Chapter 5: is bursting with gold coins!

Putting trivial matters aside for now, Lauren was genuinely happy at this moment.

As if sensing his state, the system spontaneously updated and displayed a panel before him.

[Defeated a wild? demon!]

[Gained experience ×100, player level level1→level2]

[Chose to absorb the dark attribute demon essence!]

[Player has entered a special state: Demonization. Dark Attribute]

[Acquired Talent: Shadow of the Night (can become intangible in shadowy environments)]

[Acquired Talent: Melt into Darkness (can freely move through areas devoid of light)]

[Acquired Talent: Night’s Favor (stat values increase threefold in nighttime environments)]

[Acquired Talent: Realm of Night (within shadows, can temporarily create a dark domain space for hiding)]

“Excellent! Four major talents dropped at once, and all of them are good survival skills! Cataria, your death was worth it!”

Lauren couldn’t help but grin widely!

“This Night Demon is a treasure, I wish there were more of them!”

Just as Lauren was celebrating, the heroine’s image before him also changed accordingly, unlocking a new illustration.

Transforming from her proper knight-princess style to a mischievous dark knightess, her appearance seemed much more lively.

Her attire changed to a special party dress outfit. She leaned forward, making a “peace sign” gesture.

Her pupils turned black, and her smile became more playful, as if teasing the player before her.

Lauren wasn’t surprised by the heroine’s new look.

As a veteran player of the game, he was already intimately familiar with her various form illustrations.

Some players might say, isn’t the heroine a righteous hero?

How can she use demonic power?

This is simply corruption!

No, I won’t accept this.

The developers don’t understand this game.

Listen, folks, we’re a bright, fairytale-like game about cute girls bonding, not some dark, edgy stuff.

Stop ruining the worldview of our Floral Fantasy Poem!

But for the game’s official team, using demonic power wasn’t some major taboo.

Because it allowed for selling various themed outfits, the developers were more than happy to include it.

Worldview is worldview, game mechanics are game mechanics.

Operations need to consider performance.

If a mechanic can be designed to make money, don’t let it go.

If there were any worldview conflicts, they’d just open another worldline, write a tragic backstory to sell the suffering, then start releasing outfits to make money, with players scrambling to buy them for a single picture.

Although, in the lore, this form had its hazards…

It was both pretty and cool!

For players who disliked this type, they could specially produce an item to sell that restored the normal state—another source of income!

For the game, this routine was tried and true, making money hand over fist!

Now, within the game’s worldview, Lauren had even less need to worry about moral decay. No psychological burden here.

I’m the villain anyway.

Using a bit of black magic, demonizing a little—what’s it to you?

This fits my villain persona!

Getting sidetracked, Lauren snapped back to reality, indeed feeling a bit impulsive.

His original plan was to summon the demon, have it cast a few shield and teleportation buffs on him using black magic.

Then go find Anne to complete the original plot and get the rewards.

Who knew a contracted demon would dare to get so presumptuous?

Truly seeking death!

Seeing how it practically wished for his demise, Lauren knew this disloyal, faithless thing couldn’t be kept.

It would definitely get him killed!

So, slaughtering this ungrateful demon to level up wasn’t something Lauren regretted, nor did he care about it.

Level increased, life security improved.

Now it was time to complete Anne’s Personal Side Quest.

As a female character on the villain-redemption route, Anne’s initial favorability towards Lauren was quite high.

So, how to make Anne defect to the protagonist’s side was a problem!

But the narrative-level gods, the official writers, exerted their great power.

In this yuri game with an overpowered female lead, the food chain was reversed.

The would-be homewrecker targeting the heroine became the one who got stolen from.

How to steal the catgirl from the villain’s side?

Here is a standard operating procedure:

First, we plant a plot hole for the villain in the storyline, creating an Achilles’ heel in this relationship—a leverage point that can be pried open.

For example, have the villain harm the catgirl in the past.

The demi-human tribes of the Southern Great Tree Sea region have always been targets of oppression and persecution by the nobles of the Thornflower Empire.

Anne’s catfolk tribe also suffered specifically from the villain’s family’s underhanded schemes back in the day.

As a result, Anne was exiled into the empire’s slave markets from a young age, separated from her family in the tribe, scattered to the winds.

Thus, the two were secret enemies.

The protagonist learns this news, then exposes the secret, creating a rift in the maid’s heart towards the villain!

But that alone isn’t enough!

The second step is to introduce a hidden character equally important to the villain emotionally, plunging the catgirl into a dilemma within this relationship!

For example, Anne has a younger sister lost in the world, later found by the protagonist’s party, reuniting with the catgirl.

Thus, the scales of emotion in her heart begin to tilt!

The most crucial step: use the writer’s great hand to make the villain act stupidly, completely severing this relationship!

The catgirl takes her sister to confront Lauren and demand the truth.

Lauren, with death at his doorstep yet unaware, not knowing his own strength, and inexplicably growing confident, tries to take Anne’s sister hostage to force her continued obedience.

Ultimately, this makes Anne completely lose heart.

She leaves with her sister, joining the protagonist’s party.

However, remembering past affections, she spares Lauren’s life, leaving him to his own devices.

Having lost his connection to this female character and the protection of her formidable combat power, Lauren’s situation plummets into an abyss, free-falling to a tragic end where he meets a fiery death.

This is the original plot of the catgirl’s personal side quest in the game and the so-called “truth” required by the current node task.

In the original plot, Lauren’s death didn’t occur here.

Originally, whether there was a system task or not, he planned to honestly confess everything to Anne.

After all, it was always a ticking time bomb.

If he didn’t expose it, someone else would.

Exposing it himself would at least seem more sincere, maybe salvaging a bit of good impression in front of Anne.

But today, seeing Anne’s sudden bout of obsessive love, Lauren didn’t dare say it anymore, afraid she might lose emotional control again and punch him to death.

While death isn’t scary—death is a cool summer night, allowing for carefree sleep!

No one actually wants to die.

So Lauren decided to postpone it.

He’d level up first, then go confess to Anne, at least putting a few layers of shields and a blink spell on himself for an easier escape.

After all, there was a possibility it could evolve into a boss fight.

He couldn’t afford to be careless!