Chapter 41

"Juege... this... this... is..." Wang Tanzhi was scared stiff and started stuttering again.

"If I didn’t interrupt you, you would have kept going like this, right?" Feng Jue said.

Long Ao Min turned his head, "Bro Feng, why can you say the censored words?"

"Obviously, it’s because when I said this curse word, I didn’t have any insulting intent, so the system didn’t directly stop me. However, the word itself isn’t very elegant, so it was censored," Feng Jue explained. "Anyway, isn’t it a bit late to be concerned about this now?"

Ping ping ping... Huala la...

The sound of light bulbs shattering and glass fragments scattering filled the air. The wall lamps around the restaurant exploded, plunging the room into darkness.

Almost as soon as the sounds had settled, Feng Jue took out a flashlight from his backpack, turned it on, and shone it upwards, illuminating his face. "Why go to such lengths... just turning it off would have been fine, no need to make such a fuss." As he spoke, he put on the [Eye of Enmity].

Xiao Tan and Long Ge, seeing the light shining upwards in the darkness, turned their backs to Feng Jue and slowly moved to his side. They also took out their flashlights from their backpacks and turned them on, each illuminating a fan-shaped area in front of them.

On the other side, Si Yu Ruo Li and Bei Ling Xiao Gu also had lighting methods. Si Yu Ruo Li took out an old-fashioned lantern. Although it looked old, the item’s attributes were not bad:

[Name: Constant Flicker Lantern]

[Type: Tool]

[Quality: Ruined]

[Function: Lighting]

[Special Effect: Never Extinguished]

[Note: This lantern was once a powerful magical item, but after a severe damage, it was never repaired. It can only illuminate a radius of about five meters. The switch cannot control its brightness or turn it off, but it still retains the characteristic of infinite fuel.]

She placed the lantern directly on the long table. As the item description stated, the lantern remained lit, illuminating a spherical area with a five-meter radius.

Bei Ling Xiao Gu took out a yellow miner’s hat and turned on the round light at the front, holding it in her hand. Perhaps she found it uncomfortable or unattractive, so she didn’t wear it on her head.

Everyone lowered their breathing and listened for any threats in the silent darkness.

Suddenly, a few light tinkles came from above. Everyone looked up to see the large glass chandelier above the dining table being pulled askew, pointing directly at... Feng Jue.

In an instant, the steel cable above the chandelier snapped, and an object as large as half a washing machine flew straight at Feng Jue. His first reaction was to dive under the table.

But someone reacted and acted faster than Feng Jue, and not just by a little.

Si Yu Ruo Li lightly stepped on the chair, gracefully leaping into the air. Her movements were agile, yet she retained a feminine grace. Her sword was cold, and her gaze was icy. She swiftly and powerfully cut through the flying chandelier, splitting the metal frame in two. The object then fell vertically, shattering the large glass pieces on the ground.

Si Yu Ruo Li landed lightly, brushing a strand of hair from her forehead with one hand, while holding her sword with the other. Her breathing didn’t even quicken. She truly exuded a formidable and heroic presence.

Xiao Tan and Long Ge were stunned. The image of Feng Jue smashing the green corpse’s head yesterday suddenly seemed very low-level... The ruthless female swordsman in front of them, in terms of skill and ferocity, was on a completely different level... Comparing the two battle scenes was like comparing Qin Jiaxian to Feng Zhi, it was simply incomparable.

"No need to thank me," Si Yu said, seeing Feng Jue about to speak.

Feng Jue swallowed the words "Thank you, Miss, for your timely rescue" and thought: "Good thing I didn’t say it, that’s a line for extras in martial arts movies." He cleared his throat and said, "Um... Si Yu, can you turn your lantern a bit brighter?"

"No," Si Yu replied directly.

"Um... can I take a look?" Feng Jue asked.

"Why?" Si Yu asked.

"I have a skill that can repair faulty tools in a short time," Feng Jue said. "If your lantern is below ordinary quality..."

Before he could finish, Si Yu Ruo Li used her sword to deftly lift the lantern from the table and instantly placed it in front of him. "Ruined."

She liked to be concise, and he understood. Taking the item, he used [Rash Repair], but the system prompted him: [Skill use failed]. Feng Jue wasn’t too concerned, as failure was common. His mechanical expertise was currently at F level, with a 20% success rate. The successful repair of the flashlight last time was clearly due to good luck.

