Chapter 51: Castle Exploration (9)
"You're lying."
Before the girl's words could finish, the bloodstained hand released the pen, stretching like rubber into an absurdly long shape. In a twisted posture, it climbed up the girl's arm and finally gripped her fair, slender neck.
The moment the palm settled against her skin, a bruise bloomed across the girl's throat.
"No, I'm sorry, I did it on purpose, I did it deliberately. I purposely broke the rules during the spirit-summoning game, letting the evil spirit possess that person…" The girl struggled desperately, letting go of the pen and placing both hands on the hand strangling her, trying to pry it away. But it was useless. The moment the pen hit the ground with a heavy thud, the girl's body crashed to the floor with a hollow sound.
Strangely, as that sound echoed, the bloodstained arm vanished as well. All that remained was the blood beginning to emit a foul, rotting stench both on the floor and on the paper. At that exact moment, Qi An heard a collective sigh of relief.
Many people felt unburdened in their hearts when the girl died.
The cold sensation in his hand grew more intense. Qi An saw another line of words appear on his paper:
Leaving now, feeling sad, want to cry. Dear, tell me quickly what your favorite dish is~
Pink bubbles gradually formed into a heart shape. This heart was enormous, and like a blazing heart, it began to beat ceaselessly. The roses blooming beside it grew increasingly vibrant, and Qi An suddenly caught a whiff of their fragrance— this overwhelming scent completely masked the blood smell he'd just detected.
Those icy hands brushed past Qi An's arm, and he felt everything around him grow cold, as though someone was embracing him from behind.
"Everyone may now send the Pen Fairy away." Mu Gangnong's voice was as沉闷 as always, yet it immediately drew everyone's attention. Fearfully, they recited the incantation to dismiss the Pen Fairy. All kinds of voices drifted continuously through the room.
The wind outside had diminished. The towering trees stood rigid beside the villa, their sprawling branches docilely waiting there— no longer attacking the windows like they'd done when they first entered. The dense, tangled branches silently encircled the entire mansion.
The dim candlelight cast a yellowish glow across each person's face.
Qi An glanced up at Zhang Zhaoqi and suddenly caught a flash of red in the latter's eyes. He froze, then continued observing this boy who never seemed to show any expression. He found that the red spots in his eyes vanished instantly. The other person's pupils remained black, leaving only an abyss of tranquility in his gaze.
"Pen Fairy, shall we end here for today?"
"Pen Fairy, shall we end here for today?"
The voices around them continued sounding without pause. It seemed because there was no expected response, the trembling in their voices grew increasingly pronounced. Though the bloodied hand had disappeared, the bloodstains on the floor kept spreading, already reaching the feet of many.
The pungent, foul odor was unmistakable. Stiff patches had already begun appearing on the girl's corpse, and the smell of rotting flesh mingled with the blood scent. Beads of cold sweat broke out on everyone's faces.
They suppressed their screams, and the hands gripping the pens had turned pale from the strain.
Qi An looked at the red spreading across the floor, thought for a moment, then trembling, wrote "ketchup" on the paper. The moment he finished writing, the pink bubbles on the paper burst open. The paper returned to its pristine state, showing absolutely no trace of writing— as though they hadn't successfully summoned the Pen Fairy at all.
Following that came the sound of pens dropping to the floor. It seemed the Pen Fairies summoned by everyone else had also been dismissed. The blood stopped spreading, and Qi An lowered his head, staring intently at the girl's corpse lying right before him.
Her eyes were wide open, her jet-black pupils filled with terror.
The girl from her group stood beside her. Her face had turned deathly pale. She wore heavy makeup— unnaturally white foundation and scarlet lipstick— and stared blankly at the girl's corpse, her body trembling unceasingly.
She looked absolutely terrified, like the candle beside her. It seemed like the slightest breeze could extinguish her.
Her expression showed no cracks, but she... had no shadow.
Everyone's shadows had tangled together, dense and chaotic, matching the current situation perfectly. In this dim environment, with the tense, panicked atmosphere, this detail was easily overlooked.
But Qi An had just felt this girl's faint, lingering gaze. After the girl died, she'd been covertly watching him.
