Players, Please Board the Train

[Congratulations, player, for killing two Red Players. Please receive the deceased players’ belongings.]

The game prompt lit up. Xu Huo took a quick look. This couple was quite poor, with barely any potions, only a few hundred White Bills each in their pockets, and three items.

[Fair Wallet: Although the wallet’s contents aren’t much, losing a wallet is an annoying matter. The dark psychologist Kiki Lu once said, the best way to soothe a loss isn’t to recover what was lost, but to make others share in your misfortune.]

[Note: Throw the wallet at an unlucky passerby. The target will randomly drop one item (a poor wretch with no items will drop something else). Can only be used three times per day.]

[Luxury Single Room: A steak knife that can induce fear in an opponent. Note, its function is intimidation, not harm, but causing psychological trauma to others still carries the risk of jail time.]

[Armguard of the Goddess of Beauty: A beautiful and sturdy armguard, suitable for women with slender arms.]

Three items. The latter two were basically useless. Only the wallet had some use.

However, if the opponent was strong, the wallet could likely only be used once, and dropping an item meant literally dropping it on the ground, only buying a second or two.

But for an Evolver, a second or two was enough.

The evolution rate of the Ma couple was both above 35%. It seemed they had used all the money and unimportant items they obtained to exchange for evolution agents.With an evolution rate over 15% higher and being Player-Eaters, Xu Huo felt the gap in physical capability. It seemed finding a perfect evolution agent was urgent.

Picking up the wallet, he glanced out the window, took off his jacket to cover the heads of the Ma couple, then went outside to retrieve the Crimson Sword.

When he entered from outside again, the two corpses were gone. His jacket was discarded on the spot.

Pausing briefly, he picked up his jacket and went to the archive room outside.

Turning on the light, the room brightened.

After a glance around, he walked to the shelves beside the fireplace.

They were filled with photos and medals, all related to spiders. Apart from some honorary awards for breeding rare varieties, the rest were trophies from spider beauty pageants in different Game Partitions, medals from spider web-weaving competitions, and even a gold prize from a spider taming contest.

The events were boring, but the trophies and medals were of solid quality.

However, Xu Huo noticed that although the award photos were all taken with He Pu and Mr. Dong together, the award recipients listed were Mr. Dong.

There weren’t many photos of He Pu and Mr. Dong together in the main building, and any that existed were at least five years old. The award photos here were the same. Judging from these photos and trophies, He Pu and Mr. Dong’s relationship had once been very close. The fact that He Pu, as the master of the ancient castle, would accompany his butler to various places for spider beauty pageants indicated their relationship wasn’t merely employer and employee, but at least close, confiding friends.

Yet, from what he had seen and heard these past two days, Mr. Dong didn’t even care about He Pu as much as he cared about the utensils in the castle, and would even cause He Pu minor displeasure in small ways, like using inferior paint or not serving dishes according to He Pu’s preferences.

It wasn’t simply a falling out.

Taking five years ago as the dividing line, He Pu’s change before and after was too drastic. The He Pu from five years ago was a talented, erudite, and widely interested person. The He Pu of these past five years claimed illness, abandoned all his previous hobbies and research, and even the handwriting in his potion research notes had changed, completely unlike the same person.

Mr. Dong wasn’t an ordinary butler. He was likely an Evolver, similar to Hu Shan. He would definitely be able to notice. If his previous relationship with He Pu hadn’t been so good, it would make sense for this current He Pu to safely remain the castle master. But the annex here was kept spotlessly clean, and many items symbolizing their relationship were preserved here, showing Mr. Dong had feelings for He Pu.

If that was the case, why would he tolerate the current He Pu?

In an instant, numerous possibilities flashed through Xu Huo’s mind. He overturned his own deductions and started over, finally returning to this line of thinking.

Unless the task was completed early, one couldn’t leave this ancient castle before the dungeon ended. He had already mostly guessed the truth behind the guests’ disappearances. To complete the first task would inevitably mean confronting these three people: He Pu, Hu Shan, and Mr. Dong, making it the most dangerous thing.

Mr. Dong was a very key figure.

Cleaning the bloodstains off his clothes, Xu Huo left the annex. Holding an umbrella, he circled the entire building. By the time he returned from the back, Mr. Dong was already standing in the rain.

He reflexively entered a state of alert, but quickly relaxed.

Mr. Dong’s eyes glowed red in the darkness. Using ventriloquism, he said, ”Mr. Xu, traveling at night isn’t safe. The rain is heavy. You should return early.”

A smile appeared on Xu Huo’s face. ”I was looking for Mr. and Mrs. Ma.”

”They have already returned to the main building,” Mr. Dong said, making a gesture of invitation.

Xu Huo stepped forward under his umbrella and added, ”So it’s Mr. Dong, not Mr. He, who likes raising spiders. You and Mr. He were once close friends, weren’t you?”

”He was a respectable senior.”

Mr. Dong followed silently behind him, his eyes fixed on the person under the umbrella.

Xu Huo acted as if he hadn’t noticed, continuously bringing up topics related to He Pu during the journey back.

Arriving safely at the main building, Xu Huo nodded to Mr. Dong in acknowledgment before returning to his room.

The Chen Brothers were waiting for him. Seeing him, Chen Nan spoke first, ”We went to Hu Shan’s room. We didn’t find any clues in the room, nor any human-shaped ceramics.”

This was something Xu Huo had tasked them with during the day, telling them not to go to the third floor at night, but to lure Hu Shan away and search her room.

”You suspect she turned people into ceramics?” Chen Tu said. ”Is it because of Fang Min?”

Xu Huo nodded. ”Hu Shan is likely one of the truths behind the guests’ disappearances.”

The two brothers exchanged a glance. Chen Tu spoke again, ”We planned for one to lure Hu Shan away and the other to enter the room. But when we went, Hu Shan wasn’t in her room. She hadn’t returned by the time we left either.”

Xu Huo paused while wiping the rainwater off. ”Then she might have been lured away by another player.”

”By who?” Chen Nan said bluntly. ”She wasn’t turned into a ceramic, was she? If turned into a ceramic, you could just smash it and bury it somewhere. It would be impossible to find.”

Xu Huo didn’t speak, lost in thought. Chen Tu’s gaze followed him to the sofa. ”Hu Shan is one of the truths. With this truth, we should be able to complete the second task. Next, we just need to find the bodies, right?”

”Finding the bodies is the most dangerous step,” Xu Huo said. ”The appearance of non-task players in the castle means the Dungeon Boss wants to exploit a loophole to kill all the players.”

Chen Nan looked around. ”Besides the Ma couple and me, who else needs to be wary of?”

”The Ma couple are already dead,” Xu Huo said. ”No need to guess who the non-task players are anymore. The day after tomorrow’s music appreciation gathering is the real focal point.”

If it were him, he would definitely wrap things up at that time.