Leveling Up by Executing Monsters

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Solemn Respect

Lloyd’s mind raced, his thoughts growing more and more excited as they began to wander.

He was willing to bet his reputation on the fact that the Twisted System currently had no Saint presiding over it.

After all, if you court death, you die. Humans could never withstand the torment of this system.

But what if a Twisted Saint really did appear out of nowhere, organized and optimized this system, and enabled humans to delve into it and survive, to master the powerful forces within...

Wouldn’t that mean they could sweep away all the Demons and achieve world peace?

The more Lloyd thought about it, the more excited he became. His courage grew, and his ideas became bolder.

’Since the seat of a Saint is vacant, couldn’t I set my sights on it?’

’With my own diligent hard work, struggle, and accumulated effort—plus a little help from the panel—could I become that Saint?’

’Then, I could cultivate a whole army of Twisted System Extraordinary Beings, purge the world of all its demonic evils, restore clarity to the human realm, and bring about an era of lasting peace for all generations.’

Lloyd suddenly felt a sense of enlightenment, as if his entire perspective had expanded.

His feelings and views on the taboo Twisted System had already begun to shift and change.

’Perhaps I’ll still be a criminal in the eyes of others, but... that’s just me, bearing this burden for the greater good...’

’As a progressive youth leading the development of a new era, this is the heavy weight I must carry...’

As Lloyd’s mind ran wild with these fantasies, a smile touched his lips, full of longing and imagination for the future.

After a dozen or so minutes, he finally reigned in his smile and gradually calmed down, his Thoughts returning to reality.

Even with the help of the panel, becoming a Saint wasn’t something you could achieve just by thinking about it, especially not with such a dangerous system.

But if he didn’t try, it would be impossible forever.

He had no intention of giving up on his ambition to become a Saint. If he didn’t set a "small" goal for himself, he’d never know the limits of his panel.

That being the case, he first needed to adjust his mindset. He couldn’t be blindly optimistic, but he also couldn’t let fear hold him back. Instead, he should be diligent, steadily accumulate experience, improve step-by-step, assign more points, and acquire more skills to protect himself.

Of course, he also had to protect his sister, and himself.

At this thought, Lloyd no longer wanted to lie in his hospital bed. He wanted to go to the library and improve himself right away.

But there was still one last bit of the new information in his mind that he hadn’t looked at, so he patiently took a glance.

’A human Memory Fragment?’

’If I’m not mistaken, this must have been left by the Executioner from cell 704, right?’

But the contents were already very blurry and fragmented. There were only a few disjointed, vague images from which he couldn’t decipher any useful information.

One scene was of a gentle woman with a large pregnant belly, a blissful and sweet smile on her face;

another was of several huge chess pieces—a Knight, a rook, and so on—that were as tall as a grown man;

and another was of a form with the numbers "32167" written on it.

That was all Lloyd could see clearly. The remaining few images were severely distorted and twisted, impossible to recognize.

"That Executioner... he must have been a senior, right? Tried to take care of that Thought Demon, but ended up having his body controlled instead? Sigh..."

Lloyd couldn’t help but recall the words the Executioner had spoken when he first entered cell 704.

At first, he thought it was the Thought Demon speaking, but on second thought, that Demon didn’t seem to have the linguistic ability. Its words were essentially just mimicry.

’So... those words must have been the last will of that senior Executioner?’

His body and consciousness had been completely taken over by the Thought Demon, yet he had retained a final shred of Rationality. This meant that from beginning to end, he had never truly surrendered and had been fighting the Demon the entire time.

Lloyd then suddenly remembered—Tower Three had been sealed for a year, hadn’t it? That meant he had been fighting the Thought Demon for a whole year...

And in the final moments of his life, he was still using that last little bit of Rationality to warn Lloyd, the one who came after him...

A solemn respect filled Lloyd. He quickly got out of his hospital bed, pulled open the window, and gazed in the direction of Tower Three. Pressing his right hand to his heart, he bowed deeply.

He then spoke the most formal benediction in a solemn and serious tone:

"May your path forward be lit by Radiant stars."

At the same time, he decided in his heart that after he got off work, he would go to 8 Champagne Avenue in the West City District and find locker 611, which the Executioner had mentioned.

After paying his respects to his predecessor, Lloyd left the infirmary room and went to check on his three colleagues next door.

As it turned out, they were all sound asleep. It seemed he was the only one who was still full of energy.

Lloyd didn’t disturb them, just used [Probe] through the door.

Their conditions were good; they were still in a state of [Mild Madness]. With their talent and physical constitution as Executioners, they should recover after a bit of rest.

He went to take the elevator, and when the doors opened, Weiya was standing inside, holding the little kitten.

"Huh? Why are you out of bed?"

