Chapter 36

"Wh-what do you mean? What's this 'Ghost Palace'?" Wang Tanzhi asked.

"Are you going to ask next if it's edible?" Feng Jue replied.

"I'm past the age of asking if things are edible to be cute... Besides, I'm being serious right now!" Wang Tanzhi said.

"Look for yourselves." Feng Jue stood up, allowing Xiao Tan and Long Ge to see what he had been examining while crouching.

When the two approached, they found words carved into the wall, seemingly with a knife. The content was in English, but players could see the translation by opening the game menu.

The text appeared to be a short English poem, which read:

【In the depths of the verdant valley,

Angels pause to guard.

Once stood a splendid palace—

Radiant and towering.

In the kingdom of 'Thought,'

It stood majestic and grand.

The six-winged seraphim did not spread their wings,

But they came to this splendid palace.】

"What does this mean?" Wang Tanzhi was completely puzzled after reading it.

"Maybe this article is called 'Ghost Palace,' and there are six parts?" Long Aomin guessed.

They both thought that since Feng Jue was around, he would know everything, so they could just ask him. However, when they turned around, they found that the guy was already gone...

"Jue Ge?" Wang Tanzhi looked around and took a step to the side, raising his head to look at the stairs leading to the second floor: "Where is he? He disappeared when we weren't paying attention?"

Long Aomin looked around but couldn't find him either, so he shrugged helplessly: "He already said he wanted to split up. He must have slipped away while we were reading this passage."

Wang Tanzhi said, "Let's go look for clues too. Jue Ge said to meet back here after the main quest changes."

Long Aomin nodded, and the two of them began investigating the first floor, pushing open the doors that could be opened and checking the rooms for the other parts of the 'Ghost Palace' or other clues.

…………

In the complex corridors of the first floor.

Two female players were moving slowly and cautiously. It was clear that they had already encountered some traps.

At the moment, Si Yu Ruo Li was holding a shiny longsword. Although the item was only of common quality, she had earned the title of [Merciless Beheader] with this ordinary weapon, which showed her exceptional skills.

Bei Ling Xiao Gu did not take out her gun, as her judgment was similar to Feng Jue's—if the script was all about ghosts and traps, guns might not be necessary.

"Eh?" Bei Ling, who was walking behind, suddenly paused and said a few seconds later: "Ha... They actually found a side quest."

Si Yu Ruo Li looked at the quest content and asked, "Should we also look for this 'Ghost Palace'?"

"Hmm... No need to go out of our way to find it," Bei Ling replied, thinking. "We don't know what it is yet, and we're already looking for clues."

"Let's continue then." Si Yu Ruo Li responded and moved forward again.

…………

On the second floor, Yongzhe Wudi was in a very spacious room. Like the living room, this room had long, narrow windows positioned high up, a distance from the dark oak floor. The red light filtering through the window frames barely illuminated the more prominent objects in the room, but it was unclear where the red light was coming from in the middle of the night...

Yongzhe Wudi strained his eyes but could not see the far corners of the room or the intricate ceiling decorations. Of course, he didn't care about these details; what did it matter if he could see them? He just needed to know that there were no monsters hiding in the corners.

The walls were hung with dark, faded curtains, and all the furniture was large and uncomfortable, old and broken. The scattered books and musical instruments did nothing to add life to the room. The air seemed to carry a sense of sorrow, and the gloomy, oppressive atmosphere permeated everything.

After receiving the quest prompt, Yongzhe Wudi glanced at his menu. His first thought was that the two female players had discovered something in the mansion, triggering the side quest. He didn't think the other three rookies could have found it.

Although not particularly skilled at solving puzzles, Yongzhe Wudi was a professional player. He lacked reasoning skills, but he had plenty of game experience. He first searched the room roughly, looking for equipment or consumables. Unfortunately, the only things he could pick up and use were a wooden guitar and a broken violin. Using these fragile wooden items to hit monsters would be less effective than his bare hands, thanks to his title [Reckless Pugilist], which passively increased the destructive power of his fists.

Finding no equipment, Yongzhe Wudi started looking for quest items. He didn't know what the 'Ghost Palace' was and had no interest in picking up and reading all the books scattered on the floor. He simply walked to the most likely clue in the room—a letter on the desk.

All the other readable items or drops were either on the floor or scattered around, but this envelope was still on the desk, held down by an ink bottle.

When he picked up the ink bottle, Yongzhe Wudi noticed that some ink had seeped through the envelope, leaving a stain that had long since dried. He picked up the envelope, blew on it, and gently tapped it to remove the dust before opening it and pulling out the letter to read.

The letter was incomplete, with many parts obscured by ink stains, and the remaining parts were also blurry in places. The beginning and end of the letter were not visible, but from the visible content, it seemed to be written by the owner of the house to a friend.

The writer mentioned that he was suffering from a sudden illness due to some "curse," tormented by madness. He longed to see his best friend and only confidant, hoping that the friend's visit might help his condition improve.

The letter indeed showed signs of mental disturbance, with some parts difficult to understand due to the writer's trembling hand or incoherent thoughts.

Although Yongzhe Wudi didn't see any clear clues, he still put the letter in his inventory. After one last look around the room, he turned and left.

…………

In a dark stone tunnel.

A flashlight suddenly lit up, illuminating a small section of the path ahead. As soon as Feng Jue saw the scene, he muttered, "This house has serious problems... It's like a castle of demons? With spatial anomalies and teleportation?"

In fact, a few minutes earlier, he hadn't intentionally slipped away from Xiao Tan and Long Ge. He had just walked to another wall in the living room, wanting to take a closer look at a painting hanging there...