Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Cursed Gold

Wu Chang did not have a pass to leave the sanatorium, but for convenience, Randy handwrote him a staff badge so he could move freely within the sanatorium.

Wearing the badge, he left the director’s office, and the medical staff wandering the corridors indeed did not attack him, as if he had turned into air.

But there was one exception.

Wu Chang was about to leave the fourth floor when he was stopped dead in his tracks by Julie, who had been waiting here.

Julie glanced at Wu Chang’s handwritten badge on his chest and said casually, “Looks like things are progressing well.”

Wu Chang shrugged, “It’s a bit more troublesome than I imagined. Director Randy is very cautious. He didn’t trust me just because I was carrying the King’s Badge. I need to find more evidence to convince him.”

“How’s the director doing?”

Wu Chang said, “His health is quite good, he’s as strong as an orc, but witnessing the townspeople going mad due to delusions has put too much mental pressure on him, so he doesn’t dare step out of his office.”

“But he promised me that as long as I find the real culprit, he’d help.”

These two points were true, so he spoke with ease.

Julie nodded. She was prepared for all this and asked, “What are you going to do next?”

Wu Chang: “Since the night is still long, I’ll search the areas hard to reach during the day. As a senior, does Miss Julie have any advice?”

“Check the basement and the backyard more, maybe you’ll find something. I’ll be on the fourth floor, remember to find me if you need help.”

Watching Julie turn and leave after speaking, Wu Chang showed a puzzled expression.

Could it be that he was judging a gentleman with the heart of a villain?

But the guilt lasted only a moment before he snuffed it out.

Shame? It doesn’t exist.

Countless battle royale games have proven one truth: only the veteran player and the bad guy can survive to the end.

He’s a professional veteran player, his heart is dirty.

After symbolically searching within the building and ensuring he wasn’t being followed by Julie, he headed straight to the backyard of the sanatorium.

Julie’s advice was not perfunctory; the underground secret chamber, where Randy mentioned old books were stored, was in the backyard hut.

Using the key given by Randy to open the hut, Wu Chang followed the instructions to find a secret passage to the underground behind the fireplace in the study.

The end of the passage was a small library, with shelves holding various documents, from carved stone tablets to parchment to printed books, almost spanning the history of writing.

Each item had undergone special treatment, and after hundreds to thousands of years, the writing remained clear.

This was a good opportunity to investigate the dungeon’s world view.

Wu Chang took out a paper with recorded numbers and quickly found the books recommended by Randy. After a brief review, he understood what the dungeon’s BOSS actually was.

The ancestor of the Anderson Clan suppressed an evil god named Leman.

Leman was cruel, cunning, powerful, vengeful, and had a dark sense of humor.

He controlled the power of dreams and reality, could fulfill the wishes of his followers, granting them endless knowledge and wealth, but often, out of personal favor, simultaneously took the most precious things from them.

In one record, Leman once helped a small nation’s king repel enemies and revive the country, but at the height of prosperity, he triggered a massive volcanic eruption that engulfed the entire country.

Praying to Leman seems like drinking poison to quench thirst; unfortunately, desires and luck mentality prevailed, coupled with Leman’s generous rewards, making his followers particularly devout.

A troublesome fellow.

Wu Chang returned the documents to their original places and took a silver crossbow arrow from the item backpack to continue exploring the underground secret chamber.

“Item Name: Demon-Breaking Crossbow Arrow.”

“Item Type: Dungeon Items”

“Artifact Level: D.”

“Item Skills: Exorcism.”

“Skill Description: Marks an evil god or follower. Using the Demon-Breaking Crossbow Arrow to hit the marked target inflicts double damage. The target can be changed or marked an hour after the last marking.”

“Special Skills: Demon-Breaking.” (Unlocked with King’s Badge)

“Sacrifice the arrow to unleash incredible power, dealing massive damage to the essence of the marked target.”

“Note: Only direct hits on the essence can truly harm the evil god.”

Wolf mentioned that the Cursed Gold was located on the second basement level of the Moonlight Sanatorium.

If this grievance is true, then there’s no more suitable place to hide the Cursed Gold than here.

Just as he had speculated, when he searched a certain bookshelf, the grievance on the Demon-Breaking Crossbow Arrow in his hand flickered for a moment.

Upon closer inspection, he found a groove at the bottom of the bookshelf, shaped eerily like an arrowhead.

Inserting the Demon-Breaking Crossbow Arrow into the groove, accompanied by the sound of gears turning, revealed a tunnel leading to an underground second floor.

