"Does that mean as the mission progresses, everything in the castle might come alive?"
Zhu Xi Ning frowned. Since entering this mission, her intuition hadn't given her any warnings.
Let alone a death premonition.
If the entire castle was slowly coming alive, she should have been the first to know.
The clues from Jiang Siyan's side were more detailed and scattered.
"Zhao Xiao Shu has indeed gone missing. Three people disappeared yesterday, all of them new employees, but only Zhao Xiao Shu was a scavenger."
"I looked at their files. Judging by their photos, they all seemed rather timid with poor psychological endurance."
Jiang Siyan had also heard a woman's crying while he slept at night, but he hadn't woken up. For things like mental attacks, his ability would automatically block them without even needing to be activated.
His assignment meant he didn't need to perform specific tasks; it was more about overall coordination. Thus, he hadn't encountered the living inanimate objects that Nan Yue and the others had.
Zhu Xi Ning said in a low voice, "The gardeners are like parents raising flowers from tiny buds to full bloom, so everyone is very protective of the roses they've watched grow, even if they don't meet the standards to enter the castle."
"I didn't hear a woman's scream, but I... I seem to have been affected in some way."
"During the hours I was working, my mood was extremely low."
"Low?"
Nan Yue was a bit surprised. It was true that Zhu Xi Ning's ability made her more sensitive to these things, but no matter how she looked at it, it shouldn't be the one who didn't hear the scream feeling depressed.
"Yes. While I was tending to those roses, the thought that 'nothing has any meaning' kept popping into my head."
Zhu Xi Ning looked at the vast rose thickets outside the window. Her group wasn't responsible for that area; most gardeners were working under the scorching sun to care for the roses that could be sent into the castle.
The large garden areas of Eden Garden were managed by only four groups of twenty people. They were considered peripheral gardeners, responsible for ordinary flowers and greenery for aesthetic purposes.
"It probably took me half an hour to realize something was wrong. After all, it's easy for scavengers to develop negative emotions during a mission."
"But this kind of emotion isn't normal."
Nan Yue added a sentence, and Zhu Xi Ning nodded. "Others might not know, but at the very least, I wouldn't have such thoughts."
An eerie castle, a woman crying in dreams, screaming roses, missing scavengers, and inexplicable negative thoughts...
This mission looked like an exquisite and luxurious dream, but it was exceptionally strange. They had been here for nearly two days and found many unusual things, yet they couldn't piece them together.
There wasn't even a discernible pattern to follow.
During dinner, Huo Fuyu sought out Nan Yue stealthily.
"Yueyue, I found something."
Huo Fuyu's expression carried a hint of showing off, and he even glanced at Jiang Siyan, who had recently joined the team.
It was as if he were saying: So what if you joined the team? You're still useless.
Jiang Siyan adjusted his glasses and looked at Huo Fuyu with a smiling, tolerant expression.
Huo Fuyu: ...!
"What is it?"
Huo Fuyu forced himself to focus. "I think I found Zhao Xiao Shu."
That one sentence was like a sudden thunderclap.
"He's not dead?"
This time, Nan Yue was truly shocked. Disappearing in a mission almost always meant death, especially since he had seen such a bizarre scene.
Was this mission really that merciful?
"I'm not sure."
Huo Fuyu was relatively reliable when it came to serious matters. "I heard someone calling for help on the second floor of the west side."
"It should be that kid."
Three people had gone missing. Even if it wasn't Zhao Xiao Shu but someone else, they could infer the victim's fate.
"What kind of room was it?"
Huo Fuyu shook his head. "I couldn't tell which room it was coming from. The sound was very faint. Besides, most of the second and third floors are parlors and entertainment rooms. We cleaners can only collect the trash the maids leave at the doors; we can't enter the rooms."
Huo Fuyu rested his chin on his hand, looking somewhat lazy. "I could control someone to go in and check, but without a target, I can't just search room by room."
Only the butlers and maids could move within a certain range of the castle. Nan Yue was currently only allowed to move in the East and West Halls on the first floor.
It was even more impossible for the others to enter the rooms. If Gu Xiang Kai changed his patrol location, he might get close, but the night was even more dangerous. They couldn't let Gu Xiang Kai go unless it was absolutely necessary.
Huo Fuyu looked rather smug after dropping this news. Nan Yue didn't know who he was trying to show off to.
After Huo Fuyu finished, Jiang Siyan spoke unhurriedly.
"I learned something this afternoon."
"Miss Wen is in the castle."
The news Jiang Siyan shared was clearly even more shocking. Nan Yue's eyes widened slightly.
With so many people around these past few days, no one had seen the two masters of this castle.
Although scavenger experience suggested these two were likely the final bosses or the most important sources of clues.
So, it stood to reason they wouldn't appear easily.
To think that Miss Wen had actually been staying in the castle for these two days.
"But none of us have seen her."
Jiang Siyan stared at a slightly upturned tuft of hair by Nan Yue's ear, resisting the urge to reach out and smooth it down. His face showed nothing as he continued at a leisurely pace.
"However, for today's assignments, they've rearranged the personal maids and a specialized chef."
"The head maid said the young lady had no appetite this morning or at noon, so dinner needs to be something nutritious."
This was very strange. No one knew how old Miss Wen was, but no matter how large the castle was, she couldn't stay in her room all day without ever coming out.
While Nan Yue and the others were deep in thought, Jiang Siyan glanced at Huo Fuyu with a smile. The latter immediately bristled like a cat and turned to leave in a huff.
Nan Yue looked up just in time to see Huo Fuyu's angry departing back.
Nan Yue: ? What's wrong with him now?
Jiang Siyan said, "Maybe the food didn't suit his taste, and he's having a bit of a reaction."
Nan Yue: ...?
Why are both of you acting so weird?
"I can transfer you to a group on the upper floors."
Jiang Siyan tapped the table. "Only to the second floor. Rising too quickly would attract unwanted attention."
Nan Yue immediately agreed. Jiang Siyan then asked, "What about that one called Bai La La? Should she come along?"
Nan Yue hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "Let's stay separate. The more spread out we are, the more clues we can find."
She trusted Bai La La's abilities, and she was well-suited for solo action.
As for Su Hong, neither she nor Bai La La were her nannies. They could only give her a hand when she encountered danger, but they couldn't abandon the mission's progress to stay by her side.
Jiang Siyan nodded in agreement and looked at Gu Xiang Kai. "Where do you want to patrol tonight?"
Rate on N.U.
