Chapter 14: The Cursed Gold

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Wu Chang did not have a pass to leave the sanatorium, but for convenience, Randy handwrote a staff badge for him, allowing him to move freely within the facility. Wearing the badge, he left the director’s office. As expected, the medical staff wandering the corridors did not attack him, as if he had become invisible air.

All except one.

Just as Wu Chang was about to leave the fourth floor, Julie, who had been waiting there, blocked his way. She glanced at the 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 expected. Director Randy is very cautious and didn’t believe me just because I showed the king’s emblem. I need to find more evidence to convince him.”

“How’s the director’s condition?”

“He’s in good health, built like an orc, but watching the townsfolk go crazy from their delusions has put so much mental strain on him that he doesn’t dare leave his office.”

“However, he promised me that if we find the real culprit, he will help.”

These two statements were true, so Wu Chang spoke naturally.

Julie nodded, clearly prepared for all of this, and asked, “What’s your plan next?”

Wu Chang replied, “Since the night is still long, I’ll search areas that are hard to access during the day. As a senior, Miss Julie, do you have any advice?”

“Check out the basement and the backyard more thoroughly; you might find something. I’ll be on the fourth floor—if you need help, come find me.”

Watching Julie turn and leave, Wu Chang’s face showed a flicker of doubt. Had he misjudged her character?

But his guilt was fleeting and quickly crushed.

Shame? Impossible.

Countless battle royale games had proven a truth: only the cunning and the ruthless survive to the end.

He was a professional at being cunning; his heart was dirty.

After a symbolic search inside the building and confirming he was not being followed by Julie, he headed straight for the sanatorium’s backyard.

Julie’s advice was not perfunctory. The underground chamber Randy mentioned, where old books were stored, was located in a small house in the backyard.

Using the key Randy gave him to unlock the small house, Wu Chang found, behind the study’s fireplace, a secret passage leading underground.

At the passage’s end was a small library with shelves holding various documents—from carved stone tablets to parchment scrolls to printed books—almost covering the entire history of written language.

Each item was specially treated; even after hundreds or thousands of years, the writing remained clear.

This was a golden opportunity to investigate the world of the copy.

Wu Chang took out a paper with catalog numbers and quickly gathered the recommended books from Randy. After a rough look, he understood what the copy’s boss truly was.

The ancestor of the Anderson family had sealed away an evil god named Lyman.

Lyman was cruel, cunning, powerful, vengeful, and had a perverse sense of humor.

He controlled the forces of dreams and reality, granting his followers their wishes and bestowing endless knowledge and wealth—but often, due to his whims, he would also take away what his followers cherished most.

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One record recounted Lyman helping a small kingdom’s king repel invaders and revive the nation, but at the height of that kingdom’s prosperity, Lyman triggered a massive volcanic eruption that swallowed the entire country.

It sounded like praying to Lyman was like drinking poison to quench thirst, yet desire and hope, combined with Lyman’s generous gifts, made his followers especially devout.

A troublesome being.

Wu Chang returned the documents, then took out a silver crossbow bolt from his inventory to continue exploring the underground chamber.

“Item Name: Exorcism Crossbow Bolt.”

“Item Type: Copy Item.”

“Item Grade: D.”

“Item Skill: Exorcism.”

“Skill Description: Mark an evil god or their follower. Hitting the marked target with the Exorcism Crossbow Bolt deals double damage. Killing the target or one hour after the last mark allows changing the marked target.”

“Special Skill: Exorcism.” (Unlocked by King’s Emblem.)

“Sacrifice the bolt to unleash incredible power, dealing massive damage to the marked target’s core.”

“Note: Only a direct hit to the core can truly harm an evil god.”

The resentment on Wolf’s body had mentioned that the Cursed Gold was on the second basement level of Moonlight Sanatorium.

If that resentment was true, there was no better place to hide the Cursed Gold.

As Wu Chang suspected, when he searched a certain bookshelf, the resentment on his Exorcism Crossbow Bolt flickered.

Upon closer inspection, he found a groove on the bottom shelf shaped like an arrowhead.

