Samsara Paradise: Dream Weaver of Connections.

"Woman, you're dying."

A loud voice suddenly rang out, breaking the slightly tense atmosphere in the room and drawing the attention of everyone present, including the Queen of Pain, Anna.

Across the round table, on the right side, a tall figure shrouded in gray mist leaned slightly forward.

Even through the fog that obscured his senses, Lin Yi could feel two burning gazes directed at Anna in the main seat.

"You're going to die soon."

The sound rang out again, this time louder, almost echoing slightly in the room.

Anna, the owner of the House of Death, simply smiled.

Her smile was faint, and a strange expression appeared on her pale face, as if she were watching an ignorant child talking nonsense.

She raised her hand to cover her mouth and coughed lightly twice. The cough was very soft, but it inexplicably made people's hearts tighten—as if she really was going to cough up blood at any moment.

She raised her hand to cover her mouth and coughed lightly twice, her voice still soft and gentle: "Please rest assured, I will not die from the illness."

She treats all participants with the utmost fairness—she cannot achieve absolute fairness, but she will do her best to maintain it; it is her responsibility, her mission, the mission of the owner of the House of Death.

Therefore, Anna is not actually dangerous; the danger lies in the House of Death itself.

"No, you will die of illness." The voice rang out again, resolute and with an unreasonable stubbornness.

It has to be said that these two sentences alone were enough to shock more than half of the participants—this guy was fearless, or rather, a guy who was a bit dim-witted.

Lin Yi could almost picture the expression on that face beneath the gray fog: eyes wide, a stubborn look that said, "What I said is the truth."

"I... I can't." Anna's tone was still gentle, but no matter how you listened, there was a hint of helplessness.

That feeling of helplessness is like an adult facing a child who insists the sun is green; they don't want to discourage the child's innocence, but they also have to correct the child's mistake.

"You will!" The owner of the loud voice was clearly very stubborn.

Anna was speechless for a moment.

Since becoming the owner of the Death House, she has seen thousands of participants, some fearful, some angry, some calmly calculating, and some desperately collapsing. But someone who insists on being dying right from the start like today is indeed the first time she has encountered such an 'interesting' participant.

After a few seconds of silence, she shook her head helplessly, a hint of a smile in her voice: "Thank you for your kindness, demon warrior."

As she spoke, Anna gently raised her hand.

The gray mist that had concealed the faces and figures of the six participants, including Lin Yi, dissipated silently like a thin veil blown away by the wind, revealing their true appearances.

"What... such a coincidence?"

A familiar female voice, tinged with surprise, rang out.

Lin Yi looked up and was surprised – good heavens, he saw many familiar faces.

Around the round table, apart from an elderly man whom I had never seen before, the remaining five people were:
Lin Yi, Abyss Physician.

Su Xiao, the destroyer of the laws of the Samsara Paradise, was dressed in a black trench coat. He leaned back in his chair with an expressionless face, his right hand casually resting on the armrest, while his left hand was placed on his side—Lin Yi knew that was where he could draw his sword at any moment.

Dillin, the female mage of Arcane Eternal Star, was sitting with her legs crossed. Her ears were covered with metal studs, and her short hair gave her a rather androgynous beauty. At this moment, her teeth were clenched so tightly that they clicked, and her hatred was undisguised.

But Lin Yi could see a hint of seriousness deep in her eyes.

Shangyue, a participant from the Feather Clan, had her black wings folded behind her, and her silver eyes, like cold stars in a winter night, were coldly scrutinizing everyone present.

Her fingers seemed to be resting casually on the armrest, but Lin Yi noticed that the tip of her index finger was gently rubbing a tiny dent in the metal armrest.

And finally, there's the guy with eyes that seem to burn with magma, who just loudly predicted Anna's death from illness—Mond, the demon.

He was wearing a simple leather vest and trousers, revealing his muscular arms and calves.

He was slightly open-mouthed at that moment, seemingly not expecting the gray fog to suddenly dissipate, but he quickly regained his "I was right" expression.

Six participants, five of whom were acquaintances.

If the fact that one of the acquaintances was a coincidence, then Lin Yi would never believe that this arrangement wasn't deliberately planned by the Void Tree or some other behind-the-scenes force.

This obvious "familiar gathering" is something even Mondl, who is currently glaring angrily at Dillian and whose brain is more muscle than brain, probably wouldn't believe.

Lin Yi met Mond about half a year ago.

At that time, he needed to travel to the demon territory to deal with Lilim for some reason.

He first met Mond in the arena of the demons.

