Chapter 827: Only This Once
"What are these people doing?" Several Black Epaulets hiding in the air for surveillance exchanged bewildered glances. One of them said, "Could they be hiding something special?"
"Are you blind? Didn't you see that butler was holding a spider!" Another spoke with anger. "Who would hold a funeral for a spider? They're probably messing with us!"
The group immediately realized they had been exposed. After reporting this matter upward, they departed from above the ancient castle.
This group left, but there would certainly be another group coming. Xu Huo asked Mr. Dong if he could sense the situation around the castle.
The castle grounds were quite large, with no other residences nearby. The open space, combined with abundant greenery, was very suitable for ambushes and surveillance. However, the Black Epaulets' first choice of the air indicated they had some understanding of the castle.
"The land area approved and stamped by the 011 District Government for the castle is all within my management range," Mr. Dong replied.
There were quite a few castles in the old city district, and since they weren't completely isolated in the remote outskirts, the private land area of the castle wasn't too large. Xu Huo had seen Mr. Dong control the castle before and thought he was the same type of item as the Painting Woman, but now it seemed there were differences.
Mr. Dong's true form should be related to spiders. Similarly, he possessed a certain level of intelligence, but compared to the Painting Woman who maintained a human form, Xu Huo felt he was more like Yan Jiayu's stone lion.
"Then please take care of clearing out the players spying near the castle."
Mr. Dong slightly bowed, performing a gentleman's salute. "This is my duty."
After nightfall, all the large lights in the castle were extinguished, leaving only a few small lamps still lit, barely outlining the building's rough shape against the night sky.
Perhaps it was an illusion caused by the light—the castle's exterior hadn't changed, but every window seemed to have shrunk. Large curtains fluttered outside the windows, occasionally bringing out strange, ambiguous shadows when they moved.
The rose walls planted around the castle also seemed to grow automatically in the darkness, silently climbing higher and forming oddly shaped barriers that concealed the deeper buildings. Overlong branches or flower stems occasionally stretched toward the garden outside, like grasping hands.
Black Epaulets approached the villa from different directions. Their main targets were the annex building and the third floor of the front castle.
However, with the rose walls now tall, it seemed to take on the character of the maze in the castle's rear garden. The Black Epaulets who entered couldn't openly walk through the main gate either. Once they plunged into the dense garden, they discovered that both the front and back exits were blocked by flower branches, forcing them to climb over the top.
The Black Epaulets were all equipped with special protective suits that made them easy to conceal, but when passing over these flower branches, they inevitably scratched their exposed skin.
"This thing specifically stabs where there's no cover," complained a player with blood on his lips. "I say we just burn it all down. The Enforcement Team can enter under the guise of firefighting and search however they want. Didn't the team leader say that Dr. Deng definitely hasn't left Rose Castle?"
"The old castle might have worked before, but recently the butler here has replaced all the plants inside and out with mutant varieties. Do you believe that if you set a fire one second, these flowers themselves will pounce over to put it out the next?" His colleague patted his shoulder. "Let's handle the main business first."
The group climbed up the outer wall of the castle and entered a balcony on the third floor. However, the last person to climb up suddenly slipped and fell backward!
The Black Epaulet in front instinctively reached back to grab him, but grasped at nothing. Looking down, the man had disappeared!
"Ambush!" This person immediately retreated into the room. But at that moment, the side window suddenly slammed "bang!" against the wall. In the night-vision scope's field of view, a pair of enormous red eyes emerged from beneath the window and rapidly enlarged!
"Ahhh!" This Black Epaulet clutched his head and screamed. The ones ahead turned back and saw him being grabbed by the head and torn apart by a giant spider!
"Help!" The Black Epaulets from the same squad all struck out, using ice, fire, and poison gas. But after a flurry of attacks, the giant spider not only failed to die or be injured, but became even more ferocious and destructive, while its body showed signs of gradually expanding!
"Is this a mutant or an item!" a Black Epaulet shouted. "Our tools and items are useless!"
"Go to the corridor!" Another retreated to the door. "It's too big to get through!"
The team immediately rushed toward the corridor. However, the giant spider not only followed but also smashed through the door without any obstruction, directly crushing a Black Epaulet's leg!
The remaining members fought while retreating. Unfortunately, no matter what method they tried, nothing worked. As time passed, the spider's body grew larger and larger, nearly reaching the corridor ceiling!
Seeing the situation was bad, several Black Epaulets decided to retreat. Half of them attracted the giant spider's attention while the others went back to rescue their injured comrades, planning to split up and escape.
Unfortunately, before they could run out of the castle, the spider collapsed half the building, swinging its massive legs to slash through the air and ground!
"Is this spider too big? Is it real or fake!" The Black Epaulets dodged the spider while using instruments to detect it. The final result showed it was half real and half fake!
"We might be in an illusion!" One of them activated a device specifically designed to counter mental control. As low-frequency waves pulsed, this player looked ahead again and breathed a sigh of relief. "This isn't a giant item—it's an illusion!"
But his companion suddenly tackled him to the ground, avoiding a spider leg that came crashing down from above. Looking at the massive object deeply embedded in the floor, this Black Epaulet said, "Our instruments might be malfunctioning, and the detection results you saw might not be real either. This place is not good to stay in—let's go first!"
So this group, exactly as they had come, scrambled back out. After fleeing in disarray from the castle, they encountered two other teams on the way to the assembly point.
The team that went to the annex was especially miserable. Most of them were carried out, their faces a mess of colors.
"How did it get this bad?"
They all knew the annex housed many venomous spiders, but they were all locked in glass cabinets. As long as no one touched them, there should be no problem. How could so many people be poisoned at once!
After two robots scanned them, Male Cheng Bing reported, "All members show obvious mental fluctuations, proving they suffered a mental attack within ten minutes. Except for five members with deeper poisoning, the others have only minor injuries."
Yes, they were all minor injuries. Even the Black Epaulet who had been carried out with "crushed legs" was the same. Once stimulated by Female Cheng Bing's instrument, he directly got up.
"Wait, there's a note on your back." Female Cheng Bing stopped him, took off the note, and brought it before her eyes. While reading, she also transmitted the content through the camera to Ran Ying inside the Enforcement Department:
"Only this once."
(Chapter End)