Chapter 42 The Mountain Pool and the Haunted Mansion 9

Chapter 42 The Mountain Pool and the Haunted Mansion 9

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."

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..."