Chapter 2775: Lost
After speaking, the woman slammed the door so hard it rattled. The twins glanced back at the little girl, then picked up the dead bird from the floor. But by then, the servants, having heard the commotion, finally arrived belatedly. The two women quickly urged Xiaoxiao, Tiantian, and the little girl back to their rooms. As for the twins, no one paid them any attention; the servants didn’t even dare look their way.
The twins exchanged a glance, as if finally losing interest, kicked the bird aside, and returned to their own room.
Not long after the servants left, the little girl’s door creaked open again. Clutching her newly repaired doll, she crept downstairs and began talking to herself in front of an oil painting hanging on the wall.
“Mom, when are you coming back?”
“Tiantian misses you so much.”
“The big brothers here bully me and broke my doll. I don’t like them.”
“The adults don’t like me either. They call me ‘little mute’ behind my back and sneak leftover food into my bowl. I don’t want to eat it, but they force me to finish.”
“I want to grow up fast so I can leave this place. I don’t like that uncle who comes to see me often. His eyes are strange, and the way he looks at my brothers is strange too.”
“The adults say if I’m in danger, I can call the police, but the uncle from the Enforcement Team told me to just behave. I don’t want to behave at all. I want to grow up, have long arms and long legs, go anywhere I want, and not be locked up here…”
As she spoke, tears streamed down her face, as if she had endless grievances to pour out.
When she had cried enough, she got up and slowly trudged back.
The manor was silent in the dead of night, especially after the twins had fallen asleep. Xu Huo made a round and discovered several locked rooms. He couldn’t tell what was inside from the outside, and both the doors and walls were rigged with alarm systems. Forcing them open would immediately alert someone, and those alarms likely weren’t connected only to the manor’s internal systems.
He sat upstairs for a while, then heard movement downstairs again. The sick girl had tied together curtains and bedsheets and was sliding down from the window. Though it was only the third floor, the manor’s ceilings were high, and she got stuck halfway down. She glanced at the ground, as if considering jumping.
“What are you doing?” Xiaoxiao suddenly appeared on the balcony, quickly pressing the call button to summon the servants for help.
Panicking, the sick girl let go, fell onto the lawn, struggled to her feet, and limped toward the manor’s exit, shouting as she ran, “I don’t want to stay with monsters! I’m not a monster! Someone help! Kill her! Kill that monster!”
The servants quickly caught up, bound her hands and feet, and dragged her back. Though they said nothing, their faces were full of displeasure, and they used more force than necessary.
The sick girl screamed in pain, muttering incoherently, but everyone pretended not to hear. They tied her to the bed and stuffed a towel in her mouth to shut her up.
Once the manor quieted down again, the ten-year-old boy named Tiantian crept into her room. He stood by the bed, silently watching her for a moment, then said, “You can’t escape. Once you run away, you lose your value, and they’ll kill you.”
“If you just want to die, why not jump straight from the roof? No need to drive yourself crazy.”
He sighed like an adult, untied her ropes, and was about to remove the towel from her mouth when the girl flipped over, pinned him to the floor, and choked him viciously, her face twisted with rage. “You’re the one who should die!”
Tiantian’s eyes rolled back as he struggled, unable to break free. He reached out toward Xiaoxiao, who had somehow appeared at the doorway.
The older boy, Xiaoxiao, was already bigger than the sick girl, who was two years his senior. But he just watched the scene, his expression cold, as if he weren’t witnessing a murder.
Soon, Tiantian went still. The little girl from next door came out and asked Xiaoxiao why he was standing at the door.
Xiaoxiao soothed her with a few words, then hurried into the room, pulled the sick girl off Tiantian, and kicked him. “If you’re not dead, get up.”
Still unsatisfied, he glared coldly at the girl. “Useless. You’ve got two hands and can’t even choke someone to death.”
By then, the sick girl had calmed down, curling up at the foot of the bed, lost in her own world.
Tiantian woke up, his eyes full of hatred as he stared at Xiaoxiao.
Xiaoxiao shrugged it off with a sneer and walked out.
The night dragged on with repeated disturbances, and no servant came upstairs to check until dawn.
“Are these people all insane?” said one of the two players who had entered the manor after Xu Huo. They, too, had watched the drama all night. The female player added, “At first, I felt sorry for those three kids, but none of them are normal.”
Her male companion replied, “Being locked up here and not allowed out—there’s obviously a reason. Let’s focus on finding the ‘bones.’ The one on the second floor is a fake; the real one must be somewhere else.”
The two worked together to search every room in the manor and also discovered the sealed-off spaces. They knew beforehand that this was an Archon’s property, so they didn’t dare break anything recklessly. Instead, they decided to find someone to question.
A servant would be the best choice. But as they headed downstairs toward the servants’ quarters, they realized they were lost. The once-clear corridor had suddenly multiplied in length, stretching endlessly with corridor after corridor. Every turn led to another turn, and they kept circling back to the same spot.
Before long, they couldn’t even find their way back upstairs, let alone to the servants’ rooms.
“Uncle, Auntie, who are you?” The little girl’s voice suddenly came from behind them. Startled, they turned around and exchanged glances. The woman crouched down, speaking gently, “Little sister, we’re guests here, but we got lost. How did you get here?”
The little girl pointed behind her. “I’m hungry, so I came down to find something to eat. You can leave from over there.”
They looked up, but the corridor looked the same as before. The woman pulled out some candy. “Little sister, can you show us the way? These candies are yours if you do.”
The little girl nodded and led the way. Strangely, the manor didn’t seem to restrict her, and the two players followed her out without issue.
Seeing an opportunity, the man asked, “Do you know where we can find another statue like the one on the second floor?”
The little girl stared at the candy in their hands, and only after receiving it did she count on her fingers. “I’ve seen it upstairs. Above the second floor.”
“That’s the third floor, then.” The two exchanged a look. The third floor was where the children stayed, and they had already checked it without finding anything.
“Why don’t you take us there?” The man pulled out more candy.