Chapter 50: Ancient Castle Exploration (8)
A girl's scream pierced the air—sharp and ear-piercing, as if the girl who let it out had been thoroughly terrified, her voice cracking from the sheer shock. Following this, the chairs began to shake.
"Don't move. Remember the taboo." It was at this moment that Si Mao's voice rang out. "If you don't want to die, then under no circumstances should you let the pencil in your hand touch the ground. As for the rest, just do as the Pencil Sprite instructs."
Qi An's eyelashes fluttered as he turned toward the source of the sound, then unconsciously tightened his grip on the pencil.
Everyone who was playing the Pencil Sprite game sat upright with perfect composure, yet those two girls and their companions were trembling incessantly, all because on their paper's surface, a hand had appeared—a hand stained with blood.
The hand was the size of a normal adult's, yet it had quite literally grown out from the paper's surface, gripping the lower half of the pencil. Fresh blood dripped ceaselessly from the wrist onto the paper, pitter-patter, like water dripping onto the ground, echoing endlessly.
The paper turned a full crimson red as the blood pooled along the surface, dripped onto the table, and then fell onto the floor. In an instant, the two girls' feet were bathed in blood. Their bodies shook without ceasing—not only from this horrifying scene, but also because the hand was positioned right beneath theirs.
Where the two made contact, they could clearly sense a bone-chilling coldness spreading through their minds from the hand. It was so cold it made their entire bodies shiver, so cold they desperately wanted to toss away the pencil in their hands to get far away from this hand.
Fortunately, Si Mao's warning had come just in time; their hands remained positioned above, keeping the pencil suspended.
But the next second, they screamed again. That hand began sliding the pencil across the surface, and everyone's breath held still. Due to the writing motion, an eerie crimson also appeared on the girls' delicate white hands.
On the crimson-colored paper, black characters read: Lying children will receive punishment. Please read my question aloud and answer honestly.
"You clearly all knew, so why didn't you tell us?" One of the girls widened her eyes, demanding of Si Mao, "You actually deceived us, telling us that summoning the Pencil Sprite could predict the future!"
"Hmph, you'll understand in a moment. Since you've come here, you must follow the rules of this place." Si Mao gazed at her coldly. "You'd better be careful. Don't accidentally toss away the pencil you're holding. Otherwise, you'll lose even your last chance of survival."
The girl's lips had already begun to pale; she glared at him fiercely as she trembled and recited the first question. "Have you ever said anything unspeakable?"
Hearing this, Qi An looked at Si Mao with some surprise. The other man's skin was very fair—a sickly pallor from years without sunlight. His looks were passable enough, but his lips were thin, giving him a sharp-tongued appearance. Every time he spoke, his voice carried a malicious edge, as if everyone owed him money—it was truly odious.
Yet, he was also the first person in their group to attempt warning them. Had it not been for his reminder, these two girls would have died on the spot from the pencil touching the ground. Moreover, on the very first day they arrived at the villa, Si Mao had seemed to want to tell them something.
It was only interrupted by that strange electrical fault.
Furthermore, Mu Gangnong's attitude toward him was also somewhat odd.
As these thoughts swirled, Qi An suddenly felt something cold holding his hand. Something was continuing to grip his hand, writing a line of words on the paper:
Dear, if you keep looking at other people, I'll get jealous. And when I'm jealous, I'll become very fierce. Only kisses can calm me down. So come on, answer me—exactly what color do you like?
Qi An lowered his head, staring at the pink bubbles continuously appearing on the paper's surface, as well as the suddenly emerging red rose designs. That peculiar feeling in his heart grew even more intense.
He raised his gaze to look at Zhang Zhaoqi, whose expression had darkened, and then, as if startled, wrote two small characters on the paper.
Blue.
"Unspeakable things... I once caused someone's death... It truly wasn't intentional..."