Consultant

The moment she saw the situation on the second floor clearly, Cheng Shuili realized she had been tricked.

The sound might have indeed come from the second floor, but that thing was definitely not there. This floor was covered in carpet—the exceptionally thick kind—and even though it was now blanketed in dust, that did not stop it from muffling footsteps.

As if deliberately mocking them, the sound rang out again on the third floor.

"Clack, clack, clack——"

Each sound struck a chord in their hearts.

Su Rui stood behind Cheng Shuili, frowning to hide her fear.

Cheng Shuili should have felt terrified too, but she had a bad temper; compared to the emotion of "fear," what surged up first was "anger."

She was also a cautious person, and now that she was angry, her mind became sharp.

Since it liked to mess around like this, they would simply wait for the hare to strike the stump.

No, to be precise, it was Cheng Shuili herself who would wait. Su Rui, that giant lightbulb with such a heavy human scent, could go back first!

As for Cheng Shuili, with the Ring of the Hidden in hand, she could properly meet this ghostly thing!

The unrelated personnel left the scene quickly.

After sending both her vehicle and Su Rui back, Cheng Shuili activated the 【Deep Dive】 state of the Ring of the Hidden for the first time.

Half an hour was enough for her to tour this entire building!

The moment it was activated, Cheng Shuili's fingertips felt cold. The dark patterns on the ring seemed to come alive, gently biting into the skin of her finger.

The surrounding sounds suddenly became distant, as if someone had draped a thick blanket over the world.

The looping footsteps and the rustling of wind through leaves all blurred together, like listening to movements on the shore while standing underwater.

Cheng Shuili looked down and saw her hand was actually becoming transparent, like diluted ink, flickering in and out of existence.

Her heart jumped violently, and then she suddenly realized she couldn't even hear her own heartbeat. Although she was still breathing, it was so light that it felt as if it had vanished.

This was the effect of 【Deep Dive】.

Cheng Shuili moved slightly, and after confirming that this effect had no impact on her body, she swaggered into the main building as if returning home.

The first floor was normal, just as it had been before.

Cheng Shuili scanned it once and headed up the stairs.

There were too many guest rooms on the second floor, but the doors were all open and dilapidated. Given the cleanliness of the wine cellar on the first floor, this thing definitely wouldn't hide in such a dirty place.

Cheng Shuili continued upward.

This building had only four floors. The third floor was also a living area, but there were fewer rooms than on the second floor, clearly marking it as the owner's territory.

It was just as dilapidated here...

Going further up...

Cheng Shuili only hesitated for a moment before continuing upward.

A window had been opened between the third and fourth floors. Looking down from here, it was exactly the position where she and Su Rui had entered.

In other words, the ghost shadow they saw at the beginning was standing right here.

Cheng Shuili looked back at the stairs leading to the fourth floor. The light here was sparse, and the pitch-black opening looked particularly gruesome.

However... Cheng Shuili looked quite scary herself right now.

She curled her lips and stepped onto the stairs again.

Before she had taken two steps, she suddenly locked eyes with a pair of eyes.

A figure stood at the end of the stairs, wearing a white dress. Its skin was eerily as white as the dress, almost blending into it completely.

Those eyes, which she couldn't see clearly, seemed to be staring at her without blinking.

Cheng Shuili tilted her head, and the figure tilted its head as well.

The scene had a weird sense of harmony, as if they were good friends exchanging a secret code known only to both of them.

But the next moment, Cheng Shuili suddenly gripped a long blade that appeared from nowhere and charged up at extreme speed, clearing two or three steps in a single stride!

Something playing god and ghost... die!

The long blade sliced through the darkness, taking aim directly at the white-dressed woman's throat with a sharp whistling sound.

A trace of ruthlessness flashed in Cheng Shuili's eyes; she had had enough of this thing's teasing.

However, the blade did not pierce its body, because at the last moment, this thing suspected to be a ghost suddenly knelt straight down.

Cheng Shuili retracted her blade at the last second, barely steadying herself in front of this thing. She frowned, and just as she was about to say something, she saw this ghostly thing "bang, bang, bang" knock its head against the floor firmly several times!

Cheng Shuili instinctively stepped back, and because she hadn't stood firm, she almost fell. She pressed a hand against the railing to the side and looked at the white-dressed woman with both shock and confusion.

What on earth was this situation?

This thing!

What exactly was it?

Begging for mercy just like that? What was the meaning of knocking its head without saying a word?

If this thing were older than Cheng Shuili, she would be losing years of her life!

After steadying her body, she gritted her teeth, unable to say a single word for a moment.

It was the thing that seemed to have knocked its head until it was tired...

Or perhaps it was just too quiet, and the other party might have thought Cheng Shuili had already left, so it couldn't help but quietly raise its head and peeked cautiously.

Upon meeting Cheng Shuili's gaze, it was clearly startled and knocked its head heavily against the floor several more times.

This...

Speak!

"What are you?"

Cheng Shuili admitted this was very rude, but was it polite for this thing to keep knocking its head?

The other party didn't seem to understand what Cheng Shuili was saying. It blinked its eyes, hesitated for a long time before answering: "I offer you my most humble greetings, my noble lady. I am the consultant of this manor, here to provide you with the most sincere assistance."

Cheng Shuili finally knew what was wrong; the moment this consultant spoke, it was in a standard dubbed-translation tone. It had definitely never chatted with anyone from the Dragon Country.

But... a consultant?

Cheng Shuili let out a cold laugh.

"Most sincere assistance? Aren't you the one playing god and ghost? The ghost shadow, the footsteps, the paintings with their faces slashed in the first-floor hall—you dare say that wasn't you?"

She spoke with great pressure, and the long blade appeared in her hand once again.

Now the blade pressed against the "consultant's" neck, as if the slightest flaw in the other party's answer would result in the blade falling without mercy.

And this consultant, still kneeling on the floor, looked at Cheng Shuili with a pair of bewildered eyes, taking a long while before asking: "Oh, my noble lady... please speak a little slower, I do not understand your meaning."

Cheng Shuili: "......"

A quarter of an hour later, the two sat by a table that was still relatively intact.

The chair had been moved by the consultant from somewhere, and the table had been wiped by its own hands in front of Cheng Shuili.

It even pulled out a steaming teapot and two porcelain cups from nowhere as if performing magic.

The consultant's hospitality was definitely better than its broken Dragon Country language.

But being able to speak was always better than not being able to. Cheng Shuili picked up a cup of tea, blew on the white smoke rising from it, but didn't drink a drop, focusing entirely on listening to the consultant explain the situation.

To summarize, after this manor fell into ruin, it was handed over to her to manage by something that called itself a "system."