“Dong…”

The sound of the bell echoed like ripples on the water, spreading in the mist-filled air.

After the heavy bell rang, Su’en suddenly heard a long and increasingly clear sound of bells, “dong,” “dong,” “dong.”

The two different sounds of bells overlapped, as if gradually overlapping with another time and space.

Su’en felt his surroundings flicker before his eyes, and the scenery around him began to change rapidly.

He was already familiar with this situation and knew that he had been sucked into the cursed space.

…….

It was a cold night.

As the scenery changed, Su’en found himself standing at a crossroads in the shape of an “X.”

He quickly looked around at the surroundings.

On the left side of the crossroads was a towering red brick bell tower, reaching a height of one hundred meters, with lights shining on the top of the tower.

The sound of “dong dong” still echoed in his ears.

He looked up at the clock on the bell tower, and the black hands on the white dial pointed exactly to twelve o’clock.

It was the midnight bell.

One hundred meters to the right was a magnificent white monastery.

The street at midnight was desolate and quiet, with a thin black mist pervading the entire street.

The ground was wet cobblestones, not spacious. There were obvious narrow lines on the thin layer of snow, as if they were traces left by carriage wheels.

There were retro-style hexagonal gas lamps on both sides of the street, and black iron flower fences surrounded roadside flower beds.

In front, there were rows of houses with red roofs, and the dim yellow light flickered on the frosted glass. It was the light of the fire burning in the fireplace, adding a touch of warmth to this cold winter night.

Snowing?

“Will it snow in the City of Dawn after a thousand years…”

Su’en looked at the intact buildings around him, which turned out to be the scenery of the City of Dawn a thousand years ago.

At this moment, a black carriage swiftly passed by on the road. The bell on the neck of the chestnut horse “ding-a-ling” made a clear sound, and the horse’s hooves stepped on the stone road, making a “clank clank” sound…

Through the window of the carriage, one could still see an old gentleman in a well-dressed suit sitting inside.

The carriage passed by, stirring up a flurry of snowflakes, and the cold wind blew into the collar of Su’en’s coat.

It made him shiver involuntarily.

There were figures, lights, and chimneys emitting white smoke.

There was an atmosphere of fireworks, as if in the real world.

This feeling was very strange.

It was as if he had traveled through history, and the painting of history was vividly displayed before his eyes.

“Mr. Johnny? Where are we?”

Beside him, a young boy in thin clothes tentatively called out. He was holding a basket of matches in his hand.

A match-selling boy?

Su’en didn’t recognize Tommy, but he could tell from his tone and casually responded, “Cursed space.”

He looked at Tommy’s attire and guessed something, then asked, “What am I wearing now?”

Tommy replied, “Police uniform.”

Su’en looked at his own outfit as a hunter and suddenly realized.

He focused his attention on the additional badge on his chest.

[Badge of the Dawn City Police]

Intimidation +3

Explanation: An alchemical accessory, proof of identity as a police officer in the City of Dawn; with it, you are a police officer with law enforcement authority. But be careful, it will attract the attention of killers.

“I am a police officer? A cursed space in role-playing mode? Interesting…”

Su’en looked at the easily misunderstood prompt with indifference, raising an eyebrow.

He then looked down at his own hands.

There was now an additional leather file folder in his hand.

Opening it, he found a case record.

[Police Testimony File for the Clock Tower Street Murder Case]

Case number: MST-07 Serial Killer Case

Case status: Unsolved

Chief: Fraule Scott

Witness/Assistant: Officer Johnny

The file record is as follows: This morning, a male body was found in the alley at 44 Clock Tower Street, with his face and internal organs eaten; this is the seventh murder case in this neighborhood, and the modus operandi is identical to the previous six cases; someone witnessed a cloaked figure wandering near the crossroads of ‘Red Tower Street’ at midnight; suspected distortion event, handle with caution, apply for support from the City Guard Special Organization if necessary…

“Is this a cursed space with a plot background? Do I have to find the killer?”

Su’en quickly scanned the file, reading it line by line.

However, the content of this file is very misleading.

He had already seen through the name of this cursed space, “Legend of the Clock Tower Monster,” through the All-Knowing Eye, and guessed that the killer was most likely in the red brick bell tower on his left.

Moreover, the way to get out was not to catch the killer.

It was to fulfill a wish.

But since the All-Knowing Eye judged it as a “D-level” difficulty space, Su’en was not in a hurry.

Besides, he had his gun, storage ring, and the scythe of the undead.

There was more than one way to solve the puzzle.

But speaking of which, this scene is really realistic.Looking at the vibrant ancient street scene around him, he lost interest in the murderer.

It’s the bustling Dawn City from a thousand years ago that really piques his curiosity!

…….

Entering the cursed space for the first time, Tommy seemed a bit nervous on the side. “Mr. Johnny… where are we going now? Are we going to find the source of this cursed space?”

