Chapter 23.1 Night of the Ancient Castle
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The Wandering Corpse couldn’t talk, and the time for disguising was limited. Wen Shi must make the most of every minute ahead.
He headed straight towards the end of the road, where the room of the castle master was. As the groom, he couldn’t be late at the beginning of the wedding. Other players couldn’t risk slacking off in decorating the church and trailing behind him.
Now was the best time.
The stone door had a knocker with a beast’s face, showing sharp teeth. One round eye glared angrily, as if watching the intruder trying to enter, while the other half-closed eye silently hinted at the potential danger.
Memories of being stabbed in the chest here suddenly came back to Wen Shi, making his body tremble slightly.
The shadow of death was indeed not something that could be quickly shaken off.
The in-game store had the【Battering Ram】for sale, specifically for locked rooms.
Wen Shi had almost decided to exchange for it, but the lifelike beast-faced door knocker made him hesitate, worrying that violent destruction could lead to negative consequences.
Every second of hesitation was a waste of time. Wen Shi decisively changed his strategy. He entered the nearest room, tightly tying a bedsheet around his waist as a simple protective measure. After doing this, he crawled out of the window.
Under normal circumstances, the height of the second floor was nothing to fear. However, the gap between each floor of the castle was several meters higher than a typical building, and the two rooms were not too far apart but happened to be on the same level.
Faint sounds of music and ceremony came from the church above. Wen Shi couldn’t find a suitable foothold on the outer edge of the castle, as there were no plastic pipes to climb. He remained calm, extending his arm to knock on the bricks outside. “Stop hiding, I know you’re there.”
Waiting to trick me.
A slender, dark shadow emerged from the smooth outer wall–a monster seeking revenge.
The monster extended its arm, just enough to grab Wen Shi’s ankle. It exerted force, seemingly contemplating whether to crush his fragile ankle directly or gradually pull him into the wall.
Wen Shi calmly spoke, “I’m going to steal a picture frame now, to give you all a home. The previous unpleasantness was only because you wanted to devour my Wandering Corpse friend. Betrayal is what I detest the most.”
He spoke rationally, “When we went into the secret passage, I specifically allowed Catherine and the others to follow, as they were supposed to be my friends. However, they betrayed me. On the other hand, I had no prior connection with you all, so afterwards, we didn’t team up to harm the bride.”
Wen Shi stated the facts while twisting the original intentions of all parties involved.
“Help me flip over a window, and I’ll go to the master’s room to steal something first, then steal the picture frame. I’ll get it all done at once.
“Finally, I’ll hand the picture frame to you. The bride won’t have to worry about being trapped in it again, and you won’t be homeless anymore. I’ll set sail with the rest of the loot, and everyone will have a bright future.”
He himself was almost being swayed by his own words.
The monsters were internally divided.
“He’s a liar, don’t believe him.”
“The picture frame, I just want to live inside the picture frame.”
“Give him a chance… this might be our last chance…”
“It’s so cold inside the walls, really cold…”
The intermittent voices continued. Though Wen Shi appeared calm, he was quite anxious inside. It had been three or four minutes already.
Another thirty seconds passed before the discussion finally came to a conclusion.
The outcome was delightful. Wen Shi’s foothold among the monsters remained intact, and the dark figure gripping his ankle didn’t strike again. Another dark shape from above grabbed Wen Shi’s arm and swung him forward like a swing. In this process of passing the parcel, Wen Shi successfully reached the window outside the room where the castle master resided.
He let out a slight groan. His arm was almost dislocated.
The window was not closed. That made things easier.
The monsters were filled with fear towards the castle master. Even though the owner wasn’t currently inside the room, they had no intention of following Wen Shi inside.
Wen Shi jumped to the ground. The room remained in darkness as there was no light.
Fortunately, the moon tonight was bright and full, providing enough light for him to see many things clearly.
At the end of the carpet directly across from him, there was a genuine leather sofa, covered with a thick red coral fleece blanket, making it look even softer. Not far from the sofa was a redwood bed. The two carved bedposts in front were slightly wider than usual bedposts. The fluffy bed canopy was draped on both sides, and everything, from the bedsheet to the bedding, had an uncomfortable crimson hue.
Wen Shi took out a small flashlight. Initially, he despised this prop, but now he found it really useful, especially since it didn’t require fuel to keep it lit.
It wasn’t him nitpicking, but this luxurious bed looked exactly like a memorial tablet stand when viewed from the front.
