“Did it come from the dead guy’s room?” Lu Si’er’s voice trembled slightly.

However, no one could answer her question.

They left the room in a solemn mood.

It wasn’t until now that the newbies fully understood that a man who was still alive and kicking yesterday was dead. Although many people thought that the thief deserved to die, they couldn’t help feeling upset.

While they were discussing where to go next to look for clues, Xiao Tangqiu brought Tang Mianmian aside to go their separate ways.

The middle-aged man was very surprised and tried to persuade them. “There’s safety in numbers. Even if you are old players, you can’t be so rash!”

Xiao Tangqiu frowned slightly and was about to refuse when Shen Yuan and his team turned and left. They didn’t bother saying anything before walking away. Of course, the newbies didn’t dare to make any noise about it either. They stared as the four of them walked away. The other old players left together as well.

Xiao Tangqiu didn’t hesitate to pull Tang Mianmian to catch up with Shen Yuan’s team, leaving the middle-aged man behind.

Are you kidding? Who wants to hang around a bunch of newbies? Of course it was better to hold onto the great god’s thighs!

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian chased after Shen Yuan’s team to the dining hall on the first floor. Shen Yuan stopped and looked at the portrait of Lily Marlene across the long table.

Xiao Tangqiu looked up in curiosity as well. It seemed to be the largest portrait of Lily Marlene in the castle. The portrait was life-sized, and the painting was also the most realistic one out of all the others. The more they stared at it, the stranger it appeared.

“Captain, what are we going to do next?” Windbreaker Man toyed with his scalpel and casually asked Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan stared at the painting for a little while more before he replied flatly, “Search all the rooms again today and try to find Lippinobert’s room. We’ll go to the small town tomorrow.”

“Small town?” The tall, indifferent woman frowned slightly. “Older brother Shen, do you mean that ‘Daemon Town’ that the houesekeeper mentioned?”

Xiao Tangqiu soon recalled that when they had just arrived at the old castle, the housekeeper did mention a small town not far away called Daemon Town. There was once a demon that brought destruction to the town by setting it on fire. Then, a Saintess stepped forward and put out the fire at the cost of her life. Lippinobert had a sculpture made in the likeness of the Saintess, which was the “virgin spring” at the gates of the old castle.

“Isn’t that just a legend? Do you think it is true?” He couldn’t help but refute, “What’s all this nonsense about a demon and a Saintess… How is that possible…”

But as he spoke, he realized that although this was impossible in the real world, the fact was that they weren’t in the real world now! In this world, demons were indeed possible!

Windbreaker Man glanced at Xiao Tangqiu; a look of disdain and pity flashed in his eyes. From his gaze, it seemed that his emotions were very complicated. Before Xiao Tangqiu could figure out what he was thinking, Shen Yuan said coldly, “We will go to Daemon Town tomorrow and see if it’s true.”

“But…” Xiao Tangqiu hesitated but couldn’t resist saying, “Can we go out? In theory, aren’t we stuck in this castle?” In the last instance, after entering Yun Manor, they could no longer leave!

Xiao Tangqiu suddenly realized that such an approach was possible! This group of people were definitely old players!

He and Tang Mianmian looked at each other and asked, “Can we go with you?”

“Why? To drag us down?” Windbreaker Man mocked.

“We won’t hold you back,” Xiao Tangqiu said earnestly. “The two of us will make our own preparations. In the case of danger, we don’t need or expect your help.” In this crisis-ridden world, no one had any obligation to help them and he would never pin the responsibility of his life or death onto others.

Windbreaker Man glanced over at Shen Yuan, as if asking for his opinion.

Shen Yuan was still staring at the portrait of Lily Marlene. Only when Xiao Tangqiu had started to think that he was possessed did he lightly reply, “……Up to you.”

“Well, since the captain said so,” Windbreaker Man shrugged his shoulders. “But we’ll start early in the morning tomorrow and we won’t wait for you. If you oversleep, don’t blame us for leaving you behind… By the way, is the woman over there with you guys?”

The woman over there?

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian reflexively turned their heads, only to find that there was someone sneaking behind them. It was Lu Si’er who had formed a team with them yesterday.

Lu Si’er saw that she had been discovered, smoothed her hair and walked out. “Are you going to Daemon Town tomorrow? Can you take me with you?”

Windbreaker Man smiled and asked, “You? Why should we?”

Lu Si’er bit her lip. “I understand German. If there’s a need for the language, I can be of use.”

“German? Older brother, what do you think?” Windbreaker Man looked at Shen Yuan with a smile.

Shen Yuan glanced at Lu Si’er impassively. She quickly squeezed out a smile at him, but in the next moment, he turned around decisively and left. She couldn’t help smiling stiffly and asked Windbreaker Man awkwardly, “What… what does that mean?”

Windbreaker Man shrugged. “Do whatever you want. Anyways, even if we refuse, people always sneak behind us. Just don’t expect us to rescue you when you’re in danger. Don’t think that just because you are a woman, we’ll feel more compassionate towards you. I’m afraid you’ll die in disappointment.”

Lu Si’er’s smile became even more stiff, but she gritted her teeth and agreed.

So the seven of them temporarily formed a team, and divided into two groups to search all the rooms again to ensure that they didn’t miss anything. After a whole day of searching, they still hadn’t found anything. Aside from them, the other four old players and the newbies also seemed to hit a wall.

When dinnertime came, they sat down one by one, looking extremely depressed.

Lippinobert, the housekeeper and all the maids didn’t show up, but there was still a piping hot dinner waiting for them on the table – a medium-rare steak and creamy mushroom soup.

Xiao Tangqiu was chewing a mouthful of steak when he saw the middle-aged woman come down the stairs. She looked warily at the people in the dining hall, then quickly picked up the two plates of steaks belonging to her and her son, turned around and went back upstairs.

The middle-aged man gnawed hungrily at his steak while he spoke, “Older sister, why don’t you and your son come down for dinner? What’s the point of being stuck in the room all day long? We need to work together to find a way out ah!”

The middle-aged woman glared at him and rebuked, “I don’t trust you guys. What if your plan is to kidnap my son?!” She quickened her pace and soon disappeared from their sight.

The middle-aged man swallowed his food and cussed loudly, “Damn bitch doesn’t know good from bad!”

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian exchanged a look. After dinner, they continued to search the rooms. Tang Mianmian couldn’t resist but bring up what he had seen earlier. “I saw that she tied her son to the bed this morning… Is that really her son? Are they really mother and child? Will a normal mother do this to her son?”

Windbreaker Man grinned, “When we first arrived, didn’t the boy say that she wasn’t his mother?”

Xiao Tangqiu suddenly froze. They had all assumed it was an argument between mother and son!

“Then shouldn’t we save him?” Tang Mianmian hesitated. “If the middle-aged woman is not his mother, she must be a human trafficker. We…”

“How are you going to save him?” The tall, indifferent woman suddenly spoke up. She coldly gave him a dose of reality, “Even if you save him once, can you still save him all the time? He’s a child with no ability to protect himself. If you save him now and ignore him later, what’s the difference between that and sending him directly to his death?”

“Don’t forget, you’re just rookies who don’t even have the ability to protect yourselves.”

Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian kept quiet, not knowing how to refute her words. Although Lu Si’er couldn’t bear to see the child suffer, she chose not to say anything in the end.

The search in the evening remained fruitless and soon, it was close to midnight.

After Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian returned to their rooms, Tang Mianmian asked the latter, “Do you think there will be another death tonight?”

Xiao Tangqiu replied, “Maybe, maybe not.”

Tang Mianmian burst out, “…What bullshit!”

Xiao Tangqiu sat on the bed, staring at the gap under the door and remembered the impossible phenomenon of space distortion that happened at midnight yesterday.

Would that happen again at midnight tonight?

He hesitated for a moment, then walked over and lay down by the door.

Tang Mianmian asked, “What are you looking at?”

Xiao Tangqiu didn’t answer. He looked out and as expected, the space outside looked distorted again. All the rooms were twisted together. Right when he looked outside, the candle at one of the rooms suddenly went out!

He was covered in goosebumps at once. Another candle went out? What did this mean?

Whose room was it? Why did it seem familiar?

Just as Xiao Tangqiu was preparing to take a closer look, a puppet with a disheveled head suddenly appeared. Its body was contorted into an awkward posture as it eerily crawled towards the room where the candle had been extinguished. It was the strange puppet they had seen in the secret chamber before!

It crawled on twisted limbs, reaching the front of the room. Then, it suddenly crept down, lowering its face to the gap under the door…

Xiao Tangqiu’s heart pounded wildly, his entire being was filled with a terrible dread.

In the next second, Xiao Tangqiu was suddenly caught off guard, as a creepy, vicious face appeared right in front of him. His eyes coincided with a pair of bulging, protruded ones.

Right then, he was scared out of his wits and finally remembered why the door looked so familiar…

Because that was their room!

~~~

P.S. I’m back! But the past few days have been torture, so today’s chapter may have some mistakes. I can’t wait to pass out💤