“Yes. But no rush.”

Su’en nodded and looked at two suspicious figures not far away. He said, “Wait here, I’m going to kill two people.”

Kill?

Tommy was stunned by his words.

His tone was as calm as if he were saying he was going to buy a few oranges.

Before he could ask any more questions, Su’en had already walked over.

He took out his badge and said to the two men in black trench coats with pipes in their mouths, “Hello, please show me your identification.”

The two men were a bit confused, as if they hadn’t fully reacted to their new identities yet. “We are detectives, we want to investigate…”

But before they could finish their sentence, Su’en asked, “Members of the Warblade Squad?”

“How did you…”

Before the man could finish his sentence, Su’en pulled out his gun expressionlessly and shot two holes in their foreheads.

The bodies fell to the ground, and Su’en harvested some experience points. He solemnly took off the storage rings from the bodies.

He muttered to himself, “Ten in total, eight more to go.”

After killing the two men, Su’en turned his head and looked at Tommy, who was still stunned. He beckoned and said, “Let’s go.”

Tommy quickly ran over and asked, “Mr. Johnny, why did you kill them?”

He was also clever enough to guess something. “Those two were members of the Warblade Squad, right?”

Su’en asked, “You recognized them?”

Tommy nodded. “Yes.”

Su’en didn’t explain much. “You’ll know soon.”

Tommy asked, “Ah… where are we going now?”

Su’en replied, “Let’s go see what the Dawn City from a thousand years ago was like.”

Go out?

It would be a waste of opportunity to leave such an interesting place like this.

Eliminating the Warblade Squad was just a side plan.

The most important thing was that he was already 100% sure that this companion space was related to the “Wailing Witch,” so he still needed to find some key clues in the space to understand the events.

…….

Su’en led Kay walking on the street. Instead of going to the clock tower or the monastery, he went directly to a brightly lit red-roofed house at the intersection.

Knock, knock, knock!

He knocked on the door and looked at the nameplate next to the door, then shouted inside, “Sorry for disturbing you so late, Mr. Smith. I’m Officer Johnny, and I have something to ask you.”

He quickly adapted to the role he was playing.

A female voice responded from inside, “Oh, Officer Johnny. Please wait a moment.”

He heard some rustling sounds, as if someone was getting dressed.

After half a minute, the door opened, and a golden-haired lady in a Victorian-style puffy skirt opened the door.

She looked at Su’en as if she recognized him. “Officer Johnny, please have a seat inside.”

Su’en didn’t hesitate and walked in.

The interior of the house was elegantly decorated, with crystal chandeliers and mahogany furniture. Delicate ceramic dishes and silver trays were placed on the table. The fireplace was burning fiercely, and there was a deer head specimen and a hunting rifle on the wall.

This was a wealthy household.

Su’en entered the house and quickly looked around. “Sorry for disturbing your rest, Mrs. Smith.”

The blonde woman muttered, “Oh, it’s such heavy snow, and you still have to go on patrol, Officer Johnny. You must be working so hard. Has there been another murder? Oh my, it’s so scary. There’s bad news every day recently.”

After a pause, she asked, “Coffee or tea?”

“Tea, thank you.”

Su’en casually replied, fully assuming the role of a police officer, and asked, “Mrs. Smith, have you noticed anything unusual in the neighborhood recently?”

Mrs. Smith was tinkering with a teapot on the fireplace and poured a cup of tea for Su’en. She said, “When the midnight bell rang last night, I seemed to hear a very painful scream coming from the direction of the clock tower…”

When she bent down, Su’en saw the large white gullies through her collar and the steel corset around her waist.

“Oh.”

Su’en didn’t sit on the sofa, but went to the decorative bookshelf next to it and took out a thick, gold-embossed book.

He flipped through it, but there were no writings on the pages.

The other books were similar, except for the book “Complete Alchemy Basics,” where he saw some fragments of ancient Nuid language.

Su’en wasn’t surprised by this. He continued to flip through the book while continuing to ask questions.

“Have you heard any news about Sir Isaac recently?”

“No, not at all…”

“Do your family have any plans to install mechanical prosthetics?”

“…”

“Do you know a tall black tower?”

“…”

“Do you have any knowledge of alchemy?””Sorry, I’m not a sorcerer. Those books were bought by my husband, the mayor. But he hasn’t come back for three days…”

“Are there any alchemists nearby?”

“The old nun in the white monastery across the street seems to be a powerful sorcerer…”

“Mr. Smith won’t be coming back tonight?”

“Oh, Officer Johnny, you’re so direct. Maybe you should be more tactful…”

“…”

“I want to ask about the monastery across the street. Have you noticed anything unusual?”

“There’s nothing unusual there except for a few nuns and pigeons cooing all day.”

“Do you have any special impressions of those nuns?”

