On the third day, everyone stayed inside the ancient Ming-style mansion.

The fourth day, early morning.

As usual, the air wall rose.

Everyone's consciousness became blurred.

When they woke up again, they were already standing outside the mansion.

The sky was as dark as a tomb.

The sound of crows flapping their wings cast an ominous shadow over everyone's hearts.

The mansion had been restored to its original state, no longer in ruins, but the dim, eerie lights inside only added to its creepiness.

It seemed to directly tell the visitors—yes, this is indeed a haunted house.

The wooden door at the entrance was weathered, and the plaque above was so faded that only the word "Wang" could be vaguely seen.

There were no other words.

So this indicated the owner of the mansion was surnamed Wang.

Frost covered the stone lions outside the door.

"Damn... it's so cold..."

Auntie Liu Mei shivered and rubbed her arms.

Everyone carefully pushed open the slightly ajar door and entered one by one. As soon as they entered the mansion, the system immediately delivered a task prompt.

...

[Dungeon: Ming-style Haunted Mansion]

[Main Quest: Find the heart of the mansion's owner]

[Side Quest: Eliminate the mansion's owner]

[Main Quest Reward: 300 experience points, air wall removal]

[Side Quest Reward: Battery providing suspended time-space energy (different rewards for different players)]

[Note 1: In this dungeon, the player's item inventory is sealed, and no items can be used.]

[Note 2: All players' strength is locked at 10 until the dungeon ends.]

...

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The task notification ended, leaving the players bewildered.

Sealed item inventory?

Locked strength?

This... doesn't it just make the dungeon much harder?

Zhao Yi curiously stared at the main house in the distance, as if something there had caught his attention.

Luo Qili was the first to notice Zhao Yi's unusual behavior and asked curiously:

"Zhao Yi, what are you looking at?"

Seeing everyone's eyes on him, Zhao Yi raised his hand and pointed to a window on the second floor of the main house, to the right.

"Look—"

In the faint starlight and the dim candlelight from inside the house, everyone saw a decaying face staring at them from that window!

Its eyes glowed with a ghostly green light, and it wore a hollow and eerie smile, sending chills down everyone's spine!

"WTF!"

Caught off guard, the thug Bai Zhihai was startled and blurted out in his native dialect.

All the players' strength had been severely weakened, and now they had lost the ability to confront specters head-on.

Facing a fierce ghost, they were like fish on a chopping board, how could they not be panicked?

"Is it warning us... not to enter that main house?"

Wang Hua's face looked grim.

Without items and strength, they were reduced to fools.

The pressure hit them like a mountain!

Originally full of ideas and plans, they now dared not act rashly.

"Zhao Yi, do you think we should... hey? Where are you going?"

Luo Qili was about to consult Zhao Yi when she saw him stride towards the main house.

"Going to the main house!"

"There must be important clues there."

Luo Qili wanted to grab Zhao Yi, but saw him suddenly speed up and dash into the main house...

Luo Qili: "..."

The others were dumbfounded.

"Has he always been this brave?"

Pan Sensen was flabbergasted.

This guy really is... beyond words.

Luo Qili sighed, said nothing, and surprisingly followed him into the main house.

If Zhao Yi died, she wouldn't survive the Tide of Demon Spirits either, so she had no choice but to follow.

"Boss... should we go in?"

Wang Hua whispered.

He felt it was too dangerous inside.

Because just as Zhao Yi ran into the main house, the terrifying ghost face on the second floor also disappeared!

Where did it go?

"Follow them in... don't forget the call from our future selves..."

"These two must die by our hands!"

"Otherwise..."

Pan Sensen gritted his teeth.

They braced themselves and followed, and as soon as they entered, they felt an uncomfortable dusty air.

A strange sigh echoed in their ears, almost making their hair stand on end!

"Pity my master..."

"A lifetime of battles, never a scar from a sword..."

"Yet ended in such a way..."

The sigh was haunting, coming from nowhere, making it impossible to discern.

Zhao Yi stood at the staircase leading to the second floor, where each step was sprinkled with glutinous rice. At the turning corner stood a tall paper figure, holding a Guan Yu sword, stroking its beard, its face painted with bright colors, looking particularly eerie!

It just stood there, blocking the way upstairs.

"Just as I thought."

Zhao Yi muttered to himself.

"Zombies fear glutinous rice, so at least one zombie is imprisoned on the second floor of the main house."

"Does this indirectly mean... there are no zombies on the first floor?"

After saying this, he extended his foot, pretending to step on the glutinous rice to go upstairs.

But it was just a feint.

And with this fake move, the paper figure on the second floor swung its Guan Yu sword, slicing through the air above the first step with a fierce wind!

Fast! Accurate! Ruthless!

If Zhao Yi had stepped on the wooden step just now, he would have been cut in half!

"We can't go to the second floor yet, there must be a key task that hasn't been triggered, or a crucial item hasn't been obtained..."

Under the tense gazes of the others, Zhao Yi calmly retracted his foot.

He began inspecting the hall.

Pan Sensen exchanged glances with the others, then suddenly clapped his hands and said to Zhao Yi:

"Zhao Yi... I have a good idea!"

Zhao Yi was tapping on the table, feeling around.

Pretty clean.

"What idea do you have?"

He casually picked up an exquisite purple clay teapot, opened the lid, and sniffed lightly.

Such fragrant hot tea.

Pan Sensen replied:

"From the current situation, this seems to be a puzzle-solving dungeon, and the first floor looks relatively safe. Why don't we split up to find clues? This way it's more efficient, and we avoid unnecessary danger from staying too long!"

Zhao Yi nodded.

"Good idea, let's search different rooms..."

"See if there are any clues."

"Let's meet back in the hall in half an hour."

Everyone agreed with the idea.

Zhao Yi turned around and patted Luo Qili on the shoulder.

Luo Qili understood.

The hall had two corridors, leading to different rooms. Zhao Yi and Luo Qili split up, one heading east, the other west.

Seeing the two split up, Pan Sensen's face showed a hint of delight and malice, and he signaled to Bai Zhihai and Liu Mei.

So they also split into two groups, following Zhao Yi and Luo Qili down the east and west corridors...

Soon, the six figures disappeared into the darkness of the corridors.

And at that moment, the door of the hall was pushed open...

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