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Chapter 40.1

Xiao Tangqiu knocked himself dizzy, his vision turning black. His face was covered with warm blood and his mouth had a metallic taste. He felt terrified. If he went on like this, he would knock himself to death!

Tang Mianmian was also in a bad situation. His face was covered with blood and he was still pounding his head against the wall. Xiao Tangqiu tried his hardest to move towards Tang Mianmian but his body was completely out of his control. Instead, as the rhythm of drums accelerated, his actions became more and more urgent. At this point, Duan Hongzhen finally stepped in.

Although the dwarf puppet was short and strangely shaped, it was surprisingly flexible. It managed to quickly dodge Duan Hongzhen’s flying knives, but the beating of the drums stopped as well. As soon as it stopped, Xiao Tangqiu finally had some respite. He anxiously rushed towards Tang Mianmian. “Are you all right?”

Tang Mianmian was dizzy and couldn’t stand up straight. “Who are you... Who am I... Where are we?”

While Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian held onto each other to regain their footing, Duan Hongzhen had already started a battle with the dwarf puppet. The drums made the same ear-piercing noise again. However, this time it was no longer specifically targeted at Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian, so the impact wasn’t as strong and they were able to withstand its influence when they tried.

The dwarf puppet failed to gain anything from its fight with Duan Hongzhen and soon opened its mouth to scream. As soon as it screamed, Xiao Tangqiu immediately felt a sharp pain in his eardrums. He quickly covered his ears with his hands. “Fuck! It’s making a group attack!”

He suddenly understood the attack skills of dwarf puppet and shouted at Tang Mianmian at once. “Its drums can control our bodies! But that’s a single attack, so only one or two people can be controlled at a time! Its scream is a group attack that can strike us all!”

Tang Mianmian also covered her ears and shouted, “...What’s the point of knowing this?”

Xiao Tangqiu cried out, “None at all!”

Duan Hongzhen soon discovered the rules of the dwarf puppet’s attack. Although he didn’t dare to directly damage the puppet body, he still drove the dwarf puppet to a retreat with his flying knives. In the end, it seemed to have recognized the fact that it couldn’t defeat Duan Hongzhen and burst into a shrill scream of anger.

Xiao Tangqiu immediately shielded his ears as much as possible, but the shrill screams still made his eardrums ache as blood flowed out his ears. The whole room was shaking and he subconsciously closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, the dwarf puppet had disappeared, but his ears were still buzzing and bleeding. He put down his hands only to find he find that he couldn’t hear anything.

Before Xiao Tangqiu could despair, he looked up to find that that parts of the walls which wasn’t covered by any paintings had been shattered by the screams of dwarf puppet. Although the paintings were in good condition, numerous cracks had appeared on the walls, and he felt a lingering fear and a wave of relief.

Tang Mianmian also put down his hands and realized that he couldn’t hear anything either. He was shocked and frightened at that discovery. He rushed towards Xiao Tangqiu and opened his mouth to say a bunch of stuff but Xiao Tangqiu couldn’t hear a word.

Xiao Tangqiu shook his head at Tang Mianmian, pointing to his ear.

Tang Mianmian opened his mouth as if to say something else, but didn’t go on. Both of them couldn’t hear at all, what was the point of talking?!

When Xiao Tangqiu turned to look at Shen Yuan, he seemed to be looking at him too, but he wasn’t sure because Shen Yuan soon turned away to talk to the aloof woman.

He didn’t know what the two people were talking about but the aloof woman’s expression suddenly turned colder. She turned around and gave Xiao Tangqiu an icy look.

Xiao Tangqiu thought that she was displeased with his look of inquiry, so he quickly withdrew his sight and gave Tang Mianmian a look that implied a deeper meaning.

Tang Mianmian’s state at this time could be described as rather wretched. His entire head was covered with soot and blood. The fire had burned several holes in his clothes and his underwear was exposed. However, Xiao Tangqiu believed that he probably wasn’t any better.

The two people who were in the same boat smiled bitterly at each other. They wanted to roast and tease each other but couldn’t hear anything. As they looked at each other, the aloof woman suddenly came up to them, looking at them coldly, as if to say something.

Xiao Tangqiu was about to sign that he couldn’t hear anything when the aloof woman reached out and touched his ear. He was startled and subconsciously wanted to shrink backwards.

In the next second, his ears began to sting slightly. After a buzz, he could hear faint noises again!

At first, the sounds were rather weak but then, they gradually became clearer and clearer. When the aloof woman put down her hands, his ears had completely returned to normal.

Next, she healed Tang Mianmian and finally turned to the little boy, pausing slightly before she healed him too.

Only then did Xiao Tangqiu react and quickly brought Tang Mianmian to thank her, “Thank you.”

The aloof woman gave him a cold glare, “No need to thank me.”

Xiao Tangqiu paused and saw her look in Shen Yuan’s direction. Then, she turned away resolutely and walked off, searching for an exit.

