200: Chapter 200: The Customs and Traditions of SE.RA.PH and... the Untouchables

As the pink portal dissipated, the dim corridor returned to a deathly silence.

PD took a deep breath, and with Gawain and Meltryllis, officially began exploring this deep-sea cybernetic paradise.

It must be said that this time, Old Thief Gu abandoned traditional grid-based tower defense and switched to this "open world" style map design, bringing immersion to its absolute peak.

There were no clear pathfinding guides, no safe zones, and certainly none of the convenient "click to auto-navigate" features found in traditional online games.

Players had to grope their way forward step by step through a 3D labyrinth filled with metal debris, cliffs, and eerie flesh-like tissues.

Over the next two hours, PD and the tens of thousands of viewers in the livestream fully experienced the "local customs" of this deep-sea demon realm.

Passing through a bizarre corridor covered in dark red tumors, the metal walls on both sides seemed to heave as if breathing. Suddenly, frenzied antivirus programs emerged, scaring PD so much he scrambled away, only for Gawain to burn the monsters and the tumors to ashes with a single, sweeping strike of his Sun-rotating sword energy.

In the blink of an eye, the trio arrived at a wide, open cliff.

Beneath their feet was a thin, transparent data barrier, and below that lay the bottomless, bone-chilling Mariana Trench.

Looking at the massive cybernetic building ruins suspended upside down in the deep sea, countless viewers suffering from thalassophobia frantically spammed "barrage protection" in the chat.

"Damn, this terrain design is too hellish."

PD walked cautiously along the wall, afraid of stepping into any traps. "Brothers, I keep having the illusion that I'm exploring a catacomb; I feel like something is going to jump out around the corner and smash into my face."

Despite saying that, as a hardcore gamer, the "loot everything" instinct in PD's bones was quickly fully ignited.

He didn't rush to move on; instead, like a groundhog, he frantically rummaged through every cabinet and box in the labyrinth.

"Found it!"

In an extremely hidden corner covered in tentacles, PD excitedly pried open a glowing cybernetic treasure chest.

[Loot Obtained: Sakura Coin x500!]

Looking at the pink coins falling into his inventory, PD couldn't stop grinning: "Brothers, isn't this the bribe money BB mentioned earlier? Let's find a few more chests, and we'll go straight to the black market and buy her out until she's bankrupt!"

The chat was filled with a lively atmosphere:

"As expected of Boss P, he never forgets his fine tradition of looting wherever he goes."

"He actually turned a horror-suspense game into a scavenger simulator. You're really something!"

Such scenes of exploration repeated continuously.

Until they arrived in front of a massive, abandoned workshop.

From deep within the workshop came a bone-chilling, bizarre laugh.

"Oh, oh, oh! God! Please behold this exquisite despair!"

A Servant wearing a wide purple robe, with eyes bulging out like a dead fish, was brandishing a bizarre grimoire.

At his feet, over a dozen sea monsters covered in tentacles were hissing and shrieking, completely blocking the path ahead.

A wandering elite monster—Caster, Gilles de Rais!

"Work already?"

PD wasn't panicked at all; instead, he excitedly rubbed his hands together and issued orders to the two Servants.

"Gawain! Get up there and hold the aggro!"

"Understood!"

Gawain's burly frame was like an immovable iron tower; he charged directly into the group of sea monsters, thrust his burning holy sword into the ground, and forcibly withstood all the tentacle attacks.

"Meltryllis, flank him! Cut down that mage for me!"

"Don't use that commanding tone with me, but... I do hate these ugly-looking insects."

Meltryllis transformed into a sharp streak of purple lightning, leaping rapidly between the metal ruins on her silver blade-legs.

Under this brand-new real-time battle system, the coordination between the two top-tier AI Servants was as smooth as flowing water.

Gawain cleared out the mobs head-on with wide, sweeping strikes, while Meltryllis performed a precision aerial drop from the visual blind spot.

Accompanied by a dazzling display of blade light, that infamous, cruel Bluebeard didn't even have time to unleash his ultimate move before his spirit origin was shredded by the silver scissor-legs!