"I'm so scared, can someone help me up?" Her eyes glistened with tears as she spoke softly, as she'd said, she seemed completely drained of strength by what she'd witnessed. She stumbled, her body falling downward.
And the direction she fell toward happened to be where Qi An stood.
For some unknown reason, the wind that had just stopped picked up again. The window was blown wide open, and Qi An caught the girl's expression changing slightly. As she was about to lean against him, she braced her hand against a nearby table and steadied herself.
She seemed relieved as she patted her chest, offering Qi An a soft,虚弱 smile.
"I want to go back!" Someone suddenly burst through the door and hurried frantically toward the outside of the villa. He moved with tremendous force, the rapid patter of his footsteps echoing distinctly throughout the mansion.
So distinctly, in fact, that it caused reverberations.
Following his lead, countless others rushed after him. A crowd began stampeding toward the exit.
"Don't waste your energy. You can't get out." Si Mao's voice sounded again, so low that compared to the ruckus these people were making, it was barely audible— yet somehow it rang clearly in everyone's ears.
Unfortunately, no one heeded his warning. Except for the first team, the vast majority of the second team had already reached the stairs, their footsteps growing increasingly hurried and distant.
Si Mao coldly watched the door swing back and forth. Only after the sounds of them descending the stairs disappeared for a while, and after the sound of countless people violently crashing against doors began, did he speak with a sigh, "Otherwise, why do you think we're still here? We lost people yesterday too..."
"We want to leave too, but not a single person has managed to walk out of this villa. We can't, and neither can you. This place is a cage— once you're in, it's nearly impossible to get out..."
Si Mao suddenly let out a light laugh and shifted to another topic. "Do you know why we made you introduce yourselves and your names before playing this game? It's because..."
"We don't want you to die without even having a gravestone with your name on it."
"Just like that person yesterday. He died, but no one around knew his name. Not even who had died. On his gravestone, we could only write his username. Even if his relatives somehow found his grave, they wouldn't be able to recognize him..."
"Except for us— people who also may not be able to escape— no one knew that such a person had died..."
"He couldn't even have a proper gravestone."
The sound of them crashing against the outer door stopped abruptly.
It seemed because their movements on the stairs had been too loud and chaotic, the doll mechanisms stacked on the stairs had been inadvertently triggered.
"Do you want to play a game with me... Do you want to play a game with me... Do you want to play a game with me..."
That melodious yet mechanical voice drifted ceaselessly through the darkness. During the day, hearing this sound might have been tolerable, but at night, for some reason, it was deeply unsettling. Every doll's voice overlapped, every syllable perfectly repeated, like a chorus.
The system's voice was set to a young girl's unique,甜美的 tone, like a mischievous child— sweet and lively. But hearing it made everyone's flesh creep.
Because for some unknown reason, they could faintly hear something resembling laughter.
The mischievous girl, having succeeded in her prank, let out a demonic laugh.
When Qi An returned to his room, the lights inside had turned on without anyone pressing a switch. Si Mao had told them to gather on the first floor at 10 PM, when they would learn the truth behind all these events. Si Mao's expression had been strange when he said that. After finishing, he'd directly walked out and returned to his own room.
The other members of the first team had done the same, following closely behind him back to their respective rooms.
They all seemed unwilling to stay outside. Compared to the extravagantly decorated common areas, they preferred the cramped, dilapidated rooms.
Qi An thought about it, stepped inside, and immediately spotted the wardrobe. The wardrobe door that Zhang Zhaoqi had just closed had been opened again, completely exposing the magnificent wedding dress inside.
[Please play back the video recorded at noon.]
Qi An glanced at it, then looked away without lingering for even a second on that eye-catching bridal gown. Instead, he sat on the edge of the bed, closed his eyes, and appeared to rest.
In the footage recorded by the system, the delicate-faced boy had barely lain down before his breathing grew steady, and he fell into a deep sleep.
His eyelashes only occasionally fluttered. He remained completely motionless, with a very obedient sleeping posture. The room's lighting was warm-toned; everything was serene and peaceful.
But there was one exception.
In the wedding photo on the nightstand, black mist had begun to dissipate. The face of the person dressed in the groom's attire was finally fully revealed.
He had an alluring, wickedly handsome face.
His eyes suddenly moved. In the footage, his face turned toward the sleeping boy.