This time, he wasn’t so lucky. He used the skill twice more before it finally succeeded, consuming 300 stamina points. The lantern, now restored to ordinary quality, suddenly brightened, illuminating the entire restaurant.

The restaurant was quite large, the largest of all the rooms they had passed through. At the farthest corner from them, they saw a figure, or rather, a ghostly figure.

It was a middle-aged man in a black classical suit, with pale skin and sunken eyes. His features were distinct, with a broad forehead and a square jaw, making him unforgettable at first glance.

According to more common legends, the appearance of ghosts, such as their clothing, is often how they looked at the moment of their death or how they most often appeared in life. Judging from this figure’s appearance and demeanor, it was likely Roderick Usher.

Originally, the ghostly figure was hiding in a corner where the flashlight’s light couldn’t reach, concealed in the shadows. But now, the sudden brightness of the lantern made him visible.

Roderick seemed to fear the light. He covered his eyes and curled up, letting out a fierce roar.

Feng Jue, holding the lantern, approached the ghost without fear, his steps steady and his tone confident: "Mr. Usher, please tell us how to leave here."

"Stay back..." Roderick said, "Or you will..." At first, his tone was gentle, even weak, but as he spoke the last few words, he removed his hands from his face, revealing a twisted expression, roaring like a frenzied beast: "...pay the price!"

Feng Jue stood a meter away from him, showing no reaction. The others behind him were startled to varying degrees by Roderick’s sudden change.

"What do you want to do? Control the chairs to hit me in the back of the head?" Feng Jue knew this ghost was intangible and could only control objects in the room to attack.

As he spoke, a chair floated up and quickly flew towards Feng Jue’s back.

This time, Long Ao Min was closer. He took a large step forward and extended his arm, using [Fragment of Ultron] to block the attack for Feng Jue.

"There are five of us, and you seem particularly interested in me..." Feng Jue’s tone was confrontational: "Where is Madeleine’s body? Is it with yours?"

"Ah—" Roderick let out a mad roar, and the plates, knives, forks, and candlesticks on the dining table all floated up.

Without hesitation, Feng Jue took out [Slow Sand] from his backpack and quickly threw the bottle to the ground.

This item could only slow down "monsters" within a hundred-meter radius by ten times, but it couldn’t physically slow down "objects." However, the slowed Roderick’s ability to maintain the floating objects seemed affected, causing them to drop.

To put it in a metaphor, the ghost’s "telekinesis" was like riding a bicycle. If the actions were slowed ten times, it wasn’t just slowed, but it fell.

Feng Jue raised the lantern and aimed the flashlight at Roderick. Facing this intangible ghost, he had no way to attack, so he tried to influence it with the light it feared.

Roderick made a low, indistinct sound, slowly turning, trying to shield himself from the light and escape, but his movements were too slow to be effective.

"This script’s difficulty is quite average... as long as you have strong lighting equipment, stay alert to the traps in the house, and don’t be fooled by illusions, your survival points are not a concern," Feng Jue said. "It should be a script that primarily tests courage rather than combat ability." He even passed his hand through Roderick’s body, the light making the ghost increasingly transparent, but it didn’t destroy him.

A minute quickly passed, and Roderick retreated into the wall. Feng Jue shrugged, disappointed, and returned to the long table, placing the lantern down.

"Let’s organize our thoughts," Feng Jue said, picking up a wooden chair and sitting down. "The plot item transferred after the Invincible Brother’s death should be nearby. We need to find it first..."

Bei Ling directly took out the letter and said, "It’s this, but the information it provides is very limited. We can infer that... the house owner was mentally unstable, suffering from illness, and invited a friend to visit."

"Can I see it?" Feng Jue asked.

"Of course," Bei Ling handed him the letter, adding, "If you’re looking for hidden information like the first letters of each line or Roman numerals, there isn’t any in this letter." She had only glanced at it briefly but had already confirmed this.

Feng Jue read the disjointed letter for a minute and said, "Players who have read the novel might guess from the content of this letter that this is the House of Usher. Those who haven’t read it can use this to understand some basic plot elements." He returned the letter to Bei Ling. "This item can’t be taken out of the script, so it seems to be just a regular plot item, not significantly advancing the game."

Bei Ling said, "Then please explain the current situation in detail. You seem to know a lot about this story, and... the ghost was clearly targeting you, while I, holding the plot item, was fine. There must be a reason for this, right?"