We’ve made it!

After nearly a hundred steps, Wu Chang arrived at a spacious stone chamber, where dozens of stone slabs were arranged in concentric circles at the chamber’s center, each slab engraved with inscriptions.

As Wu Chang approached, a white spectral figure resembling mist appeared in front of him, while simultaneously, a robust elderly male voice echoed in his ears.

“Being able to reach this point is proof of your excellence; those mice who worship Leman couldn’t possibly achieve this. You must either be my descendant or a junior of the Secret Magic Knight Order, am I right?”

“Lord Anderson?” Wu Chang tentatively asked.

The figure did not respond to Wu Chang but continued talking to himself like a recorded video.

“Even if you are one of Leman’s worshiping mice, it doesn’t matter. I have great faith in your character. Compared to begging for a scrap of reward from that Evil God, wouldn’t the allure of killing Him, stealing His Divine Power, and becoming a God yourself be far greater?”

“Even if you merely re-seal Him again, the Cursed Gold will grant you everything you desire.” The spectral figure continued to tempt.

“Don’t fear betrayal. When we sealed Leman back then, a third of the higher-ups in Peace Church were bribed by us. Thanks to them, we were able to escape alive, so there’s no need to feel guilty.”

“Next, I will tell you everything about this place…”

Five minutes later, as the spectral figure disappeared, Wu Chang shook his head, refocusing on the scene before him.

No wonder Moonlight Sanatorium is so peculiar—turns out, before the Anderson Clan was established, this place used to be a secret base for the Secret Magic Knight Order, also one of the backup plans against Leman.

The stone slabs in the chamber are part of a large exorcism array, which, once activated, will dispel or purify the presence of any entity possessing Evil God power within a radius of several kilometers.

This dispel refers to the literal, physical sense of dispersal.

Only those who possess the controller of the exorcism array or the direct descendants of the Anderson Clan can wield this power.

Connecting to the events within the sanatorium, the rules forbidding leaving the ward at night might be due to Randy’s inability to suppress his magical Talent in his sleep, inadvertently triggering part of the exorcism array’s power.

This power, combined with Randy’s Technique, upon detecting the presence of “non-safe area” Evil God aura—or manifestations of paranoia—would physically expel the carrier of the Evil God aura.

And the abnormal behavior of the medical staff derives from the purification ability of the array.

Besides expelling enemies, the array can help allies disperse the Evil God’s influence.

However, the method is somewhat extreme, similar to applying chemotherapy to remove cancer cells.

When an ally’s spirit is affected by Evil God powers while within the array, the array will launch a spiritual purification, indiscriminately attacking both the person inside the array and the entangled Evil God power.

The results are simple and brutal: either the inner spirit is strong enough to withstand until the Evil God’s Divine Power is purified,

or it fails, leading to mental breakdown, with excessive purification transforming into physical damage, causing the body of the person within to collapse.

Wu Chang still remembers the figure’s last words when introducing the array’s capabilities: just don’t bother whether someone is okay or not; just state whether purification has occurred.

Maybe due to the passage of time causing a loss of Magic Power, the figure only shared the control method for the exorcism array before dissipating, yet the array’s information had already clarified many mysteries within the sanatorium.

As long as the true nature of Cursed Gold is confirmed, the second main quest line in the Dungeon should be complete.

Wu Chang picked up an emblem from the place where the figure vanished, its craftsmanship similar to the King’s Badge.

「Item Name: Secret Magic Badge.」

「Item Type: Dungeon Items」

「Item Description: Token of the Secret Magic Knight Order. Holding this emblem grants partial access to the exorcism array’s usage, allowing free manipulation of the array’s power.」

「Special Skills: Final Purification.」（King’s Badge unlock）

「Skill Description: By combusting the entire array, unleash power exceeding the array’s limits.」

「Note: When Evil God worshippers utilize the emblem’s power, they will suffer backlash from the array post-use.」

The note on the Secret Magic Badge only appeared when he wore the King’s Badge, reaffirming his suspicion that, as the first leader of the Secret Magic Knight Order, old Anderson was too accommodating toward Evil God worshippers. It turns out the old man indeed had a trick up his sleeve.

Donning the Secret Magic Badge, he entered the exorcism array, traversing layers of stone monuments to reach the array’s core.

On a stone altar, he witnessed the Cursed Gold floating in the air.

It was an eye, still alive, constantly rotating.

The eye of the Evil God Leman.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep