The Speedrun Manual of Miss Witch - Chapter 215

Ansu City, Roswell Family Cemetery.

The cemetery at night was exceptionally quiet. Besides the footsteps of the gravedigger patrolling in the darkness with a dim oil lamp, only the faint sounds of rats and insects scurrying could be heard.

“Cough…”

“Cough cough…”

Beneath an unmarked grave in the corner, a figure was curled up inside a coffin, coughing uncontrollably.

Two empty potion bottles were scattered beside her. The pain brought by the potions, as if eroding her flesh and blood, made her face pale. The dizziness caused by lack of oxygen, however, made it difficult for her to even struggle.

Even at just Tier 2, her hands had already begun to mutate. A vine made of white bone had pierced through her skin, wrapping around her arm again and again.

In some places on the bone vine, blood-red vines resembling human muscle were wrapped around, like some kind of bloodworm or tentacle, softly wriggling.

Ciel slowly extended her right hand and gently pressed the bottom of the wooden coffin. The bone vine wrapped around her arm wriggled forward, piercing through the down mattress and embedding itself in the wooden board. It began to spread within the board.

Crack crack crack—

The sound of the wood board being squeezed and breaking echoed, but these sounds were covered by the thick layer of earth and could not be heard at all.

Soon, a small hole, large enough to accommodate a fist, was gnawed out of the wooden board beneath Ciel.

A flesh-worm, about the thickness of a finger, hanging on the bone vine wrapped around her hand, wriggled and pushed its mouthparts into the soil.

A pheromone, undetectable by humans, continuously spread downwards through the cracks in the soil.

If Ciel had taken the normal path of Tier 1 “Gardener” to advance to Tier 2 “Queen Bee,” she could have used her enhanced “Gardener” ability to directly vitalize the coffin board, making it sprout roots and spread, creating a space where she could breathe.

But the current Ciel could only use the “Queen Bee”‘s ability to escape.

So…

Tired…

Ciel, having finished all this, felt as if she had lost all her strength and slumped inside the coffin.

She lowered her breathing rate and body metabolism, like a real corpse, curled up inside the coffin.

She looked as if she had completely given up.

Ten minutes… twenty minutes…

The compacted, damp soil had little breathability. The oxygen inside the coffin was gradually being consumed. The concentration of carbon dioxide was slowly rising. Death was quietly approaching in the suffocating silence.

Tap tap.

But at this moment, faint yet continuous sounds echoed beneath the hole.

A fat red earthworm, twisting its body, slowly emerged from the soil, slowly moving its body, seemingly wanting to burrow into the coffin.

But the next second, a black ground beetle, almost the size of an adult thumb, broke through the soil. It directly crushed the red earthworm beneath it and quickly pushed the soil in front with its stout forelegs… Although it seemed like a drop in the bucket.

Crunch crunch…

But soon, more rats broke through the soil and began to gnaw on the wooden board beside them.

These carrion-eating rats, hidden within the cemetery, now displayed a synergy that was difficult for ordinary people to understand. They quickly enlarged the hole until it was large enough for a person to enter.

A huge “tomb-robbing hole” was quickly dug out through the combined efforts of these large rats. Countless rats poured into the coffin. Along with the rats, a cold air carrying the smell of decay also entered.

They tried to drag Ciel away by gnawing at her clothes, but no matter how hard they tried, they could only move Ciel’s body a little.

These rats squeaked anxiously in the coffin. Having little intelligence, they couldn’t think of any solution.

But their squeaking successfully woke Ciel from her semi-conscious state.

She slowly narrowed her eyes to a slit, feeling the faint cool breeze blowing over her.

The underground had been breached.

Ciel slowly sat up and crawled downwards through the hole. The rats took almost all of the burial items and swarmed around Ciel, both in front and behind her.

Only after feeling solid stone ground did Ciel stand up in the dark and pat the dust off herself.

She just bent down and reached out her hand. The rats, dragging the oil lamp and matches, pulled the items to her.

Ciel struck a match, lit the oil lamp, and held the oil lamp, looking forward.

A familiar sewer, at least wider than the sewer in Berren City. It looked like the main passage running alongside an underground dark river.

Ansu City was also an old city. The underground sewage was not clearly distinguished from the underground river, and was even mixed with industrial wastewater… The smell was indescribable.

But it felt alright now.

Is it because it’s raining?

Looking at the rapidly flowing dark river, the bloodworm hanging on Ciel’s arm wriggled again.

I need an unoccupied exit to the surface.

This was the information the bloodworm helped Ciel convey. This was not verbal communication, but more like an infusion of will… because many rats with weak resistance instantly died upon smelling the pheromone and were pushed into the dark river by their companions.

Ciel’s problem was somewhat complicated, but there were no lack of “genius” individuals among the rat swarm. With a squeak, most of the rats reacted and surged in one direction.

Ciel walked forward along the maintenance path, holding the oil lamp. Soon, she saw a ladder that was almost completely corroded—a broken wooden board that was constantly leaking water seemed to cover it.

Ciel gently pushed the ladder. She felt that it could still support her weight.

If it were a normal adult weighing over a hundred pounds, the wooden ladder might have broken upon being stepped on.

Under the influence of Ciel’s will, personal items like the notebook were directly thrown into the dark river by the rats and carried away by the current.

Ciel, on the other hand, climbed up the wooden ladder step by step. She pushed open the wooden board above her head, pushed hard with both hands, and stepped onto solid ground.

The rain was still falling continuously, soaking Ciel completely. This feeling of “regaining freedom” made Ciel subconsciously look up at the night sky, feeling the raindrops on her face.

Now she could somewhat understand how Andy Dufresne felt after escaping Shawshank Prison… but not entirely.

Because she was really tired.

Ciel glanced left and right. She seemed to be in an alley, but the surrounding buildings were not dilapidated, and there were no piles of garbage in the alley… It didn’t look like any part of the East District.

Should she go find Avena first?

No, if there was a mastermind behind this, they wouldn’t fail to monitor Avena’s movements. After all, Avena seemed to have a very close relationship with her.

Ciel didn’t know anything that had happened outside the coffin. She needed to find someone to get all the information about what happened outside while she was buried underground, such as who came over an hour ago and detonated the virus.

By checking who had visited, she could quickly figure out who did it.

“Squeak squeak…”

A small gray rat, about the size of a palm, emerged from the sewer manhole. It seemed to have jumped up the wooden ladder one step at a time.

This was the first rat that understood Ciel’s command earlier.

Find the place where I was buried…

But before that, Ciel needed a simple disguise…