I don't want to conquer witches anymore.

"So, what are the basic rules of this witch's game?"

"May your wishes come true... or rather, 'Murphy's Law'?"

Testimonials

It will be available tomorrow at 10:30!

This book had a strong start but a weak finish. Although it stayed in the top 20 of the click chart for a week and gained 10,000 views, the word count was still low at that time and there was no bounty. This directly led to two consecutive months of mysterious promotions to maintain its ranking. It was lukewarm for two weeks, which was very frustrating.

Moreover, I received a lot of criticism in the following two weeks, which made me feel even worse.

A while ago, something happened at home, and I even got sick in the middle of it.

This means that everything is going wrong.

I don't want to dedicate a separate chapter to explaining things related to the plot. I feel like that would be a loss; if the plot and characters I've written are misinterpreted, then it's a problem with my writing skills. There's really no point in going to the trouble of explaining or arguing in the comments section.

Let me tell you a little surprise.

Amber and Cecil's names were indeed referenced from a certain famous farming novel next door; that's just my quirky sense of humor. Originally, I was going to go even further and name Guangbao Gao Wen, but then I discovered "Gawain" was a male name, so I changed it to Cecil. Of course, only the names were referenced; the character design and details are entirely original.

But the name Duke isn't a joke; I haven't seen the work you're talking about.

Finally, there's the reward.

The current data is 317 monthly tickets, 5091 recommendation tickets, 17.48 tips, and 286 razor blades.

That means an increase of 240 monthly tickets, 3965 recommendations, 1.44 tips, and 240 blades.

Logically, it should be five chapters as an extra chapter, but I'll just multiply that by two, so I'll count it as ten chapters owed.

If the subscription results are good, I will open another reward.

Please subscribe! Please vote!

Chapter Sixty-Two: A Nonsensical Story

"If there is any possibility that things can go wrong, no matter how small that possibility may be, it will happen."

"What you fear most is what is most likely to happen."

This is known as Murphy's Law.

Rather than being a scientific law, it's more like a comforting saying people use when they're down on their luck. You remember this law when you're unlucky and everything is going wrong, but when everything goes smoothly and you're incredibly lucky, you definitely forget about it.

What Murphy's Law? I'm really not familiar with it.

However, in the countless alternate dimensions connected to the floating city, it is not surprising that any bizarre rules may appear, and anything considered common sense in the main world may be overturned.

A person being killed doesn't necessarily mean they die; the direction of gravity might be moving away from the planet; candy can be made into soldiers that can evolve indefinitely...

Everything is possible.

As a player of a witch game, you need to keep your mind open and not be constrained by habitual thinking.

If Duke is not mistaken, the fundamental rule of this alternate dimension is the so-called "Murphy's Law"—what you fear will happen.

The higher-ups in the floating city probably didn't deceive Amber. They wouldn't need to tamper with something as easily refuted as a spatial passage. What truly caused the spatial passage to malfunction was Amber's own worry—she feared that if the spatial passage failed, she wouldn't be able to lead everyone out of the alternate dimension in case of danger. Therefore, the alternate dimension relayed her worry, directly causing the spatial passage to fail.

"It seems we need to be more optimistic in this world."

Duke casually remarked, and seeing that Amber had become even more depressed because of his words, he reached out and patted her on the shoulder: "There's nothing to blame yourself for. It's all thanks to you that I was able to realize the truth of this world so quickly."

"Oh."

Amber pouted.

No matter how Duke tried to comfort her, she had ruined everyone's escape route, and she couldn't shake off her guilt for a while.

After they entered the game, they found themselves in a vast wilderness. There was nothing in sight, not even a single animal, and Duke couldn't see a single blade of grass on the dry ground.

"Let's go find the others first."

Of course, the vastness of the wilderness also provided excellent visibility, making it very easy to find people. Amber pulled Duke through a series of spatial jumps, and each time they crossed a great distance, Duke would take out a single-hole telescope to search for a while. They quickly found the first group of companions.

Joseph the Madman and Joan the Witch.

As expected, everyone was paired up. There was some kind of mysterious connection between the witch and the players she invited, and they were not separated by the random assignment upon entering the game.

The two seemed to be old acquaintances with a good understanding of each other. When Duke found them, they had already built a fire in the wilderness and started heating up their rations and soup. One could easily believe they were out for a picnic. Incidentally, when Duke arrived, Mr. Mad Song was singing, while the Witch of June was clapping along.

The surreal scene and the eerie sound that reached his ears almost made Duke lose his temper and start a fight.

"Brother Duke!" Joseph's eyes lit up when he saw Duke and Amber. He waved happily, his eyes full of "Great, my buddy has come to me!" He said cheerfully, "Everyone scattered after entering the game, and I was worried about that."

"Of the other three groups, you are the one I'm least worried about."

"Hey, don't be so cold-blooded."

Duke frowned. He wasn't lying. Of the other three groups, the one he wasn't worried about at all was Joseph and Joan's group. Firstly, he was the least familiar with the two in this group, and if he had to worry, he would definitely worry about his two "ex-girlfriends" first. Secondly, it was because there was no need to worry about these two.

Joseph the Madman is a man of both bravado and shrewdness. Though he may seem like a reckless brute, he is actually quite cautious and a top-tier player with well-rounded abilities. As for the Dream Witch Joan, Duke doesn't know much about her, but he has heard of her abilities. A dream weaver who can control dreams can most likely also control her own thoughts.

Compared to the other two groups, this group is the most reassuring.

He didn't know much about Geyue, but Natasha had weak control over her racial talents to begin with, and she was usually paranoid and afraid of everything. Wouldn't she be able to self-destruct at any moment in this world?