Xiao Tangqiu also swept his gaze over Shen Yuan, but at this time Shen Yuan and his teammates were in a discussion. They were most likely discussing about the way to leave this room. He hesitated for a moment and decided against thanking him for now, then turned to Tang Mianmian and said, “Let’s look for the door.”

Tang Mianmian was still immersed in the joy of recovering from his loss of hearing and excitedly hugged Xiao Tangqiu for a long time, crying out loud. Only then did he obediently follow Xiao Tangqiu to look for a door.

However, they searched the entire room and came up with nothing. It seemed that this room didn’t have any exits, let alone a door. There wasn’t even a crack for them to crawl out through.

Sure enough, Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian searched a few more rounds but still found nothing. Just when they were at their wits end, Shen Yuan suddenly said, “There is something wrong with that painting.”

Xiao Tangqiu followed his line of sight. It was one of the portraits of Lily Marlene, about as tall as half a person and looked no different from the other portraits. He couldn’t find anything wrong with it at all, but at Shen Yuan’s commands, his companions immediately went to check it out. Duan Hongzhen took the lead in grabbing the painting.

“Wait a minute, isn’t this too...”

Xiao Tangqiu was about to ask if this method was a little too simple and crude but Duan Hongzhen had already taken down the painting.

There was actually a half-sized door behind the portrait!

“The door! It’s the door! We can get out of here!”

Tang Mianmian shouted excitedly.

Xiao Tangqiu didn’t expect Shen Yuan to find the door at once. He also didn’t expect the door to be so simply and crudely hidden behind the portrait. He froze for a moment before feeling just as excited as Tang Mianmian.

Duan Hongzhen had already taken the lead to crawl out. Although the door was only half the height of a person, it was wide enough for an adult man to crawl through.

After Xiao Tangqiu crawled out the door, he found himself in a dark corridor behind the door. It was darker than the corridor outside the rooms which they stayed in. Soon, he discovered the reason for that. At least there were candles in the corridor outside their rooms, but this corridor was not only devoid of any candles, but also completely cut off from any light, as if it were a big, airtight iron box.

“It’s a bit like the basement,” Tang Mianmian said bluntly. “In my first few years as an extra, I didn’t have any money to rent a proper place so I lived in a basement. The basement felt similar to this place.”

Xiao Tangqiu frowned slightly. “Basement? Is this the secret basement of the castle? “

When he saw the portraits of Lily Marlene earlier, he began to guess whether they had returned to the old castle. Did the secret passage beneath the statue in the church lead straight to the old castle? Why did Lippinobert build a secret passage between the castle and the church?

Just then, the aloof woman opened her mouth to say, “Yes, this is the secret basement of the castle. We didn’t find a way in before, but now we found it by mistake.”

Xiao Tangqiu turned on his flashlight and shone it at the opposite end of the corridor. Suddenly, he found another door, which was also a small wooden door half the height of a person. There was obviously a room behind that door.

“There’s also a secret room here!”

Tang Mianmian was instantly excited. “Great! Maybe this is Lippinobert’s room! Let’s go in and have a look!”

Xiao Tangqiu couldn’t help getting excited as well. However, the aloof woman dismissed their enthusiasm with a reminder, pouring cold water on them. “It’s almost midnight.”

Xiao Tangqiu responded immediately. They had to get back to their rooms before midnight.

“What then?” Tang Mianmian looked worried. “We don’t have enough time!”

Shen Yuan said decisively, “Go back now. We’ll come back tomorrow.”

Xiao Tangqiu nodded. “That’s the only option we have. Let’s go back to our rooms first, memorize the way here, and come back to see the rest of the secret room tomorrow.”

As they had to get back to their room before midnight, they could only temporarily leave the secret room and continue to find their way out. Fortunately, after walking along the corridor for a short while, they found a staircase leading upstairs.

Duan Hongzhen was still at the frontmost. When he climbed to the top of the stairs and pushed open the door, a statue suddenly appeared in front of everyone’s eyes. It was the statue of Lily Marlene in front of the castle!

They had really gone back to the castle through the secret passage!

At this time, it was already deep into the night and darkness hung over the castle before them. Everything seemed to be swallowed up by the night. Even the moon had disappeared.

When they walked towards the main entrance of the castle, Xiao Tangqiu subconsciously looked back. The sky outside had no moon nor stars. There was only endless darkness, like an abyss that devoured everything.

In the unending darkness, it seemed that they were the only group of people. And aside the castle in front of them, there was nothing else...

Duan Hongzhen pushed open the door and entered first.

They had finally returned to the castle. Before Xiao Tangqiu could breathe a sigh of relief, he immediately found something wrong with the situation. A few newbies were actually still in the hall at this time and hadn’t returned to their rooms. The hall seemed to be filled with the rusty smell of blood.

The remaining three old players from the other group was also in the hall, looking solemn and relieved to see them back.