“Something’s wrong. Grandma Cassandra’s information didn’t mention this kind of attack.”
Xia De, holding his sword, walked to the window and reached out to pull open the crimson curtains. But just as his hand was about to touch the textured fabric, a large mouth suddenly extended from the curtains, attempting to bite his hand.
“This place suddenly seems to be full of malice towards me.”
Xia De withdrew his hand, and the curtains returned to their original state.
He turned and walked towards the door, and a crackling sound came from the second floor again.
“Could it be that someone who arrived here before me did something, causing 【Sin Manor】 to undergo further changes?”
Xia De didn't think this was a change he caused, because he really hadn't done anything.
“Can you feel anything?”
He asked softly in his mind.
“Nothing.”
“Alright then.”
Xia De pursed his lips, deciding not to wait in this room any longer. 【Sin Manor】's malice was showing itself to him, and waiting here, he didn't know what would happen. At least, judging from his strange intuition, leaving this room as soon as possible was the correct choice.
He quickly walked towards the door, reaching out to grasp the doorknob, but a knock on the door came at that moment.
There was only the knock, no voice. Xia De’s outstretched left hand paused, then sharply pulled back, and he stepped back, raising the long sword in his hand.
The knocking stopped after more than ten seconds, but then, black sewage actually flowed in from under the door.
The sewage gathered into a puddle in front of the door, and then a bald human head emerged from the black water. The water forming the head was still flowing, appearing particularly eerie in the dim light.
“Are you a trader from Sin Mansion?”
Xia De asked.
“No, I’m here to take you to see the master.”
This answer immediately made Xia De frown. After entering Sin Mansion, the normal way to leave was to exchange the increase in one's own sins for a chance to leave. Once influenced by the power here and having made too many transactions by increasing or decreasing sins, one would become a VIP and be led to see the master of the mansion. However, no past information had ever mentioned details about the mansion’s master.
Therefore, going to see the master here was almost synonymous with death.
“Sorry, I haven’t made any transactions yet.”
Xia De pointed out.
“There’s no need to make a transaction now. You can go straight to see the master.”
“No, I still want to follow the rules.”
“No, the rules have changed now.”
“No, I think since the rules exist...”
“Give me three perfect units of Gluttony sin, and I’ll send you out.”
The head in the black water abruptly proposed a condition. Xia De was stunned, then shook his head:
“Impossible.”
If three units of Gluttony were traded away, it would severely damage the power of the 【Gluttony】 Ling Rune. Even if Xia De had to trade, he couldn't use Gluttony.
“Then I wish you luck.”
The head retracted back into the black water, and the water flowed out from under the door again. Xia De waited for a while, making sure it wasn't a trap to lure him closer to the door. Only then did he rummage out his mask and put it on, preparing his spellcasting materials before reaching out to grip the doorknob and painstakingly opening the door.
The corridor seemed to have changed somewhat since he entered. The originally straight corridor became crooked, and even the floor had ups and downs. In the portraits on the walls depicting figures drinking blood, beheading, and even more terrifying images, all the figures were gone, and the remaining oil painting backgrounds were even more terrifying than the portraits themselves.
“Gluttony.”
In the oil painting on the wall directly opposite the door, a long dining table in a garbage heap was depicted, and the gold and silver utensils on the table were filled with fresh human organs dripping with blood.
“Now I’m in trouble.”
Stepping out of the room onto the blood-soaked carpet, Xia De looked left and right and decided to return to the courtyard first to see if the 【Door Key】 could open the sealed gate. He quickly walked towards the staircase, the quiet and oppressive atmosphere making the whisper element’s influence on Xia De even stronger.
“If I find out who the guy who caused the explosion on the second floor is...”
The third floor was the highest level of this building. On either side of the staircase were two metal armors holding long spears. These were common decorations in noble manors; even though the Steam Age had arrived, manors like Miss Jialinna’s also had similar decorations, and those antiques were even more expensive than dozens of Mia.
As Xia De approached the staircase, the two armors moved on their own. They didn't attack Xia De but crossed their long spears, blocking the staircase, and then spoke in a muffled voice:
“You cannot leave.”
“I need to go downstairs to see the master of the mansion.”
Xia De said casually.
“The master is on the third floor.”
“Huh?”
Xia De immediately looked left and right, confirming that there was no one in either corridor, then whispered:
“I’ll give you some sin. How about you let me leave? The price is negotiable.”
“No need for bribes. Answer one question, and you can leave the third floor.”
“Please speak.”
“What do you believe your great sin is?”
