Cheat Awakening

Myne stared at the horrific corpse in front of him, dazedly, not knowing what he was thinking. Though the body was stripped of its skin, with its nose, ears, and eyes removed, the facial features were unrecognizable. But if you stared for a few minutes with a specific image in mind, you could still vaguely make out an outline and guess who this person might have been when she was alive.

Click!

Perhaps because Myne was emotionally distraught after seeing this hellish place, or maybe he figured out something and unconsciously tightened his grip on the magic lamp. A sharp creaking sound suddenly resonated and dense creaks appeared on it. However, Myne remained oblivious, his eyes fixed solely on the unknown corpse before him.

"This can't be real! How could this happen?... I... I just wanted to help!"

Myne muttered under his breath continuously, looking like a madman. Before, he didn't want to get close to those corpses out of disgust or fear, but now he didn't care about those minor things and directly came in front of the horrific body and placed his hand on the heart that had long stopped beating. He then moved it upwards to her chin, tilting her face upwards.

The face was a gruesome sight. Her eyes were gouged out, her mouth agape as if screaming in pain even before death. Her tongue was missing, and two gaping holes replaced her nose. Her exposed skull was visible beneath her hair, with only a few strands of purple remaining.

"It's all my fault. I shouldn't have left you alone with that beast, even knowing how he treated you. Please forgive me."

Myne, who couldn't stop his tears, apologized to the corpse in front of him, his voice full of regret and self-blame.

"Sob, why do these things happen to those I try to get close to? First Velvet, now Rosy... It's all my fault. I should be the one hanging here. I promised to protect you, but when you needed me most, I was fooling around somewhere else. Sob, it's all my fault.

If only I had been with you yesterday, this wouldn't have happened... Please forgive me, I couldn't save you."

The tears in Myne's eyes overflowed like a tsunami, drenching his face. A few drops even trickled from his nose, touching his lips. But Myne was clearly in no state to care about such trivialities.

However, amidst his emotional outburst, he failed to notice a small white flame like a will o' the wisp, erupt from the green emerald in the golden disk on the altar with astonished speed, followed by countless black chains invisible to the naked eye.

The white will o' the wisp was fast, but the black chains were slightly faster. Yet, those two crucial seconds of late reaction at the beginning were enough for the white will o' the wisp to reach Myne before the chains could recapture it.

As the white will o' the wisp reached near Myne, who was crying like a child uncontrollably while apologizing and blaming himself, it transformed into a blurry figure whose entire body resembled ethereal mist, defying description.

Upon reaching Myne, it paused for a moment before gently tapping him on the head. The instant it touched him, Myne, who had been rambling nonsense, fell silent and entered a trance-like state. The lamp in his hand clattered to the ground.

However right next moment his entire body was engulfed in a golden light that was nowhere near as intense as it was in his eyes, which literally resembled a miniature sun. The golden light in his eyes was so bright that it illuminated half the hall in front of him like daylight.

Even the black chains, intent on capturing the white will o' the wisp, or perhaps a soul, instantly disintegrated into ash upon reaching the vicinity of Myne, as if entering the heart of a sun. This left the unknown entity, whose features remained indescribable, utterly bewildered. While bewildered, it was also relieved to have fortuitously escaped the disaster.

All those things mattered little to Myne right now, because he was definitely the one who was most puzzled about his own situation. Unlike the unknown soul, he wasn't witnessing the intense golden light radiating from his body or the struggle between the soul and the black chains.

Instead, what appeared before him was a scene beneath a tree – Rosewell and himself sitting together and having a romantic conversation?

"Now, what the f*ck is this?"

Myne, utterly bewildered, looked at himself. He was in an astral state, but unlike the state he entered when activating his skill, this seemed too real. His soul-like form was faintly outlined in gold, and most importantly, he couldn't feel any of his skills. It was as if they didn't exist.

This realization left Myne with utter horror and scared the shit out of him. In this unknown situation, seeing himself with a person who was clearly dead just a moment ago, his only source of comfort was his skills. But now, he couldn't even sense them, let alone use them. This was clearly Myne's breaking point.

Just as Myne was having a panic attack, he saw his other self get up, steal a quick kiss from Rosewell, and then run away, leaving her dumbfounded. However, seeing her gentle smile, anyone could tell she enjoyed it and wouldn't mind having a few more.

"Wait, why does this scene seem so familiar? Is this... the moment from yesterday when I left Rosewell hurriedly, promising to come back the next day to deal with that bastard?" Myne was confused. He didn't understand how he was seeing scenes from the past.
Your journey continues at empire

As he approached Rosewell, still lost in her daydream and smiling idiotically to herself, he noticed a small detail that both he and Rosewell had missed due to carelessness. There was someone hiding behind the tree.

If it weren't for the fact that this unknown figure was releasing intense golden light which even a blind person could see, Myne definitely have missed it again, as the person was hidden just too well.

Panting heavily, a dangerous doubt arose in Myne's mind. He bypassed Rosewell, lost in her own world, and came to the back of the tree. There, he saw a small opening, probably made by dogs for shelter. But right now, in that opening, lay a small figure with whom Myne was very familiar. After all, it had only been half an hour since they parted ways.

"NETHAN!" Myne growled angrily through gritted teeth, a curse escaping his lips. Yes, this small figure was none other than the little orphan boy who had delivered Rosewell's – or rather, the supposed Rosewell's – letter to him and received a generous tip from him.

Rage surged through Myne. He reached out to grab the ungrateful little bastard by the collar and pull him out of the small hole, only to find his hand pass directly through the small body as if they were a just illusion, and couldn't affect the reality.

After his failed attempt to grab Nethan, Myne's inner rage subsided slightly. He was now sober enough to think clearly instead of being blinded by anger. Just when he was trying to figure out whether his soul had travelled in the past or he was under the effect of skill, he saw another small figure approaching Rosewell.

It was the little loli he had met in the kitchen, the one with the interesting skill, which he greedily looked forward to getting his hands on.

The loli spoke a few words to Rosewell, which could be summarized as "Greeting, dinner, go home, etc." Rosewell's smile had vanished upon seeing the loli. After listening to her nonsense, she snorted coldly and completely ignore her, before walking away, leaving the loli behind awkwardly watching her fading back while clenching her fists so tightly her palms bled.

After glaring in Rosewell's direction with murderous intent, the angry loli quickly calmed herself and approached the tree where Myne was standing, observing everything with a murderous glint in his eyes. Even if he still didn't know who are real culprits behind Rosewell's death by now, he might as well dig a hole and bury himself in it.

B*tch just you wait, I see how long can you behave like this in front of me, as long as I can remove you from my path and get that fatty under my control all the things you have would be mine. Just you wait..."

Although the loli was still so angry that she could murder someone for a slight matter, she somehow managed to calm down and put on a fake cute smile upon reaching Nethan. She helped him out of the hole before asking the question she'd probably been waiting ages for:

"Did you find anything? Who was she talking with? What were they talking about? Tell me quickly, and all those 20 gold coins will be yours."