brown cheek was particularly conspicuous on the boy's face.

Taking a deep glance at the place where the priest disappeared, the thief's figure quietly disappeared into the dark shelter again without a trace.

-

"Master Shaz has given an order that you cannot be allowed to leave here."

Just when the game was still hesitating whether to take away the red gem on the chest of the little city lord who was unconscious in his arms at the moment, the priest who somehow always made him feel a little uncomfortable came in with his guards and took it away without saying a word. The little city lord.

The game was left in the room, and he tried to go out, but was stopped by the guard guarding the door.

No matter what he said, the guard only replied to him with such a sentence, but maybe it was something the priest said before leaving, and the guard seemed to have no intention of hurting him.

The game looked around and found that there was only such a guard nearby.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the guard didn't seem to be paying attention to him, so he rushed in the opposite direction and tried to run out.

But the guard reacted quickly, and with a movement of his body, You You crashed into the opponent's arms.

He was caught right away, he raised his head in embarrassment and wanted to say something, but just as he opened his mouth, he suddenly froze.

The violet pupils shrank suddenly, staring blankly at the guard with a dumbfounded expression.

Even when he was rudely pushed back into the room by the impatient guards and staggered and sat on the ground, he still looked dumbfounded as if a nerve had suddenly been broken in his brain.

He maintained the posture of falling on the ground, staring blankly at the guard slamming the door unhappily in front of his face.

After staying there for a while, he hesitantly stretched out his hand and touched his forehead, where he hit the guard's chest just now.

Then, he clenched his hands slowly, and a complicated look of confusion and fear appeared on his face.

After a while, there was a sudden noise outside, especially harsh in this quiet place.

The moment Yu Yu raised his head subconsciously, the door was slammed open.

Diabondo, who rudely kicked open the locked door, frowned when he saw his game sitting on the ground with a dazed look.On the contrary, after being stunned for a moment, Yu You unabashedly showed a happy smile.

"Dia!"

Yu Yu happily got up from the ground and rushed over.

And Diabondo's fist, which was going to hit hard, was facing the childish bright smiling face that seemed to be shining with joy when he saw himself... It seemed that he couldn't hit it...

Strange, didn't we just meet each other just now? Why does this guy look excited after parting from life and death?

Looking at the game that jumped over and stuck to him, Diabondo was very puzzled.

"What happened to you? You were beaten?"

he asked puzzled.

Youyou hugged Dia, his face pressed tightly against Dia's left chest, and after feeling the ups and downs and beatings there, he heaved a sigh of relief, only then did he feel the cold and terrifying feeling that had been entangled behind his back since just now Also scattered a little bit.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm himself down.

He let go of the hand holding Dia, and his eyes fell on the guard just under his feet.

"You did it?"

he asked, squatting down to look.The guard seemed to have just been knocked out, his face was rosy and he was still breathing.

Yu Yu hesitated for a moment, then slowly stretched out his hand and placed it on the unconscious guard's chest.

In the next second, his hand retracted like lightning as if bitten by a snake.He lowered his head, and the shadow of the faint light enveloped his cheeks, making it difficult for people to see his expression at the moment.

Diabondo glanced at the game strangely, bent down, a cold light flashed between his fingers, and the blade cut the guard's throat.Blood spurted out, but I don't know if it was because of the dim light, the blood looked black and red.

Yugi looked down and didn't make a sound.

Diabondo didn't pay attention to that. He was wondering why You You, a guy who is always full of kindness, didn't stop him from killing this time. He straightened up and simply said a few words to make him lurk behind the priest to investigate What happened was explained clearly to the game.

"I don't want to see my goods become other people's living sacrifices, so let's go!" He said, poking his thumb over his shoulder towards the direction behind him, "I just killed a few guards outside... ..."

Yu Yu looked back over his shoulder, his eyes suddenly paused.

"Dia."

"What?" He said impatiently, "Let's talk about something!"

He has only been to this city once or twice more than two years ago.

Now everything here is weird and wrong, which makes him feel very uncomfortable.

"No... I just suddenly remembered a game I played in the past..."

"what?"

Withdrawing his eyes from behind his back, the game showed him a sleepwalking trance-like smile.

