After Justin’s cursed item was also destroyed by Annan, Justin’s body began to rapidly thin out.
Eventually, it nearly withered into a skeleton... and suddenly shattered into a pile of debris.
"Another copy has been born, huh."
Annan murmured to himself, "But I have no clue what Justin’s obsession was..."
Luckily, the remaining two curses flew away on their own.
Only Justin’s curse should be a nightmare of no great difficulty... It should be about as simple as the one on the ship, a difficulty level easy to handle.
Annan felt that he, merely a game designer and neither a professional player nor a streamer, just an ordinary person with no special talent for gaming... Even then, without knowing the background setting of this world, could easily achieve an A rating on easy difficulty.
With the skill level of these players, tackling a copy of this difficulty should be a breeze, right?
Annan had a lot of confidence in them.
If they managed to mess this up, Annan would dare to eat his beloved small kitchen knife on the spot.
Annan quickly cleaned up the scene. He selected some of the Viscount’s letters and hid them on his person.
As for the other books left here, there was no need to rush...
He planned to distribute these books to the players as a reward for their quest. Adding a new system feature for "opening forum live streaming" should be enough to silence their curiosity.
When it came to giving away things that weren’t his, Annan was indeed very generous.
And to the players, the value of these books would certainly be high—they wouldn’t notice anything amiss. After all, they were currently in closed beta, and since they were playing the main storyline, giving out some "essentials" was completely normal practice.
Knowledge was the most important essential.
Meanwhile, it was very possible that after the players read these books, they would organize the information and upload it to the forum... At most, they would start a private post and add a password to it.
After all, they could enter the forum anytime, anywhere. If they input the contents of the books into it, it would be like establishing a database that could be consulted in real time.
And as the forum’s administrator, Annan naturally had the highest authority.
——And even for Annan, searching for information on the forum was much more efficient than offline.
It was like hiring a group of professional scanning staff for free. And Annan was quite certain that, once they finished scanning, transcribing, categorizing, and storing everything in Annan’s database, they would gratefully say things like "The Lord Viscount has such a good personality," "The Lord Viscount is so generous," "Thank you."
But Annan didn’t directly return to the hall.
He stood at the entrance of the hall, using his silent stalker technique to listen in through the door.
He could faintly hear the players apparently having entered. They were talking to Old Alvin.
"Yes, we... Blackfire..."
"...undoubtedly, they are robbers..."
The voices were somewhat blurred and indistinct, with only a few key words audible.
This was very unusual.
Normally at this distance, Annan, with his perceptive abilities, should have been able to hear the players’ conversation clearly. Especially since neither the old Viscount nor the players had kept their voices down, they were merely separated by a door...
It seemed that the soundproofing of the Viscount’s estate was specially strengthened.
This level of soundproofing capability couldn’t be achieved by architecture alone.
Obviously, this was the influence of some kind of magical item.
Why was there such a need?
Was it because Old Alvin often met with certain individuals here?
Or was it... that certain individuals regularly came to meet him here?
Nevertheless, it was due to this that Old Alvin had not heard Justin’s screams when he got trapped by "Bookbind Shackles."
Thus, he missed his last chance to escape—
Although he wouldn’t have survived anyway.
Because Annan had prudently set an additional condition—if he didn’t utter the special word to the players, triggering "Forgotten Secrets" and consequently setting off "Cardiac Paralysis"... "Cardiac Paralysis" would still activate on its own after four hours.
In that sense, Old Alvin was already dead. He just hadn’t realized his death, and his body was still in motion.
——Suddenly, Annan heard the room become boisterous and chaotic.
"...The Lord Viscount?"
"...My lord? What’s wrong with you?"
The players’ nervous and somewhat sharp voices came through, their volume suddenly increased, creating a lot of noise.
Annan silently smiled, took a few steps back, then waited another three or four seconds.
Afterward, his expression turned to one of confusion as he strode to the door and pushed it open.
After Annan returned, the players suddenly fell silent for a moment, then they immediately turned their pleading gazes towards Annan.
"My lord, the Viscount he..."
Delicious Wind Goose called out loudly.
Annan followed their gazes.
He saw that old Alvin had already slumped into his chair, lifeless without anyone knowing when he had passed on.
His eyes were wide open, staring even in death.
Annan called out softly, walking over to check old Alvin’s pulse.
He could still feel the warmth of his skin, but he was already dead.
"What happened before?"
Annan asked in his signature cold voice, "Did he say anything before he died?"
Jiu’er nodded frantically, "We had just mentioned the Royal Capital, and he told us, ’Just like your lords, he comes from...’ and then he suddenly convulsed and died!"
"...I see, he committed suicide."
Annan said solemnly, his face taking on the expression of a detective.
He showed the players the ghastly white hammer from his pocket and explained, "For safety, when I worked with him before, we established a Curse Binding, so neither of us could harm each other or reveal identities to a third party. But he deliberately brought this up to you..."
"There’s no doubt, he committed suicide."
"But why would he kill himself?"
A player asked subconsciously.
However, Annan was silent for a while, then answered softly, "Perhaps it’s that..."
Annan suddenly came to his senses, shook his head quickly, and put on an indifferent face, "This is not something you should be concerned with... You are too weak.
"I’ll handle this. I saw many valuable books in Lord Alvin’s study; you go and each take one."
No sooner had he spoken than new subtitles appeared before the players:
[Quest Completed: Use your own methods to sneak into the territory of Roth Fort unnoticed (1/1) and create chaos at the right moment to prepare for Tan Juan Geraint’s plan (1/1)]
[Main Quest Completed: The Calamity of Roth Fort]
[Unlocked: Live Broadcast]
[Unlocked: Reputation Store]
[Gained Public Experience 100]
[Gained Favorability from Tan Juan Geraint 100]
[Together, you overcame the Wizard Gerald]
[But when you finally found Viscount Alvin Barber and were ready to demand justice, the clues were cut off——]
[——He committed suicide]
[You notice that Tan Juan Geraint seems aware of something but refuses to explain it to you]
[That is understandable, for you are too weak... In this world of Transcendents, mortals represent powerlessness]
[Yes. You finally realize that your lord is protecting you, who should be the protector]
[You deeply recognize your own weakness and powerlessness]
[Fortunately, in your battle with Gerald, you have found a way to rapidly increase your strength]
[——Venture into the "Nightmare," break through the "Nightmare"]
[Side Quest Obtained: Trial of the Nightmare (Normal Difficulty)]
[Quest Requirement: Clear one Nightmare (Normal Difficulty or higher) (0/1)]
[Tip: Tan Juan Geraint may know some methods to enter the "Nightmare"]
[Next phase of the main quest requires "Swordsman" class level to reach LV10]