The hall now regained its elegance and splendor. The filthy bloodstains had long disappeared, leaving only people dressed in splendid attire dancing and reveling in joyous laughter. They were ecstatic to unveil the secret of this forest, expecting it to bring them endless wealth. Lights flickered, glasses clinked, and everyone seemed to be intoxicated in a frenzy of greed and desire.
Meanwhile, Sophie was led into a room where her father sat in silence on a chair.
She knelt before him, "Father."
Her father looked down at her with disdain, "Do you expect me to praise you? Useless waste, associating with this kind of scum, these dirty poor people."
After saying that, he angrily smashed the glass beside him on the ground. The shards splintered and cut her face, and blood flowed uncontrollably. "Father..."
"Get out." Her father uttered the words and then, leaning on his cane, walked into another room without sparing her another glance. After mom left, father changed. He became unpredictable, no longer caring for this family, besides money, there was nothing he cared about.
Sophie walked into the recovery room, looking at Pierre with various instruments attached to his body. Before long, Pierre's system would awaken, granting him incredibly powerful abilities and extraordinary intelligence.
"Guys, isn't Pierre's system about to awaken?"
"Yes! Witness the return of Pierre the Conqueror!"
"I would dub it the Ultimate Protagonist System!"
Sophie looked at the subtitles before her, reveling in the thrill of spoilers. In fact, standing here, she could already sense it—the magnetic field around the now-laid-back Pierre was incredibly powerful, completely different from the Pierre before.
Pierre woke up in his room, surrounded by stale pizza and pasta, along with takeaway boxes from KFC and McDonald's. At that moment, a knocking sound came from the door. "Pierre, it's Sophie. Are you home?"
Before he could respond, he heard the sound of a window shattering, and a stone flew past him. In a swift motion, he reached out and caught it. Before he could fully grasp what had happened, Sophie crawled in through the broken window. The room carried an unpleasant odor, but upon seeing Pierre unharmed, she walked up to him with a cheerful smile, grabbed his arm, and began checking him, saying, "Thank goodness you're fine! I was worried something happened to you!"
At that moment, Pierre's phone vibrated on the sofa, and he suddenly became aware of its presence. When he checked his phone, he discovered that Sophie had called him hundreds of times and sent him numerous messages.
"Sorry..." Before he could finish speaking, he realized that his voice sounded terrifyingly hoarse, and his throat was extremely dry. The intense dryness made him crave for water.
Sophie quickly handed him a glass of water. He looked at her appreciatively, took the glass, and gulped it down. "Thank you."
"Don't be polite with me." Sophie replied casually, then put on her gloves, picked up a trash bag, and started cleaning up the dirty and messy room.
Pierre quickly took the garbage bag from her hands and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, the house is a bit messy. Probably because I've been working hastily and didn't have time to tidy up." For some reason, even though they were a couple, Pierre couldn't help but feel a bit distant and unfamiliar with Sophie.
Sophie's gloved hands froze in place, and she silently observed Pierre. It seemed that he truly didn't remember anything…
With a resigned shrug, Sophie didn't mind. After all, she was just an NPC. The protagonist had his own mission and destiny, and her role was merely to drive the plot forward.
"Meow~" Suddenly, a small cat jumped out of nowhere, startling Sophie, who almost fell. In her panic, she grabbed onto Pierre, with her other hand clutching the curtain. In an instant, the photos covering the wall were intertwined with red lines. Pictures of her and her father were marked with large red crosses.
The shocking scene before her made her heart skip a beat. When she turned to look at Pierre, he had lost the silliness and foolishness of the past. His eyes were now filled with calmness and a cold gleam.
She looked at the killing intent in his eyes with horror, "Pierre!" She screamed, and in an instant, her vision went black, and she collapsed.
When she woke up, her hands and feet were bound. The more she struggled, the tighter the restraints became. Upon realizing this, she noticed deep blood already marks on her wrists.
In her struggles, everything around her remained pitch-black. A cloth was stuffed in her mouth, preventing her from speaking, and she could only make muffled sounds. The intense struggle yielded no results, it only risked further injuring herself. She ultimately gave up on the resistance, sitting on the chair in resignation, awaiting judgment.
Although everything around her was pitch-black, she could still see subtitles floating before her eyes.
"What kind of plot is this? Has anyone played it before?"
"Haven't encountered this plot before. Is it a surprise from the official source?"
"I haven't played through this plot either. It seems like the storyline has taken an unexpected turn from before."
"Same here."
Sophie decided to close her eyes, but the subtitles continued to float wildly in front of her. At this moment, a cold, metallic object suddenly pressed against her skin. Without looking, she could feel the sharpness of the cold blade.
"Sophie, do you know how many bones a person has?"
It's Pierre's voice, but his tone is extremely cold, colder than the snow on a winter night.
As if his question wasn't meant to receive an answer, he answered on his own after a few seconds of silence, "It's 206."
After he finished speaking, his knife began to move across her skin. The sharp blade cut through the flesh, and blood rushed out violently. The intense pain made Sophie scream out loud.
"206 bones. When my father passed away, not a single bone of the 206 was intact, all were crushed under the weight." He held the knife like a piece of art, gripping the handle with the blade against her skin, tracing the path of her bones and gently cutting through the surface of her flesh.
Sophie was tortured to the point of unbearable pain, her upper body resembling a puppet painted with lines of blood.
As the blade touched the ribcage, Pierre suddenly halted the knife. His deep voice resonated in her ears, "Would you like to see something interesting?"
Having said that, he removed her blindfold. At this moment, on a wall several dozen meters high, there were thousands of screens displaying people undergoing inhuman torture. These people were the wealthy attendees from the banquet hall. Despite their endless wealth, they could have lived a life of ease. However, they had provoked the wrong person—Pierre.