Weiya’s beautiful eyes widened slightly. She quickly moved closer to Lloyd and boldly pressed the back of her hand against his forehead.

"Don’t worry, I’m fine now. Why would I keep lying down? Come on, let’s talk downstairs."

Lloyd explained.

But Weiya quickly waved her hands and took two steps back.

"It’s good that you’re okay, but don’t mention this mission to me. The Chief Judge just issued a strict order forbidding anyone from asking about or mentioning your mission."

"Er... that’s probably for the best."

Lloyd nodded, completely agreeing with the Chief Judge’s arrangement.

You could never be too careful when dealing with something as deadly and bizarrely unpredictable as a Thought Demon.

Even if he had an overwhelming advantage against it, if he encountered one again, he would definitely kill it as quickly as possible. He wouldn’t get greedy for the small amount of Madness Value it provided.

’Who knows if that thing has some kind of "last resort" ability, like a "death throes instinct"?’

Putting himself in danger for a bit of Madness Value wasn’t a choice someone aiming to be a Saint would make.

As they rode the elevator, Weiya fiddled with the little kitten’s paws and asked:

"Why does Xiaomi never get any bigger? What do you feed her every day?"

Since they couldn’t talk about the previous mission, they could only chat about the completely unrelated topic of raising cats.

It was a little strange, but there was nothing wrong with it...

Lloyd then recited the kitten’s daily menu, leaving Weiya completely stunned.

"Potato peels? Vegetable stems? Crushed bones and meat scraps? Milk? How could you feed her that stuff?"

"Why not? Competition between species is a choice made by natural Destiny. Only those who can adapt will survive."

Lloyd answered with perfect self-assurance.

"MEOW MEOW!"

The little kitten also raised its big, furry head, looking rather proud.

’It probably thinks of itself as a top-tier cat, huh?’

Weiya was left speechless by the two of them, unsure how to even begin to argue.

In truth, she had secretly asked the kitten if it wanted to go home with her, even tempting it with dried fish.

That way, she’d have a little kitten to play with when she got home from work.

But the kitten had resolutely refused. It wouldn’t eat her dried fish or let her hold it, and just kept meowing, wanting to go back to Lloyd.

Weiya had no idea what Lloyd was feeding it to make it so loyal.

It seemed that if she wanted a little kitten to play with after work in the future, she would either have to raise one herself that was just as cute, obedient, and perceptive, or she would have to...

A strange thought suddenly popped into her head.

But she immediately shook her head, Vetoing the unrealistic idea.

......

For the rest of the day, Lloyd didn’t stay in the library for too long, choosing to get off work early to make a trip to the West City District.

He quickly arrived at 8 Champagne Avenue via the "Advanced Metro."

It was actually a rather large bank.

It was nearly closing time, and the bank was busy balancing its books. A "Please Come Back Tomorrow" sign was already placed outside the door, and the security guards were dissuading customers from entering.

Naturally, Lloyd paid no attention to this. He was wearing his Holy Judgment Court uniform and walked straight in. No one dared to stop him; instead, a manager hurried over to ask if he could help.

"I need to retrieve the items from locker 611."

"Of course, please wait a moment."

The manager then brought over a form for Lloyd to fill out.

Coincidentally, this form was identical to the one he had seen in the Memory Fragment.

’Looks like I came to the right place.’

Lloyd picked up the pen and, in the most important field—the "Verification Code" section marked with a conspicuous red label—he wrote down the number sequence "32167."

As for the rest—name, address, occupation—he filled them all in with a single word: "Classified."

The manager took one look and his expression turned troubled.

"Er... Your Excellency, the way you’ve filled this out is... a bit against regulations..."

"I am not responsible for explaining anything to you. If you have any questions, please contact Judge Weiya of the Holy Judgment Court’s Eighteenth District, or Chief of Staff Golas... Of course, if you insist, I can abide by your rules, but any subsequent problems that arise from it..."

Lloyd came out strong from the start, and the manager’s ability to handle pressure was clearly lacking. Before Lloyd could even finish, the man was already waving his hands frantically, leading him to the safe deposit box area and handing him the corresponding key.

Lloyd opened the safe deposit box. Inside was only a plain, unadorned kraft paper envelope. No Gold, silver, jewels, or Spiritual Objects.

Not that he was disappointed; he hadn’t come to covet someone else’s inheritance. He left the bank and headed home as quickly as possible.

On the way, he passed a restaurant near his house and picked up two dishes to go, planning to eat them with his sister that evening.

Ever since Evelor decided to become a chief editor, she had been busy and exhausted every day. Lloyd felt bad for his sister, so he didn’t let her cook anymore. He would either bring home takeout or cook himself.

Seizing the moment before his sister got home, Lloyd hurried to open the kraft paper envelope.

Inside was a letter, a filled and signed check, and a black, horse-head-shaped chess piece.

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