The remaining reason for his concern can be summarized in three simple words: "Cecil".

Waaaaah, my Gloomy!

"The first group we found was Joseph's... Could Murphy's Law have unknowingly affected me as well?" Duke frowned as he pondered. "Everything is heading towards the worst-case scenario, but how far can this development go? How far can it deviate from reality?"

"What's wrong, Duke?"

“I’m going to conduct an experiment.” Duke held up one finger. “Joseph, I don’t have much adventure experience. Do you think zombies are easy to deal with?”

Joseph replied, bewildered, "Easy to deal with? They move slowly and can't see very far. What's the use of having strength if you can't use it?"

"What about the large cannibalistic zombie?"

"The same principle applies: being bigger and stronger doesn't necessarily mean it's harder to deal with."

"In my hometown, there is a type of zombie called 'Hanba'. They are incredibly fast and powerful. After they grow and mature, they can control the weather and cause a region to suffer from a prolonged drought. Legend has it that the earliest Hanba was once the daughter of a god. She was lost to the human world during a war and fell into the form of a zombie, bringing drought to the people and becoming a monster that everyone hates."

"Sounds incredible, controlling the weather? That might be amazing, right?" Joseph frowned. "But can this even be called a zombie?"

"Of course it can, it can be done in my hometown, and it can be done in this world."

Duke grinned and looked into the distance. A woman in white had appeared there at some point. At the same time, everyone felt the moisture in the air drying up at an extremely fast speed... Duke's lips even began to crack from dehydration.

Joseph's expression changed slightly, and he quickly chimed in, "Is there a sequel to the story of the daughter of the gods?"

“Yes,” Duke said casually. “Later, this female demon was taken in by a human with a unique sexual fetish. He married her and they lived a shameless and happy life together, sometimes once, sometimes twice, sometimes seven times a night.”

"?"

"But later, this man cheated on his wife. He went to peep at other celestial maidens bathing and stole their clothes. Using this trick, he got together with another celestial maiden. Miss Nüba was furious and went to fight the young master. The two fallen celestial beings fought until the Great Dao was obliterated, but no one could be defeated. It wasn't until the Great God couldn't stand it anymore and smashed down a star called Niulang, which killed the adulterous man. Only then did the two ladies reconcile and return to heaven together."

"??"

"But not long after they returned to Vega in the sky, aliens came and used star-destroying bombs to kill Nüba, Xiaosan, and the Great God. The end of the story, congratulations."

"??? It was abandoned after all?!"

"Boom—"

As Duke finished telling his story, the "star" that had just risen in the distance exploded in response.

Chapter Sixty-Three: Childhood Sweethearts, A Match Made in Heaven

The story Duke just told played out in reality, but many of the effects did not meet Duke's expectations, especially the Nüba.

He said that the concept of Chinese zombies was incomplete, and while reciting the incomplete concept, he was also silently reciting records such as "The zombie first transforms into a drought demon, and then into a hou."

The original drought demon, Nüba, daughter of the Yellow Emperor, should have been a great monster close to the Hou. At least in Duke's mind, even if she didn't become a dragon-devouring beast, she should at least be half of it, right? But the Nüba that was ultimately manifested under the rules of the other dimension did not show any beastly characteristics. Instead, she was a beautiful fairy in white.

Does this mean that while the world allows "wish fulfillment," there is also a rule of "words becoming law"? Are these two rules coexisting?

Duke muttered, "I'm starting to doubt whether participating in this witch's game was the right decision."

Amber asked curiously, "Why?"

He did not answer.

If all those miscellaneous myths from his past life were to materialize one by one under the power of this world…

"Wait! If I describe it in enough detail, will I be able to summon my anime waifu in this world?!"

"What did you say, wife?!"

As it turns out, the utilitarian approach was useless. The unrealistic dream of having a fictional wife come true is impossible in this cruel alternate dimension game. This even led to Amber's excited questioning, leaving Duke mentally and physically exhausted.

Incidentally, as a master of isekai doujinshi, this certain perverted elf grasped the concept of waifu very quickly, so she didn't have to question her for long before joining Duke's "summoning waifu" ranks.

So after the failure, she and Duke both became depressed and gave up.

"...I'm starting to doubt whether we can even beat the game, Joshua."

“It’s alright, Duke is reliable most of the time… I think so.” Joseph chuckled awkwardly, then coughed to clear his throat. “How about this, I’ll sing a song for Duke to cheer him up.”

"I'm so awesome!"

Duke snapped to attention and quickly stopped Joseph's actions.

It wasn't because he sang terribly (that's one reason), but rather because Duke felt that listening to Joseph's songs for too long made him want to die, and in this kind of world, the mental state of "wanting to die" is not something to be taken lightly, even if it's just a joke.

It must be said that Duke greatly admired Miss Joan—she could listen to Joseph's singing without batting an eye, and even clap and cheer...regardless of...

"You two are a match made in heaven," Duke said sincerely.

"What are you talking about? They're a couple." Joseph said, bewildered. "Joan is my fiancée, didn't you know? I thought she was quite famous."

Duke: "?"

Duke immediately felt envious.

What's going on? A handsome guy like me would be mortified if I were to "date" a witch. I've never even officially dated a witch, yet you, a brute with thick eyebrows and big eyes, are dating a witch? And you're even engaged? You clearly got into the Crown-level Witch Game through your girlfriend's invitation, yet you're still a famously loving couple?

Is this reasonable? Should this be done? Is this fair?

"No, I object to this marriage!"