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

Chapter 371 1.23 32 Paper Cutting
Lan Xiao clutched her stomach and stumbled forward, trying to escape the sea of ​​fire. However, because Mu Yegui had shown no mercy when he attacked, even with her strong self-healing ability, she wouldn't recover anytime soon.

Behind her was a sea of ​​fire, as if it would burn everything to ashes.

Suddenly she paused, instinctively wiping the blood from her face with her sleeve. Her emerald eyes looked at the gray figure standing in front of her with a complex expression.

"Why don't you run?" Lan Xiao's voice was a little hoarse.

"I'm waiting for you." The hood obscured Bertias's entire face, so his expression was not visible, and his tone was indifferent, revealing nothing.

Lan Xiao moved her hand, took a step forward, and tried to rush over to attack Bertias, but she lost her strength in an instant. Her ankle twisted slightly, and she collapsed to her knees.

Her damaged internal organs were constantly repairing themselves. She was in so much pain that her whole body was stiff, and beads of cold sweat were dripping from her forehead.

"Does it hurt a lot?" Bertias asked softly.

Lan Xiao's pale lips moved slightly, but she was unwilling to answer Bertias. She tried to stand up but failed.

A soft, gentle sigh came from Bertias.

The footsteps grew closer, and he slowly stopped in front of her.

Lan Xiao lowered her head and stopped looking at Bertias, seemingly unsure how to face him.

The first thing she saw was a slender, fair hand. Her emerald eyes followed the hand and saw Bertias standing quietly in front of her, extending a hand towards her. However, he was hidden in his hood and her expression was not visible.

"What are you doing?" Lan Xiao asked in a hoarse voice.

"Isn't the truth of this instance just a fleeting dream? The butterfly represents illusion, the paper figure represents falsehood, and the two spaces, one real and one false, eventually merge together. No matter how you look at it, it can't be real. There are no other living people here besides us; everything is fake."

Bertias maintained the gesture of reaching out her hand and looked at Lan Xiao, then continued, "From the beginning, you knew that no one present except Ling Tong knew the true characteristics of the Food Kingdom instance, so you deceived us with a lie that sounds true but is actually false."

You said that the Food Kingdom has a theme, and the core is food. You need to complete the food preparation tasks within this themed instance and then proceed through the instance according to the tasks. On the surface, it doesn't seem to have any major flaws, but you deliberately avoided mentioning the key point.

The theme of this instance isn't the paper-cutting itself, but rather the meaning behind it—falsehood. Everything here is fake, including the quests. The instance clearly states this from the very beginning, yet you deliberately use paper-cutting as the focus to mislead everyone.

I observed your actions and guessed three reasons, though they are just guesses.

The first reason is that you followed someone's orders and reached an agreement with the owner of this instance to kill us.

The second reason is that you followed someone's instructions and reached an agreement with the owner of this instance to test our capabilities.

The third reason is that you want to possess this royal prop.

Lan Xiaowei coughed, and a few drops of dark red blood spilled from the corner of her mouth. She reached out and wiped the blood away, but showed no intention of answering Beltias.

"The first and second reasons seem to me to be the same thing, but I don't understand why you have to include me? I'm not like other people. I'm not the crown prince. Is there anything about me that you need to scheme against?" Bertias looked quietly at the disheveled Lan Xiao, a sarcastic smile playing on his lips beneath his hood.

"Is it Shui Qi?" Upon hearing this, Lan Xiao's expression changed drastically.

Bertias looked at Lan Xiao's instantly changed expression and a sense of understanding flashed through his mind.

"As expected of Shui Qi, he's so suspicious. It's unlikely he'd trust me so quickly. So, regardless of whether his reason for killing me was to test my worth in the association, he at least needed to find out what I was capable of. Or perhaps, he wanted me to be his confidant, his assistant, so he ordered you to test whether I was qualified. That's probably why you had several opportunities to kill me but hesitated to do so."

When the black butterfly appeared around Lan Xiao, he already knew that Lan Xiao was contemplating whether or not to kill him, but in the end she did not make a move.

In fact, this is what confuses him the most.

However, he now understands that perhaps it's because he still has some use, but unfortunately, Shui Qi played a bad hand. He didn't really want to join the Strategist Association; he just wanted a place to "stay" temporarily.

"But I still don't understand what kind of deal you made with the owner of this instance, why she was willing to help you, or who is behind this and manipulating the situation? Can you tell me?" Bertias looked at her and spoke gently, as if coaxing a child.

Lan Xiao bit her lower lip, her expression a mixture of forbearance and fear. She shook her head frantically, clearly not intending to tell him.

"Forget it, I'll investigate this myself. Let's get back to the main point. The mission of this instance is to find the truth about it. To be honest, only a fool would actually look for clues. Just by connecting it to the 'false' theme of the underlying meaning of the paper-cutting, everything will become clear. Looking for clues is just a waste of time."

The truth behind this instance is that it's all 'fake,' just a theatrical stage set up to entertain the 'King,' but unfortunately, the plot is going to have a terrible ending." Bertias's tone was tinged with sarcasm.

[Correct answer!]

[Congratulations to Bertias on completing the 'Paper Cutting' replica.]

[Instance settlement in progress.]

[Instance settlement complete.]

[Mission Assessment: Crown Prince (Special)]

[Complete the hidden quest: Integrate the virtual and real maps (Crown Prince) - Mu Yegui.]

[Complete the hidden achievement: Beat up the 'Ghost King' (Crown Prince) - Mu Yegui]

[Complete the hidden achievement: Find the truth of the dungeon (Crown Prince) within one hour of the quest being issued - Bertias]

[Complete the hidden achievement: Complete the dungeon walkthrough (Crown Prince) without water or food - Beltias]

[It has been determined that Bertheas possesses items intended for the Crown Prince; therefore, he will be granted Crown Prince privileges.]

[Title evaluation in progress...]

Based on the player's personality, behavior, and strategy in the dungeon, Crown Prince Bertias's title is 'Horus'. Would you like to view it?
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Title: Horus
Owner: Beltias

Privilege 1: All attributes increased by 300%
Privilege Two: 'Blind' state (Moon): Loses all emotions, unable to distinguish friend from foe. 'Blind' state (Sun): Possesses emotions, able to easily discern good from evil.

Privilege 3: Lucky Charm. You will not take any damage when attacked for the first time (including when you attack on your own). It refreshes every eight hours and increases your self-healing ability by 100%.

Privilege 4: Unknown (displayed when a guardian monarch is selected)
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Bell and Fei have different privileges. Although both need to choose the assistant of the person they protect, they are both the crown prince and have the right to become the crown prince's apostles. Of course, it's not just these two; Lan Xiao's 'Grim Reaper' is also one of them.

All four members of the IQ team are back in place; there are only one or two more dungeons left before starting the second playthrough.

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(End of this chapter)