"Resident Evil (Japanese)."

As soon as the words fell, Yuyou suddenly changed his expression, grabbed Dia's hand, turned around and ran, "Run!"

"what are you doing!"

Being dragged forward by You Yu, Diabondo slammed away Yu Yu's hand inexplicably. He was about to curse when he suddenly felt that his foot was tripped by something, and he reflexively went down. look--

A gloomy hand tightly grasped his right foot!

Looking along that hand, Diabondo was astonished to find that the owner of that hand was the guard whose throat was cut and died just now.

The man raised his pale face, the black and red blood from his throat was still oozing out, and the dull, dead fish-like eyeballs stared at him miserably with a faint red light shining.

There is no time to think here, and the noisy noise not far away makes Diabondo subconsciously raise his gaze.

His face turned pale at this moment—on the other side of the corridor, the guards who had been killed by him just now were walking towards him, their pale face, the eyeballs flickering in the darkness emits an eerie faint red light.

The pale moonlight seeped in above his head, as if returning to that horrible night when he was a child.

Diabondo's body trembled, his dark brown pupils flashed fierce eyes, he kicked away the guard under his feet, stretched out his hand, pulled down the muslin curtain at the door beside him, crumpled it up and threw it in front of him, and then Kicked over an oil lamp beside him.

The oil lamp was smashed down, and the oil was sprinkled on the curtain, and suddenly the sky was filled with fire. They were burning, and gradually spread the entire wooden wall, separating those living dead who didn't know what monsters were from the fire. .

Diabondo took a breath, retracted the tiny blade that didn't work between his fingers, and pulled out the dagger at his waist.

He took two steps back, stepped back to Yuyu's side, and looked at Yuyu.

Yugi looked at him with his head tilted, a smile appeared on his face.

"You blocked the way down, we can only run up."

The young brother Wang tilted his head and said with a smile, "But in the stories I've read, all the bad guys who have to run upstairs at the end don't end well~"

Diabondo felt the veins in his forehead twitch.

Is now the time to talk about this kind of thing? !

"So, let's run up now~~"

"Let me explain everything to the uncle first!"

Diabondo, who has become more or less immune after getting along with Yuyu for a long time, gave Yuyu a cold sideways glance.

Before he understands the current situation, he has no intention of acting casually.

"what happened?"

The game was silent for a while, perhaps seeing Dia's determination not to act unless he knew the truth, he finally opened his mouth to answer.

"You didn't kill them," he whispered. "They probably...have been dead for a long time..."

Yugi's slender eyelashes trembled slightly, and Diabondo suddenly realized that Yugi's indiscriminate joke just now seemed to be just covering up the ominous sense of fear that Yugi had from the bottom of his heart.

From what went wrong after entering the city at the beginning, to the depression of discovering the ruby ​​shard later, the fear of suddenly finding that the guard had no heartbeat, and the things Dia told him just now...the clues revealed in all things are faint The truth pointed to is so cruel that the game doesn't want to think about it any more.

If you can pretend you don't know anything...

No matter how gorgeous the illusion is, there will always be a day of collapse.

No matter how cruel the truth is, one day it will emerge.

Whether you like it or not.

"If my guess is right..." You Yu said, his right hand clenched his left shoulder, hugging himself, as if this would give him a sense of security, "I don't know how many people are left alive in this city..."

"Are you kidding! Could it be that the whole city is such a monster?!"

"It's not like that. Dia, they're human. What we see during the day is just a group of poor people whose souls are locked up in dead bodies, and they don't even know they're dead."

"……What's the meaning?"

"You killed them, made them realize their own death, and liberated their souls. I thought it was a good thing." Yugi smiled wryly as he watched the flames intensify ahead and almost enveloped the entire corridor. , "But now it seems that it is useless."

"Someone is manipulating their bodies and souls from behind." He said, "So, it's useless for you to set fire to them. They are being manipulated and don't know fear and pain at all, so..."

Before the game could finish a sentence, he felt a flash in front of his eyes.

Diabondo grabbed his hand and dragged him up without saying a word.

After knowing the truth, Dia quickly started to act.

