After Cen Yao completely concealed her figure, she leaned against the wall outside Senel's room and waited.
The hallway was very dark.
The candles in the side palace had gone out at some point, leaving only a few wall lamps lit. Their dim yellow light fell upon the white-gold walls, casting a faded, almost decaying hue.
In the distance, the baby's crying drew closer with every passing second.
“Waaah...”
“Wah...”
The crying drifted back and forth, sometimes near and sometimes far. It felt as if an invisible little creature were crawling along the base of the walls, or perhaps the entire palace itself was weeping for it.
Cen Yao's brow furrowed slightly as she listened.
She cast another Heart-Calming Spell on herself.
Only after the pale blue light enveloped her did the irritation and fear stirred up by the crying subside once more.
Leaning against the wall, she suddenly felt a touch of regret.
It was a pity that there was no wall-phasing spell in the Compilation of Elementary Witch Magic.
Otherwise, she could have passed right through the wall to watch firsthand what Senel and those players were up to.
But it didn't matter.
Slipping in behind the ghost baby in a moment would yield much the same result.
Just as the thought crossed her mind, a gust of sinister wind blew from the end of the hallway.
The wind was cold and reeked of blood, brushing against her skin like the gentle stroke of a clammy finger.
In the next second, a small, pale-blue figure accompanied by crying suddenly appeared around the corner.
It truly appeared out of nowhere.
There were no footsteps.
There was no sound of crawling.
There was not even a single warning sign.
Just like that, with a sudden whoosh, it appeared at the corner of the hallway.
Cen Yao's eyelids twitched slightly.
The small figure was on all fours. Its body was as tiny as a newborn baby's, yet its limbs propped it up on the ground in a twisted posture that no infant should ever have.
Its skin was a pale, sickly blue, looking as though it had been soaked in cold water for a long time.
Traces of blood hung from the corners of its mouth, with thin red streaks dragging all the way down to its chin.
It had blonde hair.
It looked very similar to the Queen's blonde hair.
Only, this gold was much dimmer and mottled, as if polluted by something filthy, with the tips of the hair even tinged with a grayish-black.
Cen Yao looked down.
The glass bottle in her pocket had been shaking violently ever since the Little Princess appeared.
The stabilizing magic runes on the bottle flashed repeatedly from the impact.
The Queen was awake.
And her emotions were incredibly intense.
Cen Yao calmly reached out to hold the bottle, suppressing the shaking.
Judging by the Queen's reaction, this little ghost baby was highly likely the Little Princess.
But she was clearly no longer among the living.
So, when did the Little Princess die?
Wasn't she supposed to be the guest of honor at the full moon feast?
Cen Yao lowered her eyelashes slightly, watching the small figure that had already crawled to Senel's door.
It was on all fours, and its palms and knees were bleeding.
Even without looking closely, she could tell that the flesh there had long been worn down to a bloody pulp.
With every step forward, it left thin, dark-red bloodstains on the carpet.
Cen Yao's hand holding her wand twitched.
In the end, she made no move.
She had yet to figure out what exactly had happened to the Little Princess.
Acting rashly would likely disrupt the clues.
The Little Princess crawled to the door, raised her tiny hand, and slowly pressed it against the wood.
The door was clearly locked from the inside.
Yet the moment her hand touched it, the door panel cracked open silently, as if corroded from within by something.
The moment the door opened, Cen Yao slipped inside right behind her.
No lights were lit in the room.
The heavy curtains were tightly drawn, allowing only a sliver of moonlight to seep through the gap.
As soon as Cen Yao entered, she saw Senel and four other unfamiliar men and women gathered in the room.
They wore outfits indicating different roles.
One was a maid.
One was a palace musician.
One was a young man dressed as a merchant.
And there was a youth wearing a knight apprentice's uniform.
They were presumably all rookie players.
At this moment, all five of them had their eyes tightly shut.
Senel stood at the very front, his expression extremely tense, his fingers pressing against his sleeve as if ready to counterattack at any second.
The other four were clearly not as composed as him.
The woman dressed as a maid clutched her skirt with both hands, her knuckles turning white.
The man dressed as a merchant had trembling lips, his forehead drenched in cold sweat.
The knight apprentice kept his breathing very low, but his shoulders trembled constantly.
The youth dressed as a musician held a harp, his face as pale as if he had just been fished out of water.
Cen Yao stood quietly in the shadows.
They had all closed their eyes in accordance with the rules.
But would the Little Princess let them off so easily?
Cen Yao felt that something was amiss.
If merely closing one's eyes could completely avert danger, then this nighttime rule was far too simple.
Even if this was a D-rank rookie dungeon, it wouldn't be so forgiving.
While Cen Yao was lost in thought, the Little Princess, who had been sobbing quietly at the doorway, suddenly stopped.
The crying ceased abruptly.
The room fell deathly silent.
In the next second, the Little Princess grinned.
An expression that absolutely did not belong on an infant's face appeared on her tiny features.
It was cold.
Twisted.
And even tinged with a malicious excitement.
“Hehehe...”
The crying in her throat had turned into a sinister laugh.
Senel's expression shifted drastically.
But he did not dare open his eyes.
“Don't move!”
“No one open your eyes!”
But it was already too late.
The Little Princess kicked off the ground with all four limbs, her tiny body turning into a pale-blue shadow as she lunged at the youth dressed as a musician in an instant.
Her movement was too fast.
So fast that she was almost a mere afterimage.
In the next second, she bit down savagely on the youth's neck.
“Ahhh!!!”
A horrific scream instantly shattered the air.
The youth snapped his eyes open, and the harp in his hands crashed to the floor.
The strings snapped, emitting a piercing twang.
Startled by the commotion, the others opened their eyes as well.
“How is this possible?!”
Senel blurted out in disbelief.
They had clearly kept their eyes closed.
Why did the ghost baby still attack them?
Could the rules be fake?
That was impossible.
Yesterday, they had used this very rule to avoid the ghost baby.
As long as they closed their eyes and did not respond, the ghost baby would crawl around the room once and then leave.
But why was today different?
“Zhang Xi!”
The woman dressed as a maid cried out in sheer panic.
The youth named Zhang Xi clutched his neck tightly, but the Little Princess had bitten down far too deeply.
Blood welled up and gushed out from between his fingers.
He could feel the blood rapidly draining from his body. Trembling violently, his eyes were filled with the terror of impending death.
“Save me...”
“I don't want to die!”
He reached his hand out toward the maid, his voice shaking so hard it was barely coherent.
“Save me!”
The maid's face was deathly pale, and tears instantly spilled from her eyes.
She did not reach out to pull Zhang Xi.
Instead, she fell to her knees before Senel with a thud.
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