This was a question that went straight to the heart. Xia De hesitated for a moment:
“I want to get everything I want, but I don’t want to lose anything.”
The two long spears automatically separated, making way for Xia De, but Xia De did not immediately go downstairs:
“Why are you asking me such a question?”
“Guest, you need to have the courage to admit your sins.”
“What do you mean?”
But he didn't get any answer.
From the third floor to the second floor, the situation on the second floor was even stranger than on the third. The third floor only had a distorted corridor and missing figures from oil paintings, while the second floor had traces of fresh blood splattered everywhere, and claw marks on the walls, as if a pack of mad wolves had attacked the place.
The gaslight grew dimmer and dimmer, and even if a ghoul suddenly crawled out from the edge of the yellowish light, Xia De wouldn't be surprised.
Of course, what happened on the second floor was none of his business. He turned to continue downstairs, but then heard another loud bang from downstairs, followed by a surge of heat from below. The firelight turned the area below the handrail fiery red, then returned to normal.
“What’s going on downstairs now? A gas explosion?”
Walking down the stairs, he indeed encountered an enemy in the stairwell. It was a one-eyed man wearing an apron, with a fat body and a face covered in black fur. He held a sharp weapon in each hand: a long watermelon knife in his left hand and a regular-shaped cleaver in his right. He had an extremely pungent odor, and both of his arms looked as if they had been scorched by something, with burn marks even on the edge of his apron.
Clearly, it was injured downstairs.
“Give me five units of your Gluttony, otherwise you stay.”
Upon seeing Xia De, the opponent's first words were this. Xia De immediately shook his head:
“Cheaper, I...”
The cleaver was thrown towards Xia De's head. His first reaction was to step back and use Raglai's Leap to dodge the attack. But as he suddenly moved three levels up the stairs, the cleaver also maintained the same distance from him, moving three levels upwards out of thin air:
“This knife has a Space Stabilization Aura!”
Without time to think, he raised the long sword in his hand.
Clang!
Under the immense force, Xia De was sent flying. He crashed back to the second-floor stairwell, rolling several times before managing to stand up, supporting himself on the ground.
Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. Although the long sword in his hand hadn't slipped, his right palm was already bleeding. Not only that, he even felt that the bones in his right wrist had problems due to the impact. The increasingly intense pain made it almost impossible for him to hold the long sword, clearly indicating that not only had the impact caused internal injuries, but his right wrist was also fractured.
“I don’t seem to have any ability to treat fractures.”
He barely held his sword and retreated, drawing a crossed cross in the air with his left hand, then turned sideways and charged forward. The crossed Moonlight flew towards the bottom of the stairs. The fat man, walking slowly up the stairs with heavy steps, raised his left hand, holding the watermelon knife, and chopped forward, actually shattering the Moonlight's slash.
This was the first time anyone had been able to directly counter Xia De’s move.
“The opponent’s strength is too great, and their defense is also excellent. Even if I threw Iluna’s Sunlight Gun, I might not be its match. It’s truly terrifying; it has such power even when injured.”
Xia De knew he couldn't beat the opponent, but fortunately, the opponent's movement speed was quite slow. He wanted to go to the second floor to take cover, but then the man with a face full of black fur waved his hand, retrieved the cleaver, and threw it at Xia De again.
“Space Stabilization Aura!”
His intense concentration allowed Xia De, watching the flying weapon, to almost perceive every afterimage of it in the air. After the sharp cleaver entered the range of the Space Stabilization Aura:
“Raglai’s Leap!”
His body appeared to the left in the next second, and although the Space Stabilization Aura wasn't completely effective against this cleaver, it at least ensured that its moving position was not directly in front of Xia De.
The cleaver flew in an arc through the air, once again striking towards Xia De's head. But because it had already deviated once, Xia De, with heightened concentration, suddenly ducked at the last moment. He heard a dull thud above his head as the cleaver actually cut into the wall.
“Run!”
Thinking this, he quickly ran along the corridor to the left. The rows of rooms all seemed like possible hiding places, and the footsteps from the stairwell were still as heavy and oppressive as before.
The door ahead opened at that moment, and a familiar face appeared behind it. Mr. Armand Bernhardt, with a small bat symbol floating above his head, waved to the masked stranger:
“Come in!”
There were no better options at this point. Xia De activated his Miracle again, and as he stepped forward, he appeared behind the Vampire. The latter was visibly surprised by Xia De's disappearance but quickly realized he had already appeared in the room.
He immediately closed the door tightly, and then Xia De and Armand Bernhardt held their breath together, listening to the thudding footsteps grow closer and closer.
