I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

Duke frowned, turning his gaze towards the direction of the third person who had spoken, and coldly questioned, "Who is it? Sneaking around and refusing to come out?"

As he questioned them, a shadow flickered between the cages, and then a beautiful woman stepped out of the shadows and appeared in front of Duke and Blackie.

Her expression was extremely cold, and she unconsciously furrowed her brows when she looked at Duke. She was wearing a simple prison uniform, and her feet on the ground blended completely into the shadows of the dark laboratory. But what was most striking was her chest—where her heart should have been, there was now only a large, dark hole.

A large shadow writhed within the black hole in her chest, trying to restore her body. But each time it neared completion, time seemed to reverse in her chest area, playing backwards at a visible speed until the black hole became whole and fresh again.

“I didn’t sneak around and refuse to come out,” the woman said calmly. “It’s just that it takes some time for me to get out of this shadow state right now.”

"who are you?"

As Duke was sizing her up, the woman was also sizing him up. She seemed to have noticed that Duke's body was a prosthetic, and after frowning, she focused her gaze on Duke's chest—the location of his soul core.

Then, she answered Duke's question softly:

“My name is Monica…you can also call me the ‘Shadow Witch’.”

Monica the Shadow Witch.

Or rather, the former lord of the floating city, the legendary great witch, Monica.

Upon hearing the name, Duke shuddered, and the fragment of Talia's soul within him seemed to tremble slightly before beginning to drill deeper into his soul—her soul fragment had time to shout "Run!" when facing Norton, but when facing Monica, she didn't even bother to think.

Realizing the humiliation of Talia's soul fragment, Duke immediately bent down, scooped up Little Black, and ran towards the only door in the laboratory.

He's not stupid. Without Guangbao by his side, how could he, a weakling, and the little kitten in his arms, possibly be a match for the renowned former city lord? Monica is a truly ruthless and hardcore woman. When she took power, she assassinated the mute and single-handedly created this inhuman deity who has protected the floating city for hundreds of years.

I even heard from Carol and the others that this former city lord used the mute to do many heinous things, and as a result, the poor mute didn't even know who killed him. The prayer auto-response machine still regards Lady Scarlet as the only designated natural enemy of the mute sect.

This Monica, if not a ruthless killer, is at least utterly inhumane.

If Cecil were around, Duke might be interested in getting to know her, but right now, neither of them has the right to negotiate or cooperate with Monica on an equal footing. If they don't run now, when will they?

"Am I that scary?" Monica raised an eyebrow, remaining rooted to the spot, and said with a cold laugh, "The area outside the lab is full of hero-level shadow creatures."

Meanwhile, Duke, who had already reached the doorway, heard the elemental creature's furious roar and sensed the surge of shadow power. Without a moment's hesitation, he immediately grabbed the black cat by the scruff of its neck, turned around, and returned to his original spot. To the bewildered look on the little black cat's face, he placed it in front of Monica, flashed a fawning smile, and said earnestly, "I'm giving it to you. Please don't kill me, thank you."

Xiao Hei: "?"

Monica: "..."

She maintained her icy beauty demeanor, but a fleeting hint of longing flickered in her eyes. However, instead of reaching out to grab the small black dog that was so close at hand, she glanced at Duke with a disdainful look and said mockingly, "Heh, alright, you lowly man, I'll accept your gift. Hand it to me."

However, upon receiving Monica's answer, Duke's expression suddenly changed. The fawning attitude on his face vanished instantly, leaving only calmness—a calmness even colder than Monica's expressionless face. He then asked:

Question: Is the 'Shadow Witch' currently in her laboratory?

"No, you have nine questions left."

The will of the world immediately provided the correct answer.

The answer to this question does not mean that the Monica in front of us is a fake; quite the opposite, in fact.

“This laboratory belongs to the ‘Shadow Witch’ of the memory world, and she’s not here right now… In other words, you’re not a ‘monster’ created by the Witch Game using Kuro’s memories, but rather the former city lord who was ousted by Carol?” Duke raised an eyebrow. “You’re in terrible shape, Lady Monica. It seems you can’t even move an inch.”

Monica pursed her lips.

The feeling Duke gave her had completely changed, and she was so caught up in this sudden situation that she couldn't even utter a word for a moment.

"If you are the true form of the Shadow Witch, then your reason for staying here is quite simple, isn't it?" Duke snapped his fingers, revealing a smile that seemed to control everything. "You or your former companions answered the question posed by the world's will correctly, but you never expected to remain here forever, did you?"

"who are you?"

Monica questioned coldly, her body radiating murderous intent and hostility, yet she remained motionless, and the shadows around her did not move an inch, as if suppressed by the entire world.

