Feng Bujue summarized the plot of the short story and described his experience in the cellar and the hidden quest that he had accepted. Then, the group could see the quest that he accepted in their quest tab, but they could only see it. Even if the quest was completed, only Feng Bujue would get the reward.
When he was halfway though, the lamp on the table dimmed because the period of his skill’s effectiveness was over. However, Passing Rain and Laughing Soul did not interrupt him and allowed him to continue.
After Feng Bujue relayed everything he knew, he concluded it. “So… based on my analysis, the plot of this scenario should be as follows. The family that stayed here suffered from Huntington’s disease, and the house itself seems to be cursed by some kind of supernatural force. Roderick, who adores his little sister, had already fallen into the clutches of madness, and that was why he buried Madeline even though she was still alive, and then he was tormented by what he had done, causing his mind to collapse.
“On the night the story should have ended, the sister returned to the house using the mysterious force that resides inside the house, scaring her older brother to his death before finally perishing.
“Madeline’s soul and her dead body should both be trapped by Roderick in this house, and the house itself has a strong hostility toward us ’living’ organisms.
“If we look at it from the perspective of a game, the main quest will be to find out this house’s operating rules or weakness and then escape. Naturally, we can ignore the side quest, which I believe is to make us explore the map. If we go to more rooms and expand our search, we’ll naturally be able to find all six stanzas to The Haunted Palace. The hidden quest of rescuing the sibling’s souls, I believe, is the system’s way of providing an epilogue to the original story, one that we can ignore if we want to.”
After hearing his explanation, Passing Rain was the first to respond. “It’s fine, we can cooperate with you to complete the hidden quest.”
Feng Bujue had just clarified the situation. It was not hard to clear the scenario, and completing the side quest and hidden quest was a choice. He was about to ask Passing Rain and Laughing Soul to see if they would be willing to help complete the side and hidden quests, but to his surprise, they volunteered their help before he had the chance to ask.
“Then, I shall thank you,” Feng Bujue said.
Passing Rain did not reply this time; the girl really did not seem like she liked to chat. Laughing Soul politely replied, “You’re welcome. It was our original plan to complete the side quest anyway. With regards to the hidden quest, it’s definitely not going to be easy, but you can count on our help.”
Feng Bujue stood up and said, “Then now we shall go back to our earlier question… Why are we gathered here together?”
“Didn’t you say the house will change?” Xiao Tan instantly replied. “Only by changing a few corridors and connecting the spaces, we were naturally led to this place.”
“You’re describing ’how’ we get to this place, not ’why’,” Long Aomin countered.
Laughing Soul licked her lips and suggested, “There are only a few factors that might trigger something like this. For instance, we’ve reached a time limit, a key item has been discovered, or…”
“The exploration of the map has reached its peak,” Feng Bujue continued.
“What do you mean?” Xiao Tan asked.
“You know Betrayal at the House on the Hill, right?” Feng Bujue asked.
“You mean the board game?”
“Yes, that’s the one. What happens after the map square for one of the levels is all used up?” Feng Bujue inquired.
“Then, the map for that level…” Wang Tanzhi seemed to realize the problem already. “…will be unable to expand anymore.”
“Based on the current situation, it appears the first floor has been fully explored; further exploration will only lead us back to where we came from,” Feng Bujue said. “That’s why we’re gathered in this room. This dining room is technically the only map square that has not been explored.”
“Then… shall we go up to the second floor next?” Long Aomin asked. “That is where Invincible Champion died mysteriously.”
“There are three stanzas of The Haunted Palace on the first floor, another stanza hidden in the cellar, so naturally, the remaining two stanzas will be on the second floor. To complete the side quest, we have to go up,” Feng Bujue replied. “Also, we’ve fully explored the first floor, and the main quest hasn’t been updated, so… be it for the main quest, side quest, or hidden quest, it is necessary for us to go upstairs if we want to complete it.”
“As the final part of the scenario, the difficulty upstairs,” Laughing Soul added, “or rather, the power of the curse will be more intense upstairs. The traps will be more dangerous, and the illusion and scare factor will be more intense. I believe that is how Invincible Champion met his end; he was alone and had no help.”
After hearing that, Xiao Tan told Feng Bujue, “Brother Jue, hear that? Splitting up would have led to one’s death.”
“Brother Invincible died simply because he was not invincible enough…” Feng Bujue moved his eyes away and made an expression that said, ’Tonight’s wind sure is howling noisily.’
…
Ten minutes later, the five walked through several corridors before locating the stairs that led to the second floor. The wooden stairs smelled of mildew, and they creaked noisily, supporting their weight. Xiao Tan even scared himself by accidentally snapping a part of the banister from gripping it too tightly.
When they reached the second floor, Long Aomin once again took up the role of the scout. His new title, Team Defender, rewarded him with the passive skill, Team Defense. His defense would rise ten percent with each team member that was next to him. Even though the offense, defense, and life points in Thriller Paradise did not have a numeral representation, it did not affect the calculation in the background. To put it simply, Brother Long’s defense was forty percent higher than if he was alone. If he came across that zombie now, he would not be knocked out with one hit.
Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi followed behind Long Aomin, and behind them, Laughing Soul and Passing Rain took up the rear.
After they had been walking for a while, Laughing Soul suddenly tapped Wang Tanzhi on his shoulder. Due to the latter’s taut nerves, he was scared out of his soul by the girl’s sudden motion. He almost screamed.
“Eh, Brother Xiao Tan.”
“What’s up?”
“I have something to discuss with you. Are you up for a trade?”
“Which item do you want to trade?” Wang Tanzhi asked.
“Er… what kind of items do you have?” Laughing Soul asked with a smile.
As Xiao Tan moved forward, he gave the girl a list of his inventory. “Hmm… I have a kitchen knife, a baseball bat, a vial of Slowing…”
Feng Bujue, who was walking ahead of him, shook his head, and everything that he wanted to say morphed into a sigh in his heart. This idiot…
Laughing Soul chuckled, tickled by Xiao Tan’s antics. She quickly interrupted him. “That’s enough. Do you really want to tell me everything?”
Wang Tanzhi was baffled. “Huh? Of course, you want to make a trade, right? So, I need to tell you what I have.”
Even Long Aomin rolled his eyes and mocked under his breath, “This child sure is a genius…”
“Don’t bully a child,” Passing Rain added coldly.
Laughing Soul giggled and then told Xiao Tan, “I’m sorry, I was kidding with you. I really didn’t expect you to tell me everything.”
Wang Tanzhi was still hung up over the earlier insult. “I’m not a child. I’m twenty-four already!”
Feng Bujue finally lost it. He turned around and glared at Xiao Tan. “I’ve realized, as you grow older, your intelligence seems to grow the other way.”
“Huh?” Xiao Tan was confused.
Laughing Soul pulled on his shirt. “Alright, I’m being serious this time.” She handed him the miner’s hat and said, “I want to use this to trade for your flashlight.”
Xiao Tan looked at its attributes. The item was a piece of armor, one that came with a lighting tool.
———
Item Name: Miner’s Hat
Item Type: Armor
Quality: Normal
Defense Points: Medium
Element: None
Special Effect: Comes with a light but runs on battery
Equip Requirement: General Ability Mastery F or Workmanship Mastery F
Remark: Safe and reliable armor. The small lamp attached to it is very useful.
———
“So? I see that you don’t have any head gear, so it should be a beneficial trade for you to exchange your flashlight for this,” Laughing Soul said.
Xiao Tan looked at it. “Then, isn’t that a clear loss for you?”
“I don’t like the yellow color. Plus, a girl wearing this looks rather dumb.” She smiled slyly. “But I think it will look quite good on you.”
“There’s no need. I actually already have head gear,” Xiao Tan replied as he took out a new flashlight from his backpack. At the shopping complex, Feng Bujue had suggested that everyone take two flashlights, and Xiao Tan had been keeping the second one in his backpack. He handed it to Laughing Soul and said, “I have two, so I can just give you one.”
Laughing Soul widened her eyes and stared at Xiao Tan for three seconds. “Hey, if you didn’t tell me this, you’d be able to get some equipment for free. Don’t you know that?”
“Nah, I’d rather not look dumb. You can keep it for yourself.” Xiao Tan smiled.
When she heard that, Laughing Soul suddenly understood why they said that the scariest person was the innocent and kind person who was pushed too far.
She accepted the flashlight and put the miner’s hat back in her inventory. She grumbled with conflicted emotions, “Thank you.”
But her face did not look happy at all.
“Serves you right,” Passing Rain added.
“Something’s wrong…” Long Aomin suddenly stopped. “Haven’t we passed this corridor already?”
“Since arriving on this floor, we’ve been walking down corridors that look the same as each other,” Feng Bujue said. “We took one left turn and two right turns, and the length of each corridor is different, so it doesn’t seem like we’re walking in circles…”
“Have we fallen for an illusion or…” Long Aomin left the sentence hanging. He wanted to hear Feng Bujue’s opinion.
“It should be an illusion.” Passing Rain chimed in from the back of the team. She was standing before a large mirror and saw her reflection in it. Her body was normal, and there was no change to her outfit or equipment. The only difference was that her intestines were exposed.
The next second, the whole corridor was filled with mirrors. This change was sudden, and there was no discernible sign of the space twisting.
Feng Bujue turned to the nearest mirror and he stood before it.
“Not bad. It’s even clearer than a CT scan.” He walked closer to observe. “Look, you can even see the details of corridors in the cross-section of the intestines. This is quite amusing…”