Chapter 356: Breakthrough
Dinner time arrived quickly. Xu Huo still had the servants bring food up to his room. Below, Wei Landeng signaled that it was safe to move, so he went from the third-floor terrace into He Pu's bedroom.
The moment he stepped into the room, a deafening drumbeat suddenly rang out—it was from a speaker.
Although He Pu had left the room, the speaker was still on, playing rhythmic drumming at a fixed frequency.
This should be a mental attack type item. Upon first hearing it, there was a brief moment of discomfort.
Xu Huo wasn't affected. He put on his glasses and began searching the room.
He Pu's room was fully equipped with music gear, including a small soundproof room for recording tapes. Otherwise, it wasn't much different from an ordinary living space, except the color scheme was predominantly black, giving it a dark and cold atmosphere that contrasted sharply with the style of the other rooms.
There were no bodies here.
Had the missing people been disposed of immediately?
If He Pu deliberately didn't want players to clear the instance, this kind of handling wouldn't be surprising.
However, this was still an instance location. Instances had to maintain a certain clearance rate, otherwise setting up the background and conditions would be meaningless. Even if someone intended to cause trouble within the instance, there was no need to use such a self-destructive method.
With a shift in thought, he decided to head to the lounge. Just as he was about to leave, he sensed an abnormal energy fluctuation in the corner of the room. He looked back, but saw only an empty wall.
Trusting his instincts, he walked over to inspect the wall. No results.
His brows furrowed. He took out the Crimson Sword. The energy within the wall stirred and quickly moved along the wall toward the window, trying to escape.
Xu Huo was about to give chase, but someone was approaching from the hallway outside. At the same time, the toy in his palm dented inward. Before it could spring back, he was already outside the window.
Almost the moment he slid down, the room door opened. He Pu stood at the entrance, sniffing the air in the room, and bared his teeth in a sinister smile. "Two sheep."
Back in his own room, Xu Huo retracted the strings and calmly sat down on the sofa to continue his dinner.
Wei Landeng hadn't even finished transmitting the information before He Pu reached the third floor. In such a short time, either He Pu was an extremely powerful player capable of instantaneous movement, or he was a genuine instance boss who could freely teleport within the castle.
Either way, breaking through from He Pu's side would be difficult. Even if the players united, they might not be his match.
If they couldn't find the "missing guests" before the music appreciation session, Mr. Dong's side might be a breakthrough point.
What Xu Huo had told the Ma couple wasn't entirely a lie. The one who attacked him was undoubtedly Mr. Dong.
Among the twelve players who came, he was the first to be ambushed. The spider-man had scouted the place on the first night. The reason he was chosen as the first target might be due to two factors.
First, because he was a cannibal player.
Second, because he was a guest invited by He Pu.
First of all, Mr. Dong couldn't be indiscriminately killing people. Otherwise, after failing to attack him on the first night, there would be no reason to keep targeting him.
And Mr. Dong had seen the invitation. He clearly knew which players were non-task players, and he chose his first target from among them.
Yesterday, after killing the Ma couple, Xu Huo deliberately revealed the number on his back. Mr. Dong, who was outside the window, didn't take the opportunity to strike at him. In fact, that would have been a good opportunity.
These facts, when overlapped, could lead to a rough conclusion: Mr. Dong's first choice was to target the guests invited by He Pu, but he gave up because Xu Huo wasn't a cannibal player.
Of course, it was also possible that Mr. Dong simply hated cannibal players, and choosing a non-task player was just a coincidence. But considering the connection between Mr. Dong and He Pu, it was highly likely that he deliberately wanted to mess with He Pu, while also maintaining a positive attitude toward non-cannibal players.
Last night, he deliberately separated the Chen brothers, and Mr. Dong didn't go after Chen Nan either.
A person's actions always have deep psychological reasons. This showed that at least he wouldn't deliberately target instance players. That was an opportunity for the players. There was probably no one else in this place more familiar with Rose Castle than him. And the Ma couple, who were taken away yesterday, also belonged to the "missing guests." It would be best if they could complete the first task through him.
However, the uncertain factor was the degree of opposition between Mr. Dong and He Pu. If the conflict between Mr. Dong and He Pu was merely in a state of indifference, then it was highly likely that Mr. Dong wouldn't help the players clear the instance.
"Knock knock!" A hurried knock sounded. Before he could speak, the doorknob turned, and Liu Zhengping's voice came from outside: "Are you in there? Open up!"
Xu Huo went and opened the door.
Wei Landeng and You Qiwen visibly sighed in relief. The former said, "That was too dangerous at the dinner table just now. He Pu left as soon as he said he would, and disappeared in the blink of an eye. I was afraid I wouldn't have time to warn you."
Xu Huo nodded, indicating he was fine, but there were no results.
"Now it seems He Pu is undoubtedly the instance boss," You Qiwen said. "I thought he was under Mr. Dong's control before."
"The situation is too bad," Liu Zhengping said. "This means it will be difficult for us to go to the third floor again, unless we force our way in."
"We're no match for them," Fry said. "That Hu Shan can turn human bodies into ceramic. The activation conditions are unclear, but she's definitely a troublesome opponent."
"Why don't we just set fire to the castle? I refuse to believe we can't smoke out a few bodies!" Liu Zhengping said.
"Burn it with what?" Chen Nan said. "Even the things we brought were taken away by Mr. Dong."
Since they could enter the instance world in advance, they naturally prepared as much as possible within their means. Some things couldn't be put in the luggage compartment, so they carried them personally. But after arriving, they never saw them again. They had also taken the opportunity to search but couldn't find their own suitcases.
When they asked the other servants, they all said Mr. Dong had personally collected the items, and they didn't know where they were.
"In my opinion, we should pick them off one by one," Fry suggested. "We don't have a chance against multiple opponents. We can eliminate Mr. Dong first."
Xu Huo looked at him. "Why choose Mr. Dong?"
"The castle is only this big, yet we can't find our things. It's very likely he stored them in an item. We need to get them back. Besides, Mr. Dong is He Pu's right-hand man. Having one less person is also good for us," Fry explained. "Choosing Hu Shan would also work, but she's usually on the third floor and rarely leaves the main building. Only Mr. Dong moves around everywhere, so there's an opportunity to strike."
This was a very risky decision, but Xu Huo agreed after a brief moment of thought.
"Maybe we can even force him to reveal where the bodies are," Liu Zhengping said, cracking his knuckles.
Night fell. After handling the castle's affairs, Mr. Dong left the main building alone and headed for the annex. The players followed at a distance. However, it was raining again tonight, and there was no moonlight. The lights at the annex were dim, and the woods behind the maze garden were pitch black, barely allowing them to make out the shadows of things.
The group trailed Mr. Dong from a distance, but a gust of wind swept through the woods ahead, and he suddenly disappeared!
(Chapter End)