But every time you go up one floor, you can see countless dead people with withered faces and ossified movements pouring out of the rooms on each floor, surrounding them.

Running up is a dead end, but even if they rush down out of the city lord's mansion, what they have to face is the siege and interception of the residents of the whole city who have become living dead.

They have only one dead end running upwards.

Also, the game doesn't think that's a dead end.

There is only one way to break the manipulation of these dead residents by the man behind it...

The pale moonlight shone on the city that was almost devoid of any living beings, but the city was still bustling with noise.

The overwhelming crowd surged out, rushing towards the city lord's mansion in the center of the city with a rigid posture, densely crowding the streets of the entire city.

The platform at the top of the city lord's mansion is one of the few places in the city where there is a faint breath of life.

Yugi and Diabondo, who came here in one breath, panted heavily.

Opposite them, the endless crowd of living dead rushed towards them in a stiff posture, like a sea wave that swallowed everything.The red light illuminating the night sky could be seen behind them, the flames burning the Santo's Palace below.

Diabondo clenched the short sword stained with black and red blood in his hand, and gritted his teeth.

On the way to escape just now, he tried to cut off the head of a living dead with a sword, but he saw the headless corpse staggeringly stood up and continued to chase him.

He glanced at Youyou standing beside him, but Youyou didn't look at him, he just looked up at the sky.

Dia followed his gaze, and was stunned for a moment, and the wave of undead who came over suddenly stopped moving along with his stunned, standing quietly and motionless.

— as if someone ordered them to stop moving.

The priest in pure white priest's attire was suspended in mid-air, the snow-white crescent moon hung behind him, and his long black hair spread out in the night sky, looking extremely silky and beautiful.

He watched them, condescendingly.

There was fire light shining from under his feet, which made a light red light appear on his cheeks, but made him look more elegant and gentle.

Diabondo suddenly clenched the dagger in his hand, the pale moon shone brightly on his face, and the memory sleeping deep in his heart almost tore open his chest and spewed out in this similar scene.

"It's you--"

His voice trembled a little, not because of fear, but because of anger, he said.

"Just for the sake of that city lord, you did such a bastard thing as killing the entire city!"

For those damn nobles who devour human blood and bones, are the lives of these commoners really so cheap!

"no……"

"What's not! Isn't this what you nobles are best at doing!"

"That's not it, Dia..." the priest didn't speak, and the person who was talking to him was the game standing beside him with a bitter smile, "The priest didn't kill them, his duty is to protect this city, he... "

"So far."

This time, the one who interrupted the game was the silent Priest Shaz floating in the night sky.

He still had that elegant and calm posture, with a perfect smile on his handsome face.

"It was my mistake to allow you two outsiders to sneak in." He said, raising his scepter, a black light flashed from the intertwined letters of the two snakes, "I will not allow anyone to disturb the order of this city!"

The shot of black light pierced Diabondo's forehead like a sharp sword, and Diabondo fell to the ground.

Yuyu reached out to hug Dia but failed, and was brought to the ground together.He opened his mouth, but bit his lower lip and didn't cry out, just hugged Dia tightly.

In the air, Priest Shaz smiled, his eyes had already fallen on You Yu, and he raised the scepter in his hand again——

Suddenly that perfect smile froze on his face.

In the next second, his eyes turned back to Diabondo, who should have been controlled by him as his servant, in astonishment.

Under the silent night sky, the crescent moon hangs high, shining whitely on the earth.

'Diabondo', who was half hugged and half supported by Yuyu, was kneeling on the ground with one hand on the ground, and the other on Yuyu's shoulder, and let out a slight, low-pitched, obviously disdainful laugh.

On his chest, there was a faint golden-red light in the shape of a key peeking out from his clothes.

"Just a piece of shit like you who wants to control me?"

The young man raised his head, and a layer of cold and gloomy red light suddenly appeared above the dark brown pupils. It was even worse than the hot flames at the foot of the mansion, and it seemed to be permeated with viscous venom, which was a frightening blood red hue.

[There is only one way to break the priest's manipulation of these dead residents—to find someone who has a stronger soul-controlling power than the priest. 】