The dining room was large, and there was a long table placed in the middle. It was so long that the people sitting at the two ends had to shout to communicate. The white tablecloth was littered with several empty plates and forks, as well as several fallen candlesticks.
There was a chandelier above the table. It was bigger than the one in the living room, but it was no longer lit. The dining room relied on the wall lamps.
The wooden chairs were placed messily, and a few of them were lying on the ground, covered in spider webs.
When Passing Rain heard the system announcement, she paused for a second before continuing her search. The expression on her face was as cold as ice.
It was Laughing Soul who spoke first. "That big brother who looked so powerful is dead."
"Powerful?" Passing Rain asked. "How did you know?"
"His level is high, and he's a professional player," Laughing Soul replied.
Passing Rain used her sword to pick up a section of the tablecloth. She did not stop her search and said, "Our level will increase as well, and we can call ourselves professional players."
"Cousin … you're messing with me again." Laughing Soul narrowed her eyes at Passing Rain and grumbled, "Now that all the professional players have died, why are you still so calm?"
At this moment, Passing Rain and Ruo Li pulled out a letter from under the table and said, "Plot item."
Item Name: An Ink-Stained Letter
Item Type: Plot Item
Quality: Normal
Function: Unknown
Can be taken out of the scenario: No
Remark: The content of the letter is partially covered in ink and cannot be deciphered.
She passed the letter to Laughing Soul and said, "This thing is unlikely to have been under the table all along. It was probably reset after that Invincible Champion died."
Laughing Soul accepted the letter and opened it to read. Then she placed it inside the backpack that was slung around her waist. She licked her lips. "Hmm … assuming this letter is one of the clues to solve the main storyline, there is a possibility that the person who carries this letter will be attacked by an unknown force in this house and will be in great danger, so …"
"So, even the professional players have died?" Passing Rain asked.
"Yes … but this is strange," Laughing Soul said. "There were four of them, so why did only one die, and it was the strongest one? Could it be … "
"There's no need for 'could it be'." Feng Bujue's voice suddenly rang out. He walked in from the door. "Obviously, we've split up."
Passing Rain and Laughing Soul both turned to look at him. Feng Bujue continued, "And from the fact that he has already been defeated, this' strongest 'should be a question mark."
"His level is higher than yours, and he is a professional player," Passing Rain told Feng Bujue. She repeated the words that Laughing Soul had used to convince herself.
"My level will also increase. I can also 'call myself' a professional player. Does that make me strong?" Feng Bujue replied casually.
Laughing Soul covered her mouth and almost laughed out loud.
Ruo Li and Ruo Yu's expressions changed: "How long have you been here?"
"I just arrived. What's wrong?" Feng Bujue asked. He had indeed not heard the conversation between the two. He had only heard the last sentence from Laughing Soul.
Passing Rain was silent for two seconds before saying, "Were you the one who discovered the Haunted Palace Side Quest?"
"Yes." Feng Bujue replied, "I found the first and fifth stanza. Did you find the other two?"
Laughing Soul shook her head. "No, but we did run into quite a number of traps along the way."
Passing Rain asked, "What is the Haunted Palace? Is it a word? Or an item? "
"It's a poem." Wang Tanzhi also appeared at the entrance of the restaurant, and Long Aomin was next to him.
"Perfect timing," Feng Bujue said. "Which stanza did you find?"
"The good news is … we found two stanzas," Long Aomin said.
"The bad news is … we can't memorize them." Wang Tanzhi did not look ashamed. In fact, he looked proud of himself.
"If you repeat a few sentences, you will remember them," Feng Bujue said.
The two of them exchanged four or five sentences at the same time.
After Feng Bujue listened to them, he said, "It should be the second and third stanza …" Then, he did something shocking. He repeated the two stanzas that Xiao Tan and Brother Long had found and asked them if they were correct.
"Brother Bujue … what's going on?" Wang Tanzhi gasped. "You've been following us?"
"This room is born from my memory in real life. Actually, I'm a serial killer, and this is one of my bases." Feng Bujue said calmly. "The Haunted Palace that you see is something I wrote on the wall when I was bored."
Wang Tanzhi's jaw was like it had been dislocated. His mouth was open, and his eyes were bulging as he stared at Feng Bujue. His mind was a mess.
Ten seconds later, Feng Bujue told him, "You are the only one who still hasn't realized that this is a joke."
"Hahaha …" Long Aomin suddenly laughed. He had realized that Feng Bujue was joking, but he did not think it was funny. However, Wang Tanzhi's reaction of believing it was true made him speechless.
"Mr. Feng, now that the cold joke is over, can you tell us the actual situation?" Laughing Soul said. "You not only know the order of the stanzas, you can even recite the content. Then, you must know the origin of the poem, right?"
"The poem comes from Edgar Allan Poe's short story, The Fall of the House of Usher," Feng Bujue said. "I believe this scenario is based on that." He pulled over a stool and sat down. "Have any of you read it before?"
"No …" Other than Passing Rain and Ruo Li, the other three were like primary school students answering their teacher's question in unison.
"It's good that you haven't. After all, his novels are not that interesting anyway." Feng Bujue said. "Poe is a high-class literary ruffian. He dabbles in gambling and drinking. He once chased after a lady and married a loli. He never gets tired of writing. Most of his novels only focus on the atmosphere and ignore the plot. Sometimes, he would do something like this. For example, at the beginning of Ligeia, he randomly made up a passage, added a dash, and said that it came from Joseph Glanville. If there was a search engine in the 19th century, this guy would have been paraded through the streets by the critics. "
"You sound like a hardcore fan …" Passing Rain and Ruo Li said coldly.
"You sound like you're jealous …" Laughing Soul tossed him a condescending look.
"The more I hear, the more it sounds like you …" Wang Tanzhi said.
"Brother Feng, you have to respect yourself …" Long Aomin did not know what to say, so he tried to persuade him.
Feng Bujue stood up and said with a straight face, "I know a thing or two. It's nothing …"
"You can even memorize that poem, so there's no need to explain yourself," Passing Rain interrupted.
"Big sister …" Feng Bujue said.
"How old are you? Call me big sister. "
"Little sister …"
"I dare you to call me that again."
Feng Bujue took a deep breath. "Like a heroine … Actually, I have quite a good memory …"
"Mr. Feng, you really don't need to explain yourself to me." Passing Rain and Ruo Li's lips curled up into an imperceptible smile.
Feng Bujue was stunned for about three seconds before turning around like nothing had happened. "The wind sure is loud today …"
Even Long Aomin felt embarrassed. "Brother Feng, even if you've been exposed, don't mind it. Let's continue to look for clues."
Feng Bujue almost coughed out a mouthful of blood. He thought to himself, Couldn't you have just said the second half of your sentence? Was the first half of your sentence meant to add insult to injury?
"By the way, I was about to ask you something. Don't you think it's weird?" Feng Bujue asked seriously. "Why are we all in the dining room? The structure of this room should be changing. If we're all gathered at the same time, does that mean … "
Before he finished, there was a bang, and the only door in the dining room closed on its own.
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