San Tian Liang Jiao

Chapter 49 Mountain Pool Haunted House (9)

He briefly recounted the plot of the novel, then talked about his experience entering the cellar and receiving the hidden quest. Afterwards, everyone could see his quest in their quest logs, but they could only see it; even if Feng Bujue completed it, he would be the only one to get the reward.

When he was halfway through, the lantern on the table dimmed again because the skill's duration had expired. But Siyu and Beiling did not interrupt his narration, listening attentively.

After Feng Bujue finished explaining everything he knew, he concluded in a summarizing tone: "So... according to my analysis, the plot in this script should be like this. This family has inherited Huntington's disease for generations, and this house itself possesses some kind of supernatural power similar to a curse. Roderick, the sister-complex brother, had already developed schizophrenia, so he buried Madeline alive knowing she wasn't dead, and then he himself was tormented by this incident, his mind completely collapsing. Until the night the story ends, his sister uses the house's mysterious power to return to the mansion, scaring her brother to death, and then she also dies from exhaustion.

Madeline's soul should be trapped with her corpse somewhere in the mansion by Roderick, and the mansion itself is extremely hostile to us 'living' beings.

From a game perspective...

The main quest is to find the rules or weaknesses of this mansion, and then escape. The side quests are obviously optional, simply testing the completeness of our map exploration. If we go to more rooms and search carefully, we can find all six sections of the Ghost Palace and get the reward. As for the final destination of the brother and sister's souls, it's just a superfluous addition to the novel's plot, existing as a hidden quest, and it's okay not to do it."

After listening to his narration, Siyu was the first to speak: "It doesn't matter, we can cooperate with you."

Feng Bujue had just explained the situation clearly: passing the level is not difficult, side quests are optional, and hidden quests are even less required. He was about to ask Siyu and Beiling for their opinions, asking if they were willing to help him complete the side quests and hidden quests, but he didn't expect the other party to preempt him again, saying the answer before he even asked the question.

"Then thank you both," Feng Bujue said.

Siyu did not answer him this time; she really didn't like to talk much.

Beiling politely replied: "You're welcome, we were going to do the side quests anyway. As for the hidden quest, it definitely won't be easy, we'll try our best to help you within our capabilities."

Feng Bujue immediately stood up and said: "Then now let's get back to the question that was interrupted before... why did we all come here at the same time?"

Xiao Tan immediately said: "Doesn't this house change? As long as it changes a few corridors and connects the space, it can naturally guide us here."

Long Aomin said: "You're talking about 'how' we came here, not 'why' we came here."

Beiling licked her lips, muttering: "The factors that trigger this kind of event are nothing more than a few... a certain time has arrived, an item has been obtained, or..."

Feng Bujue continued: "The map exploration degree is approaching the critical point."

"What do you mean?" Xiao Tan asked.

"Do you know 'Betrayal at House on the Hill'?" Feng Bujue asked.

"That board game?"

"Yes, that one. What if the map tiles on a certain floor run out?" Feng Bujue asked.

"Then this floor..." Wang Tanzhi seemed to realize the problem, "will no longer be able to reveal new maps."

"Looking at the current situation, it should be because the first floor has been searched, and continuing to explore will lead us back to places we've already been," Feng Bujue said. "So we all came to one room at the same time. This dining room is like the only remaining tile that hasn't been flipped over."

"Then... shall we go to the second floor next?" Long Aomin said, reminding them with some unease, "Invincible Warrior died there for unknown reasons."

"There are three segments of the Ghost Palace on the first floor, and one hidden in the cellar, so the remaining two are undoubtedly on the second floor. We definitely have to go up to do the side quests," Feng Bujue replied. "Also, the first floor has been explored almost completely, but the main quest has not changed, so... whether it's the main quest, side quests, or hidden quest, it's impossible to complete any of them without going up."

Beiling added: "As the concluding part of the script, the difficulty upstairs... or rather, the curse power upstairs, is obviously stronger than here. The traps on the second floor must be more dangerous, and the illusions and horror elements are also more numerous than here, so the Invincible Warrior who went alone died."

Hearing this, Xiao Tan said to Feng Bujue, "Brother Jue, listen, splitting up kills people."

"Brother Invincible died just because he wasn't strong enough..." Feng Bujue shifted his gaze, revealing that "the wind today is so noisy" expression.

...

More than ten minutes later, the five people passed through several corridors again and found a staircase leading to the second floor.

The wooden ladder exuded a musty smell, creaking as they stepped on it. Xiao Tan even broke off a rotten piece of the handrail because he was too nervous, startling himself.