"My name is Duke, and I'm known as the 'Witch Slayer' in the floating city."

Duke snapped his fingers, and the title he mentioned, along with what he had shown before, made Monica look at him with new respect—in just a few words, Duke had convinced the former city lord that this weak man was capable of "killing" the witch.

Wisdom is often more deadly than sheer force.

"But they call you 'Witch Slayer,' not because Duke was simultaneously dating fifteen witch cats?"

"Five! Five, not fifteen! If you don't speak, no one will think you're a mute cat, Little Black!"

Chapter 250 The Current City Lord

Within the territory of Black Fang, in an unremarkable little shop, its owner was dozing on a recliner. An extravagant mask covered her face, obscuring her expression or eyes, but the slight rise and fall of her chest suggested that she was enjoying a rare dream.

But at that moment, the shop door was rudely flung open, and a customer rushed in, shouting:

"Carol! Stop slacking off... wake up! Something terrible has happened!"

"……what?"

Carol, disguised as an information vendor, opened her eyes somewhat dazedly, sat up halfway, and looked at the second-in-command of the floating city who had rushed into her slacking-off little shop. She said with some dissatisfaction, "What's wrong, Eve? Can't you handle something? Didn't we agree that you would turn a blind eye if I came here to slack off?"

"What nonsense are you spouting? I've never agreed to such a request!" Eve glared fiercely at the city lord, gritting her teeth as she said, "Something's happened! The Tower of Babel has been invaded!"

"Oh, I know, Norton, right?" Carol yawned and nodded calmly. "That big, brainless idiot doesn't understand turtle soup, what's there to worry about?"

"Amber and Annie went in, and Duke and Cecil went in too!"

Eve took out a piece of paper with the facts told by the two poor gatekeepers written on it. Then she took out another piece of paper with a magically printed post from the magic network. The post was simple: "My close business partner has turned himself in and just got locked up in the Tower of Babel. What should I do?", "Do you have a speedrun guide for the Tower of Babel?", "Waiting online, it's urgent."

Because the content of this post was so surreal, the netizens below immediately transformed into entertainers and RPG masters, with a large number of friends who had cleared the Tower of Babel dungeon and various completely fake "Speedrun guides" popping up. For a time, the originally quiet floating city intranet, which was only available to a few wealthy witches (because poor witches couldn't afford personal computers), became unusually lively.

Eve was originally just a girl surfing the internet, but after seeing this post, she happily followed suit and created a guide, writing an absurd "Adventures of a Babel Prisoner" from the perspective of a criminal she had personally sent to the Tower of Babel. But after finishing it, she received intelligence that the Tower of Babel had been invaded.

Looking back at this post, it suddenly seems strange.

She quickly tried to find the poster's information, but she immediately discovered an even more shocking fact—she couldn't find the poster's information because the poster had higher privileges than her.

How is this possible? As the second-in-command of the floating city, Eve's access to the intranet was second only to Carol and Ms. Faye. Given that Carol preferred to slack off and sleep rather than surf the internet, and Ms. Faye was completely clueless about this high-tech stuff, Eve had never met her match in terms of network access until she encountered this poster.

What's happening here?

After listening to Eve's story, Carol paused for a moment, then took the two pieces of paper and examined them carefully.

The fact that Amber, Anne, Duke, and Cecil entered the Tower of Babel one after another was not unexpected for her; at most, she was surprised that they acted so quickly. However, the high level of authority of the poster exceeded Carol's expectations, who thought she had everything under control.

She frowned, and after a long while, she finally spoke:

"This internal network account is the core of the floating city, codenamed 5497."

"what?"

“The city beneath our feet also has its own core and capacity for thought, and this high-privilege administrator account comes from the Floating City's magical core... if the friends it refers to are Duke and the others.” Carol raised an eyebrow. “Our dear savior seems to have found something interesting again.”

Eve stared blankly at Carol and the documents in her hand, shook her head helplessly, and muttered under her breath, "Given how much trouble Duke causes, I'm really afraid he might blow up the floating city one day!"

“You’re only worried about him blowing up the floating city? You should be worried about him clearing ‘Turtle Soup’ now, after all, it’s Duke.” Carol looked at her strangely. “Think back to what’s inside the Tower of Babel. If those demons and monsters escape from the Tower of Babel, it won’t just be a simple matter of the floating city being blown up! The consequences will be far more terrifying than an ordinary Crown-level Witch Game.”

The legendary Bugatti of the Common Mind faction, former city lord Monica, saint Megan, the true form of the mute... and the witch's game that is an eternal prison, creating all sorts of monsters in countless worlds of memories.