"Beautiful! The impact of these moves feels so satisfying!"

PD, standing behind, shouted in exhilaration while using Gandr to finish off enemies.

However, just as the battle ended and Gilles de Rais's body dissolved into data debris, PD suddenly realized something was wrong.

"Strange..."

PD scratched his head and looked at Meltryllis beside him. "I was fighting too fast to notice earlier, but where is this guy's Master? Did they run away early after seeing the situation go south?"

Hearing this question, Meltryllis stopped cleaning and maintaining her giant high heels.

She turned around and looked at PD coldly, with a gaze filled with a touch of pity and mockery.

"Run? Don't be naive, you foolish human."

Meltryllis lifted her chin, her tone revealing a cold cruelty: "From the very moment he was summoned to this deep-sea paradise, his Master was already a corpse."

"What?!" PD was stunned.

Meltryllis walked slowly to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the bottomless Mariana Trench.

"Do you think the '128 Masters killing each other' broadcasted earlier was a real scenario?"

"That was just a false lie spread by BB for her own entertainment."

"This deep-sea cybernetic paradise is filled with deadly data storms and terrifying water pressure. Once an ordinary human is forcibly dragged in here, the moment they summon a Servant, they will drop dead on the spot because their mana is completely drained."

Meltryllis turned back, a dark glint flashing in her eyes.

"Therefore, the Servants wandering this labyrinth are all monsters who have lost their Master and all restraints."

"Because they lack a Master as an anchor for morality and reason, their motivation for fighting has completely turned into fulfilling the deepest obsessions and desires they held in life."

"This place is just a cybernetic pit of venomous insects filled with frenzied beasts."

Having said this, Meltryllis looked deeply at PD.

"A Master like you, who not only didn't die upon arrival but can also run around lively with two Servants, is the only anomaly in this labyrinth."

After hearing Meltryllis's words, PD felt a chill run down his spine.

The hundreds of thousands of viewers in the livestream also gasped in unison.

"Damn... Old Thief Gu's plot design is too dark!"

"Death on arrival? No wonder that Bluebeard was so completely insane; it turns out there aren't any living Masters in this map at all!"

"It's terrifying when you think about it! Doesn't that mean all the Chaldea staff who were forcibly dragged down earlier also perished?"

The oppressive truth instantly turned the previously relaxed atmosphere of exploration heavy.

PD swallowed hard and forced himself to perk up: "Forget it, let's not worry about the dead for now; we need to hurry and find the entrance to the next level."

The trio continued to advance along the dim corridor.

After walking for about ten minutes.

At the end of a passageway, an exceptionally dazzling golden light, filled with a divine aura, caught everyone's attention.

"That is..."

Gawain tightened his grip on his holy sword and strode forward.

There, on a dilapidated metal altar, floated a crystal-clear, diamond-shaped crystal emitting a high concentration of mana fluctuations!

The shape and luster of that crystal were exactly like the legendary "Holy Grail"!

"My god! A golden legend?!"

PD, who had been feeling heavy-hearted just a moment ago, instantly widened his eyes until they were bigger than copper bells.

As a player, seeing such a glowing rare item was even more endearing than seeing his own father!

"Could it be some top-tier treasure that can directly strengthen Servants? Or maybe a key to skip levels?!"

PD ran up excitedly, not even bothering with Meltryllis's warning, and directly reached out his hand to touch the golden crystal.

"Hum—!"

The moment his fingertips touched it, no system prompt like "Obtained Somber Smithing Stone [9]" popped up.

Instead.

The surrounding environment suddenly went dark, and the golden crystal turned into countless jumping data streams, rapidly reorganizing before PD's retinas.

Immediately after, a burst of static noise from a microphone sounded.

A man's voice, tired, desperate, and even carrying a faint hint of sobbing, slowly emerged from inside the crystal, as if crossing through endless time and space.

"Whoever you are... if you can hear this recording..."

"Please... do not believe anything here..."