At that time, the young man with short white hair was surrounded by more than a dozen demon warriors. He was covered in wounds, but the fighting spirit in his eyes burned as if he were about to breathe fire.

When he saw Lin Yi, an unfamiliar face, appear in the core territory of the demon race, he immediately became eager to come up and "spar".

"Hey, you look pretty good in a fight, come on—"

He hadn't finished speaking.

A fist covered in black scales descended from the sky, slamming him into the ground and leaving a human-shaped crater.

The one who made the move was a demon elder, Mondstadt's father.

When the elder pulled Mondl out of the pit, he explained to Lin Yi with a rather helpless expression, "Sorry, this kid has some mental issues, don't take it too seriously."

Later, Lin Yi heard more about Mondstadt's "glorious deeds" from Lilim.

I was aware of the generally "straightforward" nature of the demon race, but Mondstadt's level of "straightforwardness" was truly impressive.

"You're just going to sit here?"

It was Mond who spoke.

His imposing frame sat on the metal chair, which seemed somewhat overburdened.

He looked around, then his gaze returned to Anna, seemingly still agonizing over whether she would die from her illness.

However, his stubbornness is evident from his conversation with Anna, the Queen of Pain.

“You can stand too.” Dilling’s legs were casually draped over the edge of the round table, her body leaning back in her chair, her posture relaxed and natural, exuding a nonchalant arrogance.

Her red eyes swept over Mond, full of mockery.

"Believe it or not, a few of us will team up and kill you first." Mond's eyes shone even brighter, their magma-like light intensifying as he retorted directly.

The demon race's attitude towards Arcane Eternal Star has always been one of blatant hostility.

“I believe you,” Dilling answered almost without thinking. “However, I’ve never been pulled by the hair and beaten for four hours.”

Mondl's eyes widened suddenly, his bronze face flushed red, and veins throbbed on his forehead.

He had a torrent of insults churning inside him, but after holding them back for a long time, he realized that he had a surprisingly limited repertoire of insults.

He instinctively looked to Su Xiao on the other side of the round table for help—in his simple understanding, the destroyers of the laws in the Samsara Paradise should be very good at cursing people.

Su Xiao met Mond's gaze, her face expressionless, and simply looked away.

He's not good at this; it's Bach's forte.

"Gentlemen, please allow me to explain the rules of the game."

The voice of Anna, the Queen of Pain, rang out at just the right moment, pulling the atmosphere back from the brink of disaster.

So far, Anna has acted as a highly visible observer. She hasn't used her status as the owner of the House of Death to assert her position, but rather plays the role of an absolutely powerful yet impartial arbitrator.

All eyes turned to Anna.

“The rules are simple.” Anna’s pale fingertips tapped lightly on the center of the round table. “After the ‘Disc of Fate’ determines your game sequence, you can reach the ‘Banquet Hall’ by any means necessary. Once there, the real death game begins. You didn’t enter the House of Death voluntarily, so treat this experience as a test. You can only come here once in your life.” As soon as she finished speaking, a slight mechanical grinding sound came from the center of the round table.

A tabletop dipped downwards, and then a bronze disc with an exquisite arrow rose up from below and settled firmly.

Click-clack...

The disc began to rotate on its own, initially slowly, then faster and faster, until it became a blurry bronze shadow.

A few seconds later, the rotation slowed down, and finally, the pointer on it came to a halt, pointing to the taciturn old man among the six.

The old man had white hair and beard, a simple and honest face, and wore a dark gray long robe that resembled a priest's robe but was simpler.

The moment the pointer pointed at him, a glint of light flashed in his cloudy eyes, but his face remained expressionless.

Without saying a word, he slowly got up, the metal chair making a slight sound as it scraped against the ground.

He nodded slightly to Anna as a greeting, then walked past the Queen of Pain, Anna, pushed open the seemingly ordinary black wooden door of the room, and disappeared into the darkness behind the door.

The wooden door closed silently behind him.

The room fell silent for a moment, with only the faint hum of the disc's base indicating that it would soon turn again to determine the order of the next departing participant.

Just as the pointer on the disc began its second slight tremor, preparing to select again—

A deep, muffled thud came from outside the wooden door without warning!
Boom! ! !
The entire room seemed to have been struck by an invisible giant hammer, shaking violently!
The memorials hanging on the wall rattled, the chandelier swayed wildly, and the light and shadow were disordered.

Unsecured items on the table bounced up.

The wooden door that had just been closed suddenly bulged and deformed inward, along with the wall around the door frame, sending countless wood chips and black wall panel fragments flying out!