Inserting the Exorcism Crossbow Bolt into the groove, the sound of gears turning echoed, and the floor revealed a tunnel leading to the second basement.

Success!

After nearly a hundred steps down, Wu Chang arrived at a spacious stone chamber. Dozens of stone slabs were arranged in concentric circles at the chamber’s center, each inscribed with runes.

As Wu Chang approached, a white misty apparition materialized before him, and a strong, aged male voice echoed in his ears.

“Reaching this step proves your excellence; the rats who worship Lyman could never do this. You must be my descendant or a junior of the Arcane Knights, right?”

“Lord Anderson?” Wu Chang asked cautiously.

The apparition did not respond but continued speaking like a recorded message.

“If you are a rat worshipping Lyman, it’s alright. I have faith in your character. Rather than begging that evil god for scraps, wouldn’t it be more tempting to kill him, steal his divine power, and become a god yourself?”

“Even if you only reseal him, the Cursed Gold will grant you whatever you desire,” the apparition enticed further.

“Don’t worry about betrayal. When we sealed Lyman, one-third of the Serenity Church’s high-ranking officials were bribed by us. Thanks to them, we survived. So, no guilt needed.”

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

Five minutes later, as the apparition vanished, Wu Chang shook his head and refocused.

No wonder Moonlight Sanatorium was so unusual. Before the Anderson family was established, this had been a secret stronghold of the Arcane Knights and one of the contingency plans to deal with Lyman.

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The stone slabs in the chamber formed a large-scale exorcism ritual. Once activated, it would disperse or purify all beings within several kilometers possessing evil god powers.

“Disperse” meant a physical scattering.

Only the person controlling the exorcism formation or a direct descendant of the Anderson family could wield this power.

Considering the events in the sanatorium, the nighttime rule forbidding patients from leaving their rooms was likely because Randy, unable to suppress his magical talent even in sleep, inadvertently triggered part of the exorcism formation’s power.

This power, combined with Randy’s spell, physically dispersed anyone carrying an evil god aura—i.e., those suffering from delusions—upon detecting their presence outside the “safe zone.”

The medical staff’s odd behavior stemmed from the formation’s purification ability.

Besides dispersing enemies, the formation also helped allies by cleansing the influence of the evil god.

However, the method was extreme, akin to chemotherapy eliminating cancer cells.

When a member’s mind was affected by the evil god’s power, entering the formation would trigger a mental purification that indiscriminately attacked both the person inside and the evil god’s force entwined with them.

The outcome was straightforward and brutal: either the person’s mind was strong enough to withstand until the evil god’s power was purified, or they would break down mentally, and the excess purification energy would become physical harm, causing bodily collapse.

Wu Chang remembered the apparition’s final remark about the formation: whether or not the purification succeeded, just say it did.

Perhaps due to the time elapsed and magic fading, the apparition only explained how to operate the exorcism formation before disappearing. Still, the intelligence gained had unveiled many mysteries of the sanatorium.

Once he confirmed the true nature of the Cursed Gold, the secondary main quest of the copy should be complete.

Wu Chang picked up a badge from where the apparition vanished. The craftsmanship matched that of the King’s Emblem.

“Item Name: Arcane Badge.”

“Item Type: Copy Item.”

“Item Description: A token of the Arcane Knights. Possessing this emblem grants partial control over the exorcism formation’s power.”

“Special Skill: Ultimate Purification.” (Unlocked by King’s Emblem.)

“Skill Description: Ignite the entire formation to unleash power beyond its limits.”

“Note: Evil god followers using the emblem’s power will suffer backlash from the formation after use.”

The note on the Arcane Badge only appeared when he wore the King’s Emblem. He had suspected before that as the first leader of the Arcane Knights, old Anderson had been too lenient with evil god followers. Now it seemed the old man had indeed left a contingency.

Wearing the Arcane Badge, Wu Chang entered the exorcism formation, passed through layers of stone tablets, and arrived at its core.

On a stone altar floated the Cursed Gold.

It was a living, constantly rotating eye.

The eye of the evil god Lyman.