Arriving on the second floor, Long Aomin once again took on the responsibility of leading the way. His new title [Squad Defender] granted him the special ability, the passive skill [Squad Protection]. For every additional teammate nearby, his defense could increase by 10%. Although the attack, defense, and health stats in Thriller Paradise did not display specific values, it did not affect the calculation of this type of bonus. Simply put, Long Ge's ability to withstand attacks was now a full 40% stronger than when he was alone. Even if he faced that powerful blood corpse again, he wouldn't be sent flying with one palm strike.

Feng Bujue and Wang Tanzhi followed behind Long Aomin, followed by Beiling Xiaogu, while Siyu Ruoli was responsible for guarding the rear.

After walking for a while, Beiling suddenly patted Wang Tanzhi's shoulder. Because he was so tense, he was frightened pale by her action, thankfully he didn't scream.

"Hey, Brother Xiao Tan."

"What's the matter?"

"Let's discuss something, let's trade an item."

Wang Tanzhi said: "Which one?"

"Heh... what do you have?" Beiling asked with a smile.

Xiao Tan walked forward while listing the things in his bag: "Um... I have a Western-style kitchen knife, a baseball bat, a slowing..."

Feng Bujue, who was walking in front of him, covered his face and shook his head. Thousands of words turned into a sigh in his heart: "This idiot..."

Beiling was amused by Xiao Tan and giggled. She quickly interrupted: "Okay, okay, are you really going to tell me everything?"

Wang Tanzhi was stunned: "Eh? Yeah, you're the one who wants to trade items with me, why shouldn't I say it?"

Even Long Aomin at the front of the team rolled his eyes and muttered in a low voice: "This kid is really talented..."

"Don't bully the child," Siyu said coldly from behind.

Beiling stuck out her tongue and then said to Xiao Tan: "Sorry, I was just joking with you, who knew you would really say it."

Wang Tanzhi actually defended himself with Siyu's previous words: "I'm twenty-four years old in lunar years this year!"

Feng Bujue finally couldn't bear it anymore. He turned his head, glared at Xiao Tan, and said: "Recently, I've noticed that your EQ is getting more and more refreshing."

"Ah?" Xiao Tan felt very puzzled.

Beiling pulled his sleeve again, "Okay, I'm serious now." She handed over the miner's hat in her hand and said: "I want to use this to exchange for your flashlight."

Xiao Tan looked at the attributes. This thing was a piece of equipment and also had the effect of a lighting tool.

[Name: Miner's Hat]

[Type: Armor]

[Quality: Common]

[Defense: Medium]

[Attribute: None]

[Effect: Has lighting function, requires batteries.]

[Equipment Requirements: General Specialization F or Machinery Specialization F]

[Remarks: A safe and reliable piece of armor, the headlamp on the hat is also very practical.]

"How about it? I see you don't have any head armor, it's not a loss for you to exchange this for your flashlight," Beiling said.

Xiao Tan looked at it: "But isn't it obvious that you're losing out?"

"Yellow doesn't suit me, and girls look silly wearing this," she smiled slyly. "I think it looks pretty good on you."

"No need, I have a piece of head armor," Xiao Tan replied. He took out another new flashlight from his bag (at the shopping mall, Feng Bujue suggested that everyone take two flashlights, and Xiao Tan always kept everything in his bag), handed it to Beiling, and said, "I have two flashlights, just take one."

Beiling blinked her big eyes, staring at Xiao Tan's face for three or five seconds: "Hey! If you didn't tell me, you could have gotten a piece of equipment for nothing!"

"Wearing it makes you look silly, keep it for yourself," Xiao Tan replied with a smile.

Hearing these words, Beiling suddenly understood what the saying "naturally innocent people are all dark inside" meant.

She took the flashlight, put the miner's hat back in her bag, and said with a complicated mood: "Thank you." There was no hint of joy on her face.

"Serves you right," Siyu added a knife at the right time from behind.

"Something seems wrong..." Long Aomin suddenly stopped, he noticed the abnormality, "Didn't we just pass through here?"

"After we came up, we were in a corridor that was exactly the same as this one," Feng Bujue replied. "Then we turned left once, and right twice, and the length of the straight line after each turn was different, but obviously we weren't going in circles..."

"Is it an illusion, or..." Long Aomin only said half a sentence, he wanted to hear Feng Bujue's opinion.

"It should be an illusion," Siyu Ruoli interjected from the back of the team. At this moment, she was standing in front of a full-length mirror, seeing herself in the mirror. Everything about her was normal, and her clothes and equipment had not changed, except that the position of her abdomen showed her internal intestines.

In a second, both sides of the entire corridor were filled with mirrors. The transition of this scene was very abrupt, without seeing any traces of spatial distortion.

Feng Bujue also turned around, randomly picking a mirror closest to him, facing the mirror and said: "Not bad, it's clearer than an MRI." He moved closer a few steps, looking carefully, "Oh, you can also see the details of these corridors on the cross-section of the intestines, very grotesque..."