NOVPUBThe ancient stone walls seem to be soaking up the faint light from the mountaintop.
Many corners of this ancient castle are filled with shadows, and behind each door may be hidden secrets unknown to the world.
The icy stonewalls and the dimly lit corridors seem to be pervaded with an even colder aura under the influence of hidden dangers.
A group of people moved through the castle’s corridors, subtly keeping their distance from each other.
Gazing out the window, all they could see were the fog-drenched forest and the contours of the valleys, partly visible and partly hidden, enveloping everything in a hazy and mysterious aura.
Since the two traitors, being members of the Blood Clan, could only borrow the power of their blood lord when he awoke, and the nature of the Blood Clan usually meant they would seal themselves off in a safe place and sleep during the day, cut off from any light, only waking up at night.
Therefore, the traitors could only use the terrifying and unknown power of the Earl once each night.
On the first day of the five-day deadly game, with no one having been killed yet, the challengers were at their prime. The two traitors, unable to use their Blood Lord’s power, didn’t dare to start a two-on-ten battle immediately.
Instead, they prudently disguised themselves as normal challengers.
The daytime strategy naturally became one where everyone stayed together, never out of each other’s line of sight.
In this way, the traitors had to follow the group, and were unable to commit murder or complete their tasks during the day.
Similarly, this could greatly slow down the progress of the traitors’ mission.
Up the stone staircase of the great hall, through winding corridors, they entered an attic-like platform on the second floor, from which they could clearly see the hall of the base floor. Inward, in addition to three huge locked bedrooms, and several washrooms and storage rooms, the most striking was a two-story library, reaching from the second to the third floor of the castle.
The library was made of dark red wood, with magnificent, carved bookshelves extending from the wall to the ceiling, stacked with ancient books of the Huo Ning Empire, including old manuscripts and precious maps. There was a desk in the center with a feