Chapter 44 - Doll House (21)

Under the threat of death, the players searched enthusiastically and not before long Lui Quishi yelled in triumph.

"Found it!"

In a small nook in the brown floorboard, a small brass key had been cleverly hidden from view. It was really only because Lui Quishi had somehow tripped and fell facing the tile, that they had managed to find it so quickly.

The rest quickly gathered around the book and Shi Xiaodong inserted the small key with a soft click.

The small account book opened up to a series of numbered ledgers dating from before July 13 1997 when the children first arrived.

[June 27, 1997

10€- Fresh Fruit for the Kitchen

20€- Temporary Maid Salary

70€- Madam's Book

35€- Soup for the Kitchen

Total: 135€ ]

[June 29, 1997

5€- Young Master's Piano Lessons

20€- Rouge

60€- Temporary Cook Salary

100€- Dress for Madam Cherry's Ball

Total: 185€]

[May 1, 1997

100€- Rose Teapot

48€-New Carpet for the Guest Bedroom

35€- New Sheet for the Guest Bedroom

200€- Fresh Fruits for the Kitchen

40€- Gold Laquered Bracelet

Total: 423€]

[May 5, 1997

200€- Poulty and Wine

50€-Ciggarettes for the Guest

70€- Red Light District

300€- Madam's personal purchase

Total: 620€]

Evidently the mansion wasn't as glamorous and thriving as it made itself seem at first glance. A large castle such as this one should have been running on at least a 1000€ per week.

Instantly they had noticed the subtle discrepancies. Before the beginning of May, the castle's expense could have been considered frugal and even poor, relying on Temporary workers to get by and keep up the appearances of the Castle, but on May 1, there was an sudden and instant shift in spending, rather it could even be called fragulant and excessive.

There was also some key words that they noticed. In that time frame, a special guest had appeared in the castle.

Who exactly was this person, that could prompt a dying estate to milk itself to the greatest extent in order to serve such a special guest.

Chu Yi thought of the sacrifice array and the deep blood pool in the Madams room and had a vague guess but he'd need to confirm it.

"Let's go, there ain't much time left. If we want to find anything of importance we have to go to the place we've least considered."

"Where's that?"

Chu Yi answered the question for Lui Quishi,

"The young masters room."

Shi XiaoDong threw a subtle glance at Chu Yi but nodded in agreement.

"As a key NPC in this instance, we've interacted with the young master the least. More than likely he'd be our breakthrough point for this instance."

The others nodded in agreement and without further ado, they made a beeline down to the Young Master's room.

It was the same as Chu Yi remembered, a room full of beautiful dolls, albeit now in varying states of disrepair, nevertheless compared to the rest of the castle, the young masters room was by far, the most fitting.

The young master wasn't there, the room was empty and devoid of life, giving the players the ability to explore.

"We have only about half an hour left before sundown and before then we have to find something that would relate to the missing children."

The rest hummed in agreement and set about ruffling through the room.

Chu Yi observed the room quietly, and with steady feet, inched closer to the wall of the room.

He reached out a slender hand and lightly ran his finger along the wall.

From it, grey ash studded onto his fingers.

Burn marks.

Unnoticed, he flicked the ash from his fingers calmly and continued to search the room.

Stained carpet, burn marks, spots of blood.

All made for a poorly cleaned crime scene.

Chu Yi noticed something out of place in the room, on ther very far corner sat a small hourglass.

Except, the sand inside wasn't moving.

It seemed as if time had stood still and the hourglass was stuck forever in an endless loop.

Time, this wasn't the first time he had happened on it and it seemed the instance had a uncanny liking for time.

He pondered for a moment before suddenly making a move, with quick determined strides, he walked over to desk, grabbed the suspended hourglass and flipped it over!

Time restarted!

Like the flip of a switch, the room stated speeding under the shocked cries of the players!

The wallpaper peeled off revealing it's bloody corners, the smell of astrid smoke snd dust burnt their noses and a scorching hot temperature rose frightenly in the room!

The carpet on the floor disappeared to reveal a large bloody sacrifice array beneath their feet, the lines seemed to be pulsating like a heartbeat , wiggling and turning like the flesh and muscle beneath an open wound!

The thick odor from a burning corpse was mixed into billowing black smoke, rushing towards the players standing there, mixed with the dark clouds of ash and burnt blood.

A harsh scream rose in the sudden wind.

The sharp whistle sound like a nail scraping through the glass instantly resounded through the world. The spiteful meaning contained in it made everyone's scalp numb, it was like a grieving ghost, making the players unbearably raise their hands to block their ears, but still, the harsh hissing howl seemed to penetrate into the earholes abruptly, causing their brains to feel like it was about to explode.

The floor beneath showed traces of flames.

Like a ignited piece of paper, black dots of broken holes slowly appeared, and the hole slowly expanded and swallowed the players.

"Do you want to play a little game?"

That hauntingly childish voice seemed to break through the wall of sound and penetrated into their ear.

"Do you want to play a little game!"

Their was no time to think about it, so one by one the players nodded.

Chu Yi stared unhappily at the little boy but the sharp pain in his ear, finally forced him to agree.

The Young Master clapped his small pale hands happily and like a burning tide, the flames and smoke receded instantly. The room restoring itself to its previous appearance, as if the reading flames was nothing but an illusion.

Gasping for breath, Shi XiaoDong spoke staggeringly to the NPC

"What game are we playing."

The little boy grinned with innocently dark eyes, still dressed in the long pure robes like a beautiful porcelain doll and laughed,

"Let's play guess the Dead Body"