“I only remember a girl named Alice, she’s very beautiful. She often plays the flute alone in the attic of the monastery. Oh, it’s a sad tune that brings tears to your eyes…”

“…”

After asking a few more questions, Su’en knew that he probably wouldn’t get any more information.

Mechanical and rigid answers.

This cursed space was a fragment of memory from the “cursed source”, where the street scene could be restored, but a group of living souls could not.

These people were like NPCs in a game, capable of simple responses but not complex emotions.

Questions that went beyond their understanding or were unrelated to the mission would be selectively “unheard”.

(This is a low-level space. The higher-level cursed spaces would be closer to the real world.)

…….

Su’en didn’t stay in the house for long, but he said to Tommy, “You stay in the house, no matter what happens, don’t come out.”

Tommy was a little puzzled, “Why?”

Su’en said, “The monster comes out to kill at midnight, but all seven victims in the files died on the street, so the house should be relatively safe. Stay with Mrs. Smith and remember not to come out at any time.”

Tommy said, “Oh. Officer Johnny, what about you?”

Su’en replied, “I’m going to find some clues.”

After a pause, he turned to the blonde lady and said, “Mrs. Smith, can you please take care of him? I’ll be back soon.”

Mrs. Smith responded, “Of course, Officer Johnny.”

Su’en knew that this cursed space was “D-level” for him, but for others, it was a high casualty “A-level”.

Roaming around with Tommy might be dangerous.

And Su’en had some speculations.

Since they both had their own “roles” when entering this cursed space.

It was not impossible that both of their “roles” died on the street.

Otherwise, the badge on his chest wouldn’t remind him of a “special attraction to the killer” and wouldn’t be so “real”.

The rules of the cursed space followed the flow of the plot and were very simple. Everything was constructed from the killer’s memory.

Things existed, but they wouldn’t exceed the killer’s understanding.

It was like the killer hadn’t read the books on the bookshelves, so they were blank. Only the book they had read had text.

Only when the killer had the concept of “the badge is an alchemical item” would it be identified as such.

This was a space that became very simple as long as it was carefully sorted.

By investigating some information, it would be discovered that all the clues pointed to two places, the Red Tower Clock Tower and the White Monastery.

But the difficulty lay in the fact that this was the focus of the background story, but not the focus of the solution.

……

Su’en walked out of the door and stepped on the wet cobblestone street again.

Snowflakes fell from the sky and landed on his shoulders and hat, occasionally forming a thin layer.

Su’en brushed off the snowflakes on his shoulders and strolled down the street.

The cold wind made his thoughts particularly clear.

Then he visited a few more places and collected several ancient books with scattered information.

He asked a few questions, and the situation was similar.

These NPCs would only say a lot when the nun named “Alice” was mentioned.

There was also an old lady living in a house with a window attic facing the clock tower, who said she had seen a strange person on the tower…

These were all crucial pieces of information.

The police officer who investigated back then must have found this information too.

The original process was for the “players” to collect this information and then be directed to the red brick clock tower to find the monster.

But Su’en wasn’t in a hurry to go.

Different choices would lead to different outcomes.

Just like playing those open-ended plot games, Su’en could directly kill the monster in the clock tower or fulfill its last wish without understanding the game’s background and still complete the game.

But the plot would end.

He would lose the meaning of coming to this cursed space.

So, Su’en chose the second option.

He walked down the street, intending to go to the monastery and see how the weeping witch was formed.

Now that it was confirmed that this was not the “weeping witch’s space”, the monastery wouldn’t be too dangerous.

It was just an ordinary scene.

But it would fill in an important background for the story.

…….Walking along, his thoughts whirling, Su’en unexpectedly came across a few lost lambs.

In a tavern, he saw a group of men dressed as detectives, arguing about something.

Although their appearances had changed, Su’en was able to discern their origins from their conversation.

“Damn it! What’s the answer to that question? Soro answered ‘ugly’, Martin answered ‘not ugly’, both were killed, and Jick was killed for not answering! I suspect that cloaked monster just wants to kill for fun…”

“Stop complaining, let’s think of other ways. We’re safe in the room for now, but are we going to be trapped in this cursed space forever? I just heard some news from the bartender, there’s a weirdo near the clock tower…”

“…”

This group was also trying to figure out a solution. It seemed that three people who were not present had already been killed by the “murderer”.

Su’en walked in, without saying a word, he drew his gun and started shooting.

Gunfire echoed through the tavern.

Although the tavern was destroyed by the enemy’s retaliatory explosion, all five men, including the team leader, the ‘Bomb Maniac’ Collins, were killed.

Su’en put away his explosion-proof puppet, as if he had just done something trivial.

He walked out of the tavern and continued towards the monastery with the white walls.

In a city of alchemists who don’t believe in gods, why would there be a monastery?

That was what Su’en was most curious about.

And what was the relationship between the nun named Aili and the weirdo in the clock tower?