A dark shadow, accompanied by splattered crimson, shot through the broken doorway like a stone launched from a catapult.

pat!

The dark figure crashed heavily onto the floor in the center of the room, rolled several times, leaving a glaring trail of blood, and finally lay face down, motionless.

Fresh blood quickly spread from beneath the mangled body, and the pungent smell of blood instantly filled the entire room.

It's half a body.

It was neatly torn apart at the waist by some terrifying force, the cut was jagged, and the violently broken spine and white rib fragments could be vaguely seen.

The internal organs were almost completely removed, leaving only a few broken tissues attached to the abdominal cavity.

It was that old man from the Sacred Paradise.

His gray hair was stuck to his face and the floor with blood, his eyes were wide open with unfocused pupils, and his face still showed the shock and disbelief of the last moment.

His mouth opened slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he only coughed up a few dark red blood foams with bubbles, his head tilted to the side, and he lost all life.

From the moment he left the house to the moment he flew back as a half-corpse, it took no more than ten seconds.

A seasoned veteran from the Holy Land Paradise, who had experienced countless battles, was forced to exit the game in such a tragic and abrupt manner just as the "game" in the House of Death had begun.

The room fell into a deathly silence.

On the round table, the pointer of the wheel of fate had stopped trembling at some point and silently pointed to the next target.

The Feathered Clan, the Moon of Sorrow.

Shangyue sat on the metal chair, her black wings now completely folded and pressed against her back, but the knuckles of her fingers resting on the armrests were slightly white from the force she was exerting.

Her silver eyes were fixed on the half-corpse on the ground, then slowly moved to the large, broken hole in the doorway.

Outside the cave was a deep darkness, silent and still, as if the earth-shattering attack had never happened.

Dillian had put her legs down on the table at some point, and her body was leaning slightly forward.

The demonic flames on Mondl's body surged uncontrollably for a moment, then he forcibly suppressed them back into his body, leaving only dark red lines on the surface of his skin.

Su Xiao's posture remained unchanged, still leaning back in his chair, but Lin Yi could sense that his aura was more restrained and more dangerous than before.

It's a state where all perception and power are compressed to the extreme, ready to explode at any moment.

Su Xiao's gaze swept over the corpse on the ground, lingered for a moment at the broken doorway, and finally landed on the Wheel of Fate in the center of the round table, his eyes eerily calm.

Lin Yi took a deep breath. This old man from the Sacred Paradise was definitely not weak; he was at least at the upper level of the sixth rank.

Yet this powerful individual, just ten seconds after leaving the "safe house," was returned as a mutilated corpse.

The House of Death... lives up to its name.

Click~

The pointer was aimed at Mondstadt, who calmly stood up. It would be a lie to say he wasn't flustered at all, but as the demon race, he couldn't show it even if he was a little uneasy.

Mond had only stepped out of the cabin a few seconds before another roar erupted outside.

boom!
Mond flew in through the door, crashed into the wooden wall opposite, and fell to the ground.

"It hurts quite a bit."

Mond wiped the blood from his face and walked out of the room. After a roar, the sound subsided.

Click~

As if the death-dealing disc had stopped, this time it was aimed at Shangyue. Shangyue calmly stood up and walked towards the door, but as soon as she stepped out of the room, her body trembled.

This time, there was no sound outside the door.

Click~

The disc stopped for the fourth time, pointing at the female spellcaster, Dillin.

"You're lucky."

After stretching, Dillian got up and walked out of the room. There was still no sound. Su Xiao suspected that the thing outside the door had been lured away by that demon.

Soon, Su Xiao also left, leaving Lin Yi alone in the room.

Oh, and Ana, the Queen of Pain.

Anna sat quietly in the main seat, her hands folded on her knees, her pale face appearing even more bloodless in the flickering lamplight.

Her gaze fell on Lin Yi, her deep purple eyes reflecting the light of the chandelier, like two amethyst crystals immersed in water.

She didn't speak, but just quietly looked at Lin Yi.

Lin Yi was also looking at her.

The two stared at each other for about five seconds.

Then, Anna smiled.

It wasn't the polite smile from before, but a genuine smile, with a hint of warmth.

She then picked up the disc from the table.

"Don't rush the competition. You've come all this way to see me, so take a break first." Anna's voice became very gentle, as if she were talking to an old friend.

Lin Yi blinked.

If Anna was the Queen of Death just now, then Anna's attitude towards Lin Yi now is like that of a friendly older sister next door, without any resistance whatsoever.

Lin Yi naturally wouldn't refuse Anna's kindness, and he was also very curious about the relationship between Anna and Hill. (End of Chapter)