I'll also work hard to conquer the dungeon today.

Chapter 260, page 1.17, 37: A Night of Madness
Fei felt a little dizzy, and in his blurry vision, he seemed to see Ruan Peng, who had long since died, standing in front of him, her smile as pure and beautiful as ever.

He moved his thin lips, cast his gaze at the two who were locked in a stalemate, and finally lowered his eyes. He grabbed the body of the staff with one hand and the hilt with the other, and with a flick of his wrist, drew the rapier and aimed it at 'Ruan Peng'.

Ruan Peng had already died, so what appeared before him could not possibly be real.

She reached out and touched the black choker around her neck, which perfectly concealed the wound on her neck from saving Ruan Peng.

People should always look forward and not dwell on the past.

At least for Fei, Ruan Peng was his first love for life, and even if she had ulterior motives towards him, he would never change his opinion.

But, that’s all.

Ruan Peng is now just a part of his memories, existing only in his memories and unable to affect him in the present.

Zhou Hao always said that his love for Ruan Peng was incurable, and that he had never forgotten her even after death. He truly had never forgotten her. No matter what, no matter how bad the girl's final impression was, in his heart she remained the most beautiful version of herself, just as she was when he first fell in love with her.

Even if she is despicable, she shouldn't use such vicious language to describe a girl.

He had once heard a saying that girls are made of all things beautiful, like candy, colored paper, and cakes. They should be protected, not bullied, because of their own strength.

Guarding is not the same as protecting. Just watch quietly and help them when they are unable to protect themselves, rather than standing in front of them and taking it upon yourself to do everything for them.

That's just disgusting, self-righteous overprotection.

Inspired by that book, Fei, after falling in love with Ruan Peng, tried to emulate its teachings by becoming a silent knight-errant to protect her. Unfortunately, it didn't leave her with many pleasant memories.

He won't resent or blame anyone; he only brought it upon himself.

The girl did nothing wrong.

He was just being wishful.

"Fei? Why are you pointing your weapon at me? Don't you like me anymore?" Ruan Peng asked, her face pale and her voice weak and cautious.

With his purple eyes fixed on 'Ruan Peng', Fei shook his head. He had never forgotten the feeling of liking Ruan Peng, and it had nothing to do with whether Ruan Peng was dead or not.

He simply had a clear understanding of reality: his first love, that girl, Ruan Peng, betrayed him, then he was betrayed by others, and finally he killed himself—that's all.

Ruan Peng is dead.

He wouldn't attack Ruan Peng, but the person in front of him wasn't that person.

Fei, sword in hand, took a few steps toward Ruan Peng, his expression calm and even undisturbed, while the latter retreated several steps in fear.

"Why? Fei, you've changed... Why did you kill me?" 'Ruan Peng' cried with a pale face, her face streaked with tears, looking beautiful but also fragile enough to make people want to pity her.

Fei raised his sword, the tip pointing at Ruan Peng's brow. Blood flowed down her nose, dripping from her chin and onto the ground.

Ruan Peng's crying stopped abruptly, her expression filled with disbelief, as if she had never expected Fei to so resolutely attack her.

Then, she pulled out a short sword from somewhere and stabbed it fiercely at Fei, but in an instant, the sword pierced through her brain between her eyebrows, and the short sword was inserted into Fei's shoulder, with the entire blade embedded inside.

It seemed like they wanted to die together, but unfortunately they missed the heart, and she didn't get a second chance.

Fei took a deep breath, steeled himself, and pulled the sword from her head. He casually flicked it to wipe away the blood, then sheathed it again.

He then reached out and grabbed the short sword from his shoulder, drawing it out.

Because of his previous deal with the owner of the Silk House, he had long since lost the sense of pain, and his body being made of cotton meant that no blood would be drawn if he was injured.

Her iris-purple eyes fixed on the bloodless short sword, and without hesitation, she tossed it to the ground. The sounds of gunshots rang out in her ears.

Dao Lin and Shui Qi had started a gunfight sometime earlier. Fei stood silently in front of Ruan Peng's corpse not far away, bullets occasionally grazing the ground at his feet.

Suddenly, Ruan Peng vanished into thin air, as if she had never existed. Even the blood that had just spilled on the ground disappeared completely.

Fei frowned, feeling somewhat misled.

'Ruan Peng' is just an illusion, which means that many similar illusions will exist. Create someone that the player desires most, distract them, and then kill them.

That's roughly the idea.

Is it a power possessed by the Joker? Or is it the so-called released copy owner?

Illusions are a mix of truth and falsehood, and it's fortunate that he didn't become immersed in the falsehood, otherwise he might have been deceived as well.

Fei turned to look at Shui Qi and Dao Lin's expressions. He saw Dao Lin frowning as if he had discovered something, while Shui Qi was caught up in anger and hatred. It was clear that Shui Qi had been affected.

Shui Qi's movements became increasingly ruthless. Even though the man had three broken ribs, it didn't seem to have much of an effect on him; his movements were extremely exaggerated. Wouldn't the wounds worsen like this?

Dao Lin was at a disadvantage. Although the wounds on his body were just grazes from bullets, not as terrible as the four or five bloody holes on Shui Qi's body, he was still in a passive position due to physical exhaustion.

"Although I don't know who you mistook me for, I didn't mistake you for someone else." Dao Lin pointed his pistol at Shui Qi's forehead and then fired without hesitation.

He initially joined the Strategist's Guild because he wanted to understand it, although he didn't understand it very thoroughly, but he did get a glimpse of some terrifying things.

After being discovered, he made a deal with the president of the Strategist's Guild: he would help him kill Water Spirit, and Horus would help him obtain information about Lazy at all costs.

In principle, he had no hatred for Shui Qi, but this was the only condition offered by the president of the Strategist Association, and he was not given a chance to refuse. If he had refused at that time, he would have died.

That person used a cursed item on him: kill Shui Qi before the September instance ends, or he will encounter something terrible.

He wasn't quite sure what it was about, and the prop wasn't mentioned either, but it definitely wasn't anything good.

Death is not so terrible, but when it comes to the thirst for knowledge, he believes that understanding the truth is more important than life itself.

Dao Lin had no allies, so he had to take matters into his own hands and devise the plan step by step.

He didn't feel much guilt. He and Shui Qi were never friends; they were enemies from the very beginning, nothing more.

After firing the gun, Dao Lin felt a tremendous force and fell to the ground, the longsword piercing straight through his heart.

Shui Qi smiled with a pleased expression, just like the ambiguous smile she had when they first met.

"I know you're lucky. Shooting you would only make you look like a human outline expert, so from the beginning I planned to kill you with this knife." The extreme dodge only pierced Shui Qi's forehead. Although it felt a little cold, at least he didn't die, except for some dizziness.

"I won this battle." Blood trickled down from the hole in his forehead, dripping onto Dao Lin's face.

Shui Qi suddenly burst into a sickly laugh, "Sure enough, no one can be trusted, hahahaha..."

After the dizziness subsided, I could never have been more awake than at this moment.

His narrow blue eyes held no hint of a smile, only pitch blackness, deep and cold, devoid of any emotion.

With his icy blue eyes fixed on Shui Qi's face, which wore a manic yet indifferent smile, Dao Lin's lips curled into a faint, ambiguous smile before he slowly closed his eyes.

(End of this chapter)