After the near-legendary Geyue was removed from the list, Duke once dominated the newcomer list, meaning he was the most active adventurer in the past few months without exception... In fact, if Carol hadn't deliberately suppressed his performance and achievements in the witch game "The Little Prince", he could have easily surpassed Geyue and taken the top spot on the newcomer list ahead of time—of course, Carol's suppression of all information about "The Little Prince" was actually a good thing for Duke.

In the ten-year history of Witch Game, there has never been a player like him.

A highly efficient game strategy, an endless stream of cards to be revealed, and an almost obsessive commitment to ensuring the survival of all participating players.

Both Carol and Eve admired Duke's abilities—but when his target became the witch game they controlled, they couldn't laugh anymore.

Eve rubbed her temples, her head aching. "What should we do now?"

"Just do nothing and wait quietly."

However, Carol simply answered casually, seemingly unconcerned about any unexpected events. After all, the key information that guided Duke into the Tower of Babel came from her, so the situation so far was still within her control.

She yawned, then lay back down on the recliner, staring at the shop's ceiling, and murmured:

"Silence is golden."

Carol was also a follower of the mute. Her position was no different from that of Talia, Bugatti, and Norton. However, after becoming the leader of the floating city, she had to face many choices.

This includes the deity she worships.

Did she really not know what Norton wanted to do? Of course not. No one in the floating city knew that big oaf better than her. Carol had fought against him for hundreds of years. How could she not guess what Norton wanted to do?

Norton was able to storm the Tower of Babel because of an opportunity personally given to him by the current lord.

“I acquiesced, Norton.”

"Let me see if you can really bring the mute gods down into the reality of the floating city."

"I believe in you, Duke."

"If it were you, you could surely save that child."

Chapter 251 Monica Only Believes in Herself

“Regardless of how you got the title ‘Witch Slayer,’” Monica shook her head, her perpetually icy expression remaining unchanged. “In short, I roughly know what kind of person you are… Let’s cooperate, Duke.”

"You're the one begging for cooperation right now, so why are you still so arrogant?" Duke's lips curled up slightly. Although he was panicking inside because of the difference in strength, his face showed no sign of it. All he showed Monica was the composure of having everything under control. "If I'm not mistaken, without our help, you will never be able to leave this world of memories, right?"

"So what? My situation won't get any worse, while whether you can even leave is uncertain, let alone help me get out of here."

Monica spoke coldly, confronting Duke and wanting to maintain her advantage and initiative in the upcoming negotiations, something Duke was trying to avoid.

"What's so difficult about leaving here? After seeing your situation, do I need to say more?"

The problem with the World Will this time is: "The former lord of the floating city, known as the 'Shadow Witch,' conducted experiments on ten shadow creatures in her laboratory, but eleven shadow creatures eventually left the laboratory."

Seeing Monica's current situation, the answer naturally becomes clear: of the eleven shadow creatures that left the laboratory, the extra one was Monica herself. Through an unknown experimental process, she transformed herself into an elemental creature, becoming a true shadow.

Incidentally, Xiao Hei was one of the original ten shadow creatures. Judging from this, her strange black catgirl form was probably a side effect of Monica's experiments. Shadow creatures are generally considered particularly chaotic and mindless within the broader category of elemental creatures. They rarely speak the common language of the continent, let alone possess a physical humanoid body—even their usual cat-like appearance is extremely rare for shadow creatures.

Most of the shadow creatures should resemble the shadow creatures in the cages in front of Duke; they are all indistinct shadows.

“You seem to have already guessed the answer, but you haven’t dared to utter a single word, have you?” Monica’s eyes flickered as she looked at the little black cat still hiding behind Duke. “Because if you answer the question, that cat will stay and keep me company. This is a world shaped by my memories, and also by the memories that remain deep within its soul. When you came in, you roared and called out a name; I suppose you’ve already experienced the loss of a companion, haven’t you?”

Duke frowned, and said somewhat displeased:

"...Who says we've lost our partner? She will surely break down the barriers between worlds and return to our side."

Monica raised an eyebrow, seemingly puzzled, and asked, "Is that really what you think?"

"of course."

Duke's answer was without the slightest hesitation. He regained his composure shortly after realizing that Cecil had been left alone in the original world—because he believed that Cecil could return to his side through his own efforts.

“Looks like I have to lower my opinion of you. You’re not as calm and rational as I thought, man.” Monica shook her head and sighed. “Unfortunately, I don’t have many other options right now.”

"Yes, you have no choice now. Either stay here and enjoy your eternal imprisonment, or tell us the information and see if I can help you get out of here." Duke said with a smile, "Now, you can only believe that I am a good person, former city lord."