The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 417: Mr Detective’s Fear

Annan narrowed his eyes slightly and walked forward slowly.

He puffed his cigarette, and his mind gradually became clearer.

Fragments of information quickly connected in Annan’s eyes.

This could be the curse effect held by the host of this dream.

Can smoking improve thinking? Is it a pipe? What gas is inhaled?

Wait, it doesn’t matter.

Annan quickly interrupted his thinking from deviating too far.

Is the inclination to deviate from the main thinking path a component of the curse?

Hmph.

“This is weird.” Annan snorted softly and stroked the stubble on his chin.

The middle-aged male detective spoke charmingly and methodically, “A real detective? Sure enough, it’s a [Hunter] type profession.

“How much curse does it hold that it influences my behavior patterns? Hmph, it doesn’t matter.”

Annan forced himself to stop thinking again, reaching out and gently touching the white wall beside him.

This is not an illusion.

When Annan came into contact with the wall, he immediately recognized that the wall was soft.

Roughly speaking, it gave off the feeling of the skin. In terms of muscle density and fat density, the person was not petite, but not fat either, probably slightly chubby.

“This thinking ability.” Annan bit his lip when he realized that his mind was racing.

Why does the white wall immediately give me a sense of “girly skin”?

Shouldn’t the thinking pattern generally start with the wall color being ‘lily’ or ‘cream’ or something?

“There’s only one reason. This is the first time I’ve entered the body of a transcender whose mind far surpasses mine.”

Annan said calmly, “It’s like how I possessed Bella’s body and acquired the werewolf transformation ability and dynamic vision. After I acquire the body of a detective, do I also have his ability to think and analyze?

“It turns out that this nightmare is about focus. I should still focus my attention. The thinking deviation may not be the side effect of the curse, but my will is not adapted to this level of thinking speed. After completing the thoughts, I subconsciously think further—

“No, calm down. Let’s continue to analyze this place…

“I instinctively make associations to other things because this body has superb analytical thinking.”

Annan stopped, squatted lightly, and reached out to touch the skin that seemed to be scorched by fire.

Sure enough, the sensation was the touch of the skin after being scorched.

He turned his head and squinted at the pure red curtain fluttering in the distance.

It was indeed a charming and pure red.

Compared to the curtain on the stage, it had no heavy shadow; if it was compared to the silk skirt, it had no reflection.

“Is that blood? No, it’s fire. That explains the scorch marks on the walls.”

Annan murmured in a low voice, speaking out to limit the speed of his thinking, “When I reach the corridor’s end, will the curtain turn into flames and block the way?

“But why are the scorch marks closer to the ground when the curtains are hung high?” Annan stomped lightly.

The texture feedback told him it was an old wooden floor under his feet. With the lack of damp proofing [1], the moisture on the floor was terrible.

Since it was detailed to this extent, it was not fabricated out of thin air.

Is it different from Danton’s Nightmare?

This is what Mr. Detective has been through.

“Strange.” Annan whispered, “Why haven’t there been traps yet?”

According to his reasoning, this nightmare section should be composed of one escape room after another. Moreover, it should be a deadly trap based on the nightmare’s host’s character.

For example, Danton’s weakness as a Soul Snatch Wizard was the lack of direct attack. Thus, there was no living person in his nightmares at all. The continuous pouring of ice water stopped him from using any complex spells. The eunuch’s voice might be his fear of the Rotten Man. The gradual death trap corresponded to Danton’s overly conservative character.

Indeed, Danton had an overly conservative character.

Danton had controlled the Fourth Prince for several years. If he took a little risk, he could try to plot and control Henry VIII.

But he never made a move in the end.

On the one hand, it was because of obeying Rotten Man’s orders. On the other hand, it should be his prudence. Or rather, the indecision that was based on timidity.

Well, since this is the detective’s fear of death.

What kind of trap will it be?

“I’m standing here thinking, and I have collected so much information. But time doesn’t seem to have passed at all. I even took a few steps forward, but there was no reaction. It is too calm.”

It is as if I was deliberately left here to think.

Could it be that?

Annan’s heart suddenly tightened.

He no longer hesitated and suddenly trotted forward.

His boots tapped on the wooden floor, making a series of noises.

Along the way, there was no sudden attack, and everything around was unusually calm.

But the sense of danger in Annan’s heart also became stronger.

After approaching the pure red curtain, he did not try to get under it.

Silver, slender blades protruded from Annan’s fingers.

Annan raised his right hand forward while turning sideways.

What he had seen before, the match between the young Annan and Dmitri, came to mind.

The swordsmanship skills that belonged to Dmitri had revived from the depths of Annan’s memory.

The blade was not covered with crystal-colored frost.

However, the incomparably light cuts formed a perfect arc in the air.

Without hurting the blade incarnated through the [Sharp Object] skill, Annan cut off the curtain blocking the path with a few slashes.

Unexpectedly, the curtains instantly burned and turned into threatening flames after they fell to the ground. The curtain that had not been cut off in the air also burned. The flames visible to the naked eye completely blocked the entrance.

Even though Annan backed away subconsciously, he could not escape the rapidly spreading flames.

That scorching heat was not the ordinary flame burning on a wooden floor. Instead, the reaction felt like a lit match falling into gasoline on the ground.

The fire spread so fast that it was unstoppable and irreversible.

If Annan did not cut the curtain, he would be enveloped in flames when he tried to slip through the curtain.

But even so, I can’t survive this at all!

Just as Annan was thinking about how to escape, another voice appeared in his mind:

Does Mr. Detective fear flames? Why? What’s up with the skin on this wall?

“You’re so noisy!” Annan yelled and threw the smoking pipe away.

The thought acceleration brought about by the pipe was irrelevant.

There was something else more pressing than that.

While stepping through the sea of ??fire, he quickly took off his jacket and held it around his head. In addition, he did not forget to put the remaining two silver coins in his trouser pocket.

There is no time to drench myself with water. I have to rush through this place!

Annan endured the burning pain on the soles of his feet and dashed forward in the corridor that turned into a sea of ??fire.

He held his jacket up and crashed directly into the door that was burning with flames!

There was no pain.

But the jacket burned directly.

After rushing through the door of flames, Annan quickly ran to the wooden steps behind the door, took off his jacket without thinking, and swung a few times in the air to try to extinguish the flames.

Luckily there were no flames on the steps.

But the more he swung, the more intense the flames.

What is the pattern? What does this flame foretell? That corridor—

“Damn, is this brain sick!?” Annan couldn’t help but complain.

He threw the unsalvageable jacket directly behind him, kicked open the wooden door, and raised the [Sharp Object] in his hand.

Don’t move. That was what was in his mind.

But after seeing everything clearly, Annan’s pupils shrank instantly.

He was not in the basement at all.

Annan had a misjudgment since he did not feel any shaking movement.

I’m in the cabin.

This is a blazing passenger ship.