“Hmm?” The butler seemed surprised to see the corpse on the ground. He placed his hand on his chest, bowed, and apologized, “Please forgive my rudeness for letting such filth be seen by our esteemed Guests.”
He clapped his hands, and soon two pale-faced maids emerged from the side. Surprisingly, unlike the butler, they had normal human appearances and showed no reaction to the corpse, as if it were commonplace. They unfolded a body bag, swiftly placed the bloody corpse inside, wiped away the bloodstains on the ground, and quickly carried the body bag away.
“Again, I express my apologies. I have no intention of excusing myself. Usually, we keep this place very clean, leaving no filth behind.”
After hearing the butler’s words, Yan Changqing couldn’t help but frown. From earlier, the butler’s words and actions had been very strange. At first, he thought the butler had lost control of his emotions, lashed out, and killed someone, and felt remorse for this action.
Now it seemed he had completely lost the memory of the period from his first self-introduction to the killing, which led to his repetitive self-introduction and his belief that the “filth” was something missed during a previous cleanup.
“But, but…” Ji Tingting, the woman with long wavy hair, clearly also heard that something was off. “That person, wasn’t he killed by you—”
“No, are you stupid?” Yan Changqing quickly interrupted Ji Tingting, “Why are you scolding him like that? The butler didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Ah?” Ji Tingting looked confused, only feeling that the atmosphere was wrong. She looked at the butler and saw his horizontal pupils slightly reddened, his mouth open, seemingly in terror, very much like the prelude to his sudden madness and killing earlier. For a moment, she was so scared that she crouched down, covered her mouth, and silently shed tears.
Her hair stood on end; how could she not know that she had just walked through the gates of hell? She couldn't help but look at Yan Changqing with gratitude.
Yan Changqing, however, had no time to bother with her. In this short time, he had understood a few things.
From the butler’s behavior just now, the tall man had clearly touched upon some kind of killing rule of the butler, which caused the other party to kill. However, the butler himself did not know this, because his memory of killing would be erased.
And Ji Tingting’s thoughtless words just now would awaken the butler’s memory of killing, very likely triggering the taboo again and causing a second burst of violent slaughter.
The butler’s earlier premonition of madness also confirmed his thoughts. Although he was gradually returning to normal now, this was also because he was stopped relatively quickly.
What Yan Changqing found most interesting was that the butler referred to them as “lost distinguished Guests” and treated them with courtesy, yet referred to the dead as “filth,” which felt somewhat contradictory.
The maids’ behavior was also very strange. From their entrance to their exit, they didn’t say a single word, showed no surprise at seeing the corpse, and even prepared the body bag in advance, as if they knew someone would die, or perhaps, death in Mosen Castle was a common occurrence?
“Go to the castle, survive for seven days, and uncover the hidden secrets of the castle.”
Yan Changqing recalled the previous mission, and his heart sank. Since the mission required surviving in Mosen Castle, it also proved that Mosen Castle was very dangerous, and the butler in front of them had directly killed someone.
However, the danger was not constant; otherwise, with just the butler’s strength, it would be effortless for him to wipe out everyone present.
The butler’s actions were subject to some kind of restriction, Yan Changqing concluded. That is to say, as long as his killing rules were not violated, then for now, they were safe.
“Distinguished Guests, please follow me. My master has already prepared dinner for you.”
The butler walked in front, and everyone hesitated, most of them not yet recovered from the shock.
Ai Haoming ignored the others’ attitudes, a mocking smile on his lips, his eyes seeming to size up cowards, and he followed behind the butler on his own.
“Changqing…” Ning Xiaona came to Yan Changqing’s side, her face slightly pale, “What should we do?”
“Let’s follow for now. We have too little information at the moment, so we can only take it one step at a time, and—” Yan Changqing winked at her, “I’m a bit hungry. Aren’t you?”
Hungry? Ning Xiaona’s mouth twitched slightly. Someone had just died tragically in front of everyone; it was good enough not to vomit, let alone have an appetite to eat?
However, she didn’t say much and followed Yan Changqing.
With someone leading the way, the remaining people didn’t stay put and followed one after another. Soon, they arrived at the Dining Room.
The Dining Room was covered with a large red carpet and had a rectangular long table filled with various delicacies, the aroma wafting through the air.
“Please be seated.”
Under the butler’s guidance, everyone took their seats at the dining table, leaving only the main seat and the two seats closest to it.
Tap—
Tap—
Tap—
Footsteps came from the staircase. The butler’s expression shifted, and he respectfully said to everyone, “The master is here. Please wait a moment longer.”
Soon, the footsteps grew closer, and everyone looked up to see a man in a black tuxedo and a woman in a red long dress. They walked in, one on each side, simultaneously holding the hand of a Little girl in a white gothic dress.
The man sat in the main seat, and the woman and the Little girl sat on his lower sides.
“Hello everyone, my name is Cai Xiaohong, the owner of Mosen Castle. This is my wife; you can call her Mrs. Cai directly.”
Hearing the man’s introduction, the woman smiled and nodded to everyone.
“This is our child, Cai Lijun.” He looked up and gestured to the Little girl, “Lijun, say hello to your older brothers and sisters.”
It must be said that this family had genuinely high Appearance . The man was tall and handsome, the woman was beautiful and elegant, and the Little girl was exquisitely delicate and endearing. However, their faces all had a sickly pallor.
“Hello, older brothers and sisters.” Cai Lijun stood up, performed a graceful lady’s curtsy, and showed a sweet smile.
The young girl was about 12 years old, with a bit of Infant fat. Although her face was pale, she seemed to gain some vitality when she smiled.
However, Cai Lijun’s next words made their souls nearly leave their bodies, feeling a chill rush straight to their heads.
“Welcome to the place of death.”
The atmosphere immediately became silent. Everyone returned to reality, realizing that in this Mosen Castle, even such a Little girl could be an extremely dangerous existence.
“Lijun.” Cai Xiaohong’s voice was gentle, smiling like he was doting on a child, “Don’t scare people.”
“I know.” Cai Lijun sat back down, lowering her head, making her expression unreadable.
“Children are ignorant and always like to talk nonsense. Everyone, don’t mind her.” Cai Xiaohong calmly tied his napkin, held his knife and fork, and cut his steak, but his eyes were fixed on everyone present.
The knife cutting through the steak made a sharp scraping sound on the plate, causing everyone to break out in cold sweat, and they couldn’t help but feel as if he wasn’t cutting steak, but their hearts.
“Everyone has come a long way as Guests, and as hosts, we will treat everyone with care. However, we also have some unwritten house rules, and we hope everyone will follow local customs and abide by them.”
“First, there are Guest rooms on the second floor. Guests can check in on their own, but please note that after 12 AM, you must return to your Guest room to rest and not disturb others.”
“Second, you are free to visit unlocked rooms, but locked rooms are absolutely forbidden to enter.”
“Third, the master has the authority to give an order to outsiders once a day. Outsiders can refuse, but not more than three times.”
Everyone looked at each other. The first two rules seemed reasonable, but the key was the third rule, which hid a huge trap. If the master ordered an outsider to die, could they only die?
“What happens if we don’t comply?” Yan Changqing asked.
“Trust me.” Cai Xiaohong stared directly at him, “You wouldn’t want to know.”