The castle master had a different outfit for every day. Wen Shi originally thought his wardrobe would be as long as a street, but now it didn’t seem so.
Not forgetting his purpose for coming here, Wen Shi’s eyes scanned every corner like a scanner.
A hexagonal small wind lamp was placed on the bedside table, with a pendant lamp hanging above, positioned at an overly downward vertical height.
Wen Shi looked around and didn’t find any candlesticks.
He carefully searched the bedside table and the wardrobe, but still found nothing.
Just when Wen Shi was starting to get anxious, he noticed the mirror on the wall. It was the first time he saw a mirror since staying in the castle. Wen Shi walked up to the mirror and saw his reflection holding the lamp, but the image had a pale complexion.
Wen Shi checked the edges of the mirror and confirmed that the mirror surface was firmly glued on, and he couldn’t take it off. There were no mechanisms around it either.
As he turned his head, it seemed like there was some stain on the mirror. Just a moment ago, there was nothing there. Wen Shi approached and faintly saw an outline, but it was unclear. He had to get even closer… Suddenly, the dark spot turned into a pair of vertical pupils, and the fierce and dignified eyes coldly stared at Wen Shi.
Both sides seemed to be gazing at each other through a peephole.
“I’ll go.”
Wen Shi’s body leaned backward, almost falling over.
The creepy relief lines became more vivid, finally revealing a clear beast face.
The mirror was directly facing the door. At this moment, it only reflected two things: the beast-faced door knocker outside and Wen Shi inside.
Wen Shi bravely kept his gaze fixed, making sure it wasn’t an illusion.
The beast face in the mirror was different from the door knocker. The knocker only showed some of its sharp teeth, but the beast face in the mirror had its mouth open wider, and there seemed to be a faint glow inside, flickering.
Wen Shi was taken aback. Shaking the flashlight in his hand, he confirmed that the light source wasn’t coming from it.
So, the light must be coming from something inside the beast face’s mouth.
“No way.”
It couldn’t be that unlucky, right?
Wen Shi had a bold guess–the candelabra was inside the beast face’s mouth.
Just as he reached this conclusion, his body began moving uncontrollably forward. The beast face in the mirror opened its bloodthirsty mouth, like a jackal waiting to be fed meat.
Now, Wen Shi couldn’t care less about getting the candlestick. His priority was to save his life.
In the next few seconds, Wen Shi tried various actions: closing his eyes, stepping back, and moving forward voluntarily.
No matter which action he took, nothing changed. He was still under the control of an unknown force.
As his limbs further lost control, Wen Shi prepared to put away the flashlight first.
Just as he was about to retract the prop, somehow, he voluntarily let go and dropped the flashlight to the ground. The glass cover on the outside shattered, and the flame inside flickered madly due to the impact.
Ignoring the infinite closeness to the mirror, Wen Shi’s entire focus was now on the flashlight itself.
The light gradually became stable. Wen Shi looked at the direction in which the flame swayed, slowly saying a word, “Wind.”
The direction of the wind was incorrect.
With the window wide open, the night wind rushed in. The flame should have shifted to the left, but it was now moving in the opposite direction, indicating a draft inside the room.
Wen Shi’s body was stiff, and the blood circulation was much slower than usual. The numbness from hypothermia made him barely feel the slight breeze.
Wen Shi attempted to move towards the diagonal side where the wind blew. This angle of movement granted him a bit of freedom.
He wanted to find where the hidden draft was, but apart from the flame of the flashlight, nothing else was affected by the wind, not even the thin blanket on the sofa.
Where exactly was the problem?
Frowning, Wen Shi realized the flashlight was a prop that didn’t need fuel. It belonged to the lowest category of NPCs–different from regular objects.
So, only specific things could sense this demonic wind?
Wen Shi couldn’t escape the clutches of the mirror. His sweating skin felt like it was firmly stuck to cold metal in winter, impossible to pull apart.
His neck began to stiffen as he was forced to face the beast face in the mirror. The mouth grew larger, as if ready to bite off its prey’s head.
Wen Shi was certain that unless he had come up with a solution before the mouth opened to the size of his head, his neck would have been bitten off.
The only thing he could be grateful for was that he had slightly changed his direction of movement. He wasn’t completely pressed against the mirror, leaving about half of his body leaning against the wall, giving him some room to maneuver.
The mouth in the mirror was almost as large as a hippo’s. Suddenly, Wen Shi froze. There was another beast face?
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