Black Crow Prison (27) The Garden of Death

Mo Yichen took Mu Xinning’s hand and led her to the door of the other unknown room.

There were only two such rooms in the hospital. The room housing the elevator was known, but what could be hidden behind this one?

Mu Xinning was filled with curiosity. Would it be an operating theater?

As the door hinges groaned and turned, a biting chill rushed out, carrying a strange fragrance that mingled the scent of decay with that of blooming flowers.

The sight before her stole her breath. This was not a room at all; it was a garden suspended in the void!

Under a pleasant night sky, plants never before seen grew from ink-black soil, their dark vines entwining branches that looked like bleached bone. Half-opened buds held pulsing points of golden light, while blood-red flowers bloomed on the tips of the branches, their petals dripping with crystalline liquid that transformed into fleeting sparks of light the moment it touched the ground.

Mu Xinning felt as though she had stepped into a dream, but her reason warned her that these things could never exist in the human world.

Jin’s tentacles emerged from behind her, sweeping through the air. "I have never seen these species of flowers... not in the human realm, nor in this game."

Rather than merely unseen, they were beyond comprehension—truly extraordinary.

In the distance lay a mirror-like lake, its waters glowing with a ghostly blue light. Yet, the reflection did not show the sky; instead, it showed countless blurred human faces rising and falling within the depths.

"This place..." Mu Xinning’s voice drifted. Her fingertips brushed unconsciously against a golden flower nearby. The petals were icy, yet the sensation felt hauntingly familiar, tightening her chest.

At the center of this space stood a white pavilion, solemn and elegant, a place imbued with divinity.

"This place is called the Garden of Death. It is one of the clearer fragments in my scattered memories. I tried to use my power to mimic that scene and create this pocket dimension," Mo Yichen said, his gaze fixed on the surroundings with obsessive intensity. "The place where Peipei often stayed looked exactly like this."

Living in such a magical place—who on earth was this Peipei? Mu Xinning could not find an answer.

Mo Yichen stood beside her. "Do you see the swing over there? Peipei loved to swing."

Mu Xinning followed his gaze to the swing, and a flash of fragmented memory exploded in her mind:

A silver-haired girl sat on the swing, cradling a gold-rimmed book. As her fingertips traced the pages, golden script drifted into the air. In the distance, a man laughed softly. When the girl turned her head, the pale gold ribbon in her hair fluttered in the breeze...

It was a white-haired man, but before she could see his face clearly—

"My head!" She clutched her temples. She had been so close to seeing! But the image shattered instantly.

A silver-haired girl... a white-haired man...

Why did the two people in that vision look so much like her and Mo Yichen? The hair color and stature matched, but since she hadn't seen their faces, she could not draw a conclusion yet.

Mo Yichen stepped forward to support her shoulders, his voice softening to a whisper. "Don't force yourself. I only wanted you to see it... perhaps you would remember something."

He waved his hand, and a glass lantern in the central pavilion suddenly flickered to life. On the white table beneath it sat an exquisite tea set.

Mo Yichen picked up the teapot and poured her a cup. "Peipei always liked to sit here and gaze at the sky, drinking rose black tea while writing in her codex."

Mu Xinning brought the cup to her lips and took a sip. "Mm... but I still can't remember anything."

Even though she felt a sense of doubt, without the actual memories, she could not rashly accept this identity.

Mo Yichen watched her reaction, a flicker of anticipation in his eyes. "But my intuition tells me you are Peipei."

The instinctive love from his core could not be wrong; this girl before him was the mistress of this garden.

"I am not Peipei," Mu Xinning interrupted, her eyes clouded with confusion. "I am Mu Xinning."

She was a human struggling for survival in this game, a reincarnator who had struck a deal with an evil god—not some "Peipei" living in a memory.

Yet, the stirring in her heart would not lie.

When she walked to the swing and sat down, her body naturally fell into a familiar posture, legs curled up, chin resting on her knees.

It was as if... she had waited for someone here, for a very, very long time.

Those days had been long and unbearable.

Jin wanted to say something, but the frustration of having no words choked him. Even if he felt a slight resonance, the void in his memories prevented him from connecting with it. Every sense in his body was screaming; he wanted to absorb this avatar immediately just to know what those memories were!

When they returned to the ward, the three of them remained silent. Before leaving, Mo Yichen repeated, "Rest well. We... will see each other tomorrow."

He stared at the person on the bed, wanting to carve her image into his mind, his words lingering at the edge of his lips. There was so much more he wanted to say, but in the end, he left without saying it.

Tomorrow was the day of his duel with Jin.

He was ready.

...

Time in the pocket dimension was not synced with reality; it was only ten o'clock in the morning in the real world.

In the neighboring room, 402, Zhou Kui and his two companions were eating breakfast around the bedside table, all of them seething with indignation over yesterday's events.

Zhou Kui clenched his fists. The resurrection of Zheng Kai fueled the fires of vengeance in his eyes. "That woman Su Yun thinks she can sleep soundly just because she locked us in the morgue?!"

Without his items, he wanted to see how Su Yun would manage to escape!

His voice was hoarse, edged with lingering malice. "Clearing the level can wait. If I don't let her taste what it's like to be hunted and chewed on by monsters, I won't be able to swallow this bitterness!"

Zhou Kui admitted he had been arrogant at first, thinking his status as a veteran player made him superior. He felt ashamed now; he had mocked the newcomers, yet he was just as much of a greenhorn. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been trapped so easily.

Zheng Kai nodded immediately. "Brother Zhou is right! She used us as bait for the monsters; this debt must be settled!"

If not for Number 3's generosity with her items, he would have been reporting to the underworld by now. He had survived, yes, but the debt remained. There was no way he would let the culprit go after being played like that! The three of them had nearly lost their lives.

Zhang Dafu chimed in with a deep voice: "That woman is ruthless. Leaving her alive will only lead to trouble sooner or later. We should strike while she still thinks we're dead and catch her off guard!"

Zhang Dafu was usually a kind soul, but this time, he would not speak for Su Yun. Between Feng Xuanyan earlier and now Su Yun, he had been betrayed twice. How could he be in a good mood?

Zhou Kui shook his head. "That plan is risky. When Zheng Kai returned last night, everyone was too loud; Su Yun must have heard it on this floor."

He no longer dared to be arrogant. In a game where lives were lost in an instant, one had to be cautious.

Zheng Kai agreed. "True, the commotion was too loud last night. That woman definitely heard. We can't act rashly; she might be prepared by now!"

Zhang Dafu tightened his fists, unwilling. "Are we just going to let it go?!"

Even though they could walk away now, it felt incredibly unsatisfying! It was like a breath of air trapped in his chest, making him miserable. He added, "But we can't just kill her outright, or we'll end up back in the solitary confinement cells."

He had no desire to experience that environment again.

Zhou Kui told them to be patient. "Don't rush. What we need is an opportunity..."

He thought of Number 3. If she intended to take down the instance Boss, the moment the Boss died, the instance would be forcibly closed. That was the opening he was waiting for!

Once an instance was forcibly closed, the person who killed the Boss would clear the level instantly and be teleported out. Everyone else remaining in the instance would have thirty minutes to escape; if they succeeded within that time, the system would still count it as a clearance.

He had heard this from a predecessor, and he could use those thirty minutes to carry out their plan.

By then... he would have the perfect way to take his revenge on Su Yun.