Chapter 323
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 323: The Mutation
The carriage came to a halt in front of Tulip Manor.
The driver brought the horse to a stop, turned his head, and called out loudly, “Miss Dai, we’ve arrived!”
But there was no response.
After a moment’s hesitation, the driver called again, louder this time, “Miss Dai, we’ve arrived at the Tulip Manor! Please step down!”
Finally, Dai, lost and disoriented, slowly disembarked from the carriage. Her face was devoid of expression, her eyes hollow—an unsettling sight.
The carriage driver froze, uncertain of what had happened to her.
With vacant eyes, Dai handed him money.
But the amount was wrong.
The driver hesitated, then gently returned the excess, offering advice, “Miss Dai, though it’s not my place to say, as a senior maid of Tulip Manor, it would be best to avoid such unsavory places in the future.”
“If the important people in the manor find out, it could bring you trouble.”
Dai didn’t respond. With a vacant look, she turned and began walking toward the grand gates of Tulip Manor.
The carriage driver sighed and shook his head, then went back to his duties, letting the girl disappear from his thoughts.
“Dai?”
Kaluoer stood in the doorway, seemingly waiting for Dai’s return.
Dai noticed her but didn’t acknowledge her. Without a word, she passed by Kaluoer and entered the mansion.
Kaluoer stayed silent, sensing something was wrong with the girl.
But she did not give it much thought—there was no need for unnecessary interference.
She simply recalled the assassins she had once encountered at the Mercury Ball—none had survived.
A true assassin learns to guard their emotions. We cannot afford to let any stray feelings disrupt us.
Dai wandered aimlessly through the estate, her eyes glazed over as if she were observing things from a distant place.
Soon, she found herself in the grand and elegant main hall, before descending to the basement where the servants’ quarters were located.
In the dining hall below, the maids had yet to disperse after their lunch. They chatted idly, as was their habit, until it was nearly eleven o’clock, after which they would return to their tasks.
“Hahaha, you didn’t see how ridiculous that person looked.”
“Just a poor postman dared propose to me, haha!”
The servants of Tulip Manor followed a strict schedule: they woke at four-thirty, had breakfast at five-thirty, and began working by six-thirty. By eight o’clock, they needed to have the manor cleaned and the master’s breakfast prepared. Lunch was at ten o’clock.
At half-past ten, the rest period began.
There were only a few dozen formal servants in the manor, excluding the cooks and odd job workers. This was far fewer than the many servants employed by the four major families, nine minor families, and thirteen other noble houses.
Steward Carson believed that true nobles required “one task, one servant.” Aside from the closest personal attendants, others were assigned specific tasks like cleaning, dressing, grooming, or extinguishing the lights.
While the pleasure-loving Bai Yan appreciated having someone attend to him, he found being surrounded by too many servants to be stifling.
Dai entered the dining hall without a hint of emotion.
Her eyes flickered with a faint, unnatural blue glow.
Step by step, she approached the maids, who were familiar with her. When they saw her, they gathered around, chatting in their usual lively manner.
“Dai, you’re back early! Have you eaten? I’ll ask the cook to warm up some food for you. We only just finished.”
But Dai was eerily silent, her usual energy replaced by a hollow stillness.
One tall maid with golden hair, smiling brightly, said, “It’s really nice, Dai. The Master really likes you and Kaluoer now. If you want some time off, you can take it.”
She paused before continuing with a playful grin, “Without even needing to climb into his bed, Dai, if you did, you might even be considered half the owner of the estate. We all envy you.”
The maid spoke jokingly, but beneath her words was a sharp undercurrent of jealousy and sarcasm. Normally, Dai would have sensed it, but in her current state, she remained unresponsive.
Her gaze shifted slowly across the faces of the maids, the eerie blue glow in her eyes making them uneasy.
In Annottales, it was common for beautiful maids to be favored by their masters. Not climbing into their bed would be the exception.
Dai silently turned away, walking out of the room without a word.
The maids stood frozen, staring at her retreating figure, an odd sensation creeping into their hearts.
“Is she… strange?” one of the maids asked.
“Yes, she’s strange,” the tall maid replied.
“I’m not sure… but your words were a little harsh. Be careful, Dai might complain to the Master.”
The slender maid chuckled slyly, “Heh, I can’t help it. I don’t have that pretty face, so I can only be jealous… Maybe the Master won’t even like her in the end, and will only have eyes for Kaluoer. Heh.”
“If everyone were like you, no one would ever get leave to ask the Master for it. Even the butler wouldn’t take you seriously.”
The other maids laughed.
Suddenly, Mrs. Mel, the elderly housekeeper, appeared, scolding them sharply, “You lazy pigs! Why aren’t you working? It’s almost ten o’clock! Do you want to anger Steward Carson?”
The maids quickly dispersed.
The slender maid who had mocked Dai hurried upstairs to carry out her duties—heating water for Lord Viscount, who occasionally bathed at this hour. She also had to count hidden wine with the steward.
She felt a strange dizziness come over her.
[Thoughts, jealousy, almost driving you mad.]
[Not thinking anymore might bring relief.]
[Your words betrayed a friend. You understood the pain beneath your jealousy.]
What was that sound?
The tall, slim maid’s eyes began to dull as well.
After wandering for some time, Dai finally returned to her room. She pushed open the door.
Her room was smaller than her previous one, but it was clean and tidy—she lived there alone.
The higher-ranking maids and butlers each had their own rooms.
“Welcome back, Dai.”
Viscount Edmond was sitting on the bed, casually reading a newspaper. His voice was calm, his gaze never leaving the paper.
Dai didn’t respond. She stood silent, not uttering a word.
Viscount Edmond glanced at her, his words cutting through the stillness like a blade. “Whoever you are, whoever dares intrude upon my beloved maids’ minds, be prepared for death from this moment on.”
Dai finally spoke, but the voice that emerged was not her own.
Bai Yan’s gaze sharpened, his eyes locking onto her. For the first time, Dai seemed aware of the manipulator hidden behind her.
He snapped his fingers.
“Crack!”
In that instant, Dai felt a release—a seal on her soul was broken, and her body trembled violently.
The other affected servants in Tulip Manor were also freed from Bai Yan’s psychic influence.
Dai’s eyelids fluttered, and just before she collapsed to the ground, she found herself lying peacefully on the bed. Her eyes closed, as if everything that had just occurred was a nightmare—a distant, fleeting memory.
As if the curse had been effortlessly shattered by Bai Yan’s immense power.
“Go to sleep, and have sweet dreams.”
At some point, Bai Yan stood at the door, calmly turned, and left.
Dai lay in bed, her face briefly contorted in distress as she dreamt of her family. But after a while, her expression softened into peaceful calm.
Back in the study, Bai Yan leaned back in thought.
After the Doomsday Crisis, security in Annottales had become even more chaotic than he had anticipated. Dai had returned home only once, but her soul had already been enslaved by dark magic.
The person behind this manipulation was almost certainly a black wizard.
“I won’t let you escape.”
Though Bai Yan had never laid eyes on the black wizard, he had already learned to recognize the “vibration” of her soul. Anyone daring to approach within his psychic range would be detected.
“According to Steward Carson, Dai was born in a poor neighborhood… Let me dig deeper into her memories…”
Bai Yan remembered something. Dai had always believed that Steward Carson was hiding her background, withholding it from Lord Viscount Edmond.
In reality, Steward Carson had confided in Bai Yan about her origins. Oddly enough, he had supported Dai’s rise to a senior maid position, describing her as a hardworking child who deserved a chance.
For someone as rigid as Steward Carson to stand up for a girl from a poor district… it left a lasting impression on Bai Yan.
“If the Babel Tower could unlock a mission about the slums, maybe that would lead to the black wizard.”
Even if the mission remained incomplete, Bai Yan would still track her down.
Dai’s memories already contained enough clues.
When Bai Yan thought back to the black wizard’s appearance, something clicked.
The promise they made to Alan.
“Could it be her?”
At that moment, Cola walked in, jumping gracefully onto Bai Yan’s lap.
“Mew!” Cola smiled playfully at him.
Bai Yan froze. The cat had once disliked him, but now it seemed different.
“What do you want?” he asked, teasingly grabbing Cola’s ear.
“Meow.”
Cola tilted its head, as if to say, “I don’t understand.”
Bai Yan sighed. “Why the sudden shift? Is it because of something? Or did you find out something? Maybe you want to gather information from me?”
“Meow!”
Cola seemed to respond seriously, but Bai Yan wasn’t convinced.
He ignored the cat, focused on his work, and began reading the newspaper he had been holding.
Meanwhile, Cola, having settled comfortably on his lap, soon dozed off.
Back inside the Babel Tower, Bai Yan sat on his throne, operating his mobile phone.
He sent out his Core Operators to complete the weekly missions.
Familiar with the process, he moved swiftly.
Since Sacred Heart’s Chosen was a local of the Zeuo Continent, he assigned her the missions related to that realm.
As for the daily and weekly missions in the world of Noah, he delegated them to his Core Operators there.
With a glimmer of hope, Bai Yan muttered, “The World Tree is just ten percent from full growth. After that, both the weekly and daily missions will undergo a complete upgrade.”
Then something caught his attention.
He noticed a surge in missions related to Annottales—far more than usual.
Bai Yan connected the dots, his thoughts turning grim.
It seemed that something significant was about to happen in Annottales.
In Annottales’ fifteenth district,
the poorest and most chaotic
area of the city, something
ominous was unfolding.
For the past week, heavy rain
had poured ceaselessly,
flooding parts of the district.
But the church had offered no
help.
The street, once chaotic and
filthy, now appeared eerily
quiet.
A thick white fog hung in the
air, and an unsettling sense of
foreboding filled the
atmosphere.
A magician, wearing a mask
with a crying face, stepped into
the street.
“Annottales… It’s not the first
time she’s come here… but it’s
the first time she’s seen a
place like this.”
Alan knelt down, preparing
some kind of spell. His
heightened senses reached
outward, and he realized
something was wrong.
This street, normally teeming
with people, was completely
deserted. Not a single living
being was visible.
Then, Alan felt it—a presence
moving toward him from
several hundred meters away.
They looked human, but
something was terribly wrong.
Their bodies were blue-purple,
veins bulging, bloodshot eyes
glowing with rage.
And they weren’t the only ones.
Suddenly, the strange beings
howled, rushing toward Alan.
They moved with unnatural
agility, climbing over buildings
and leaping over obstacles as
if they were supernatural
creatures.
Alan watched with wide eyes,
stunned.
“Are you kidding me… This is
supposed to be inside the city.
What the hell is going on?”
Annottales had always been a
city with a high level of public
safety. The streets should not
have been this empty.
But something darker was
afoot.
As Alan studied the
approaching crowd, his heart
sank. The creatures were not
mindless monsters—they were
human. But something had
changed.
They were no longer human in
spirit. Their once-normal
intellect remained, but now
they were driven by a
bloodlust, a hatred for
anything alive.
They were pseudo-
superhumans—creatures still
capable of thought, yet filled
with malice.
And they were attacking.
Alan, sensing the disaster
unfolding before him, felt the
fury rise within him.
This transformation was
spreading.
Someone was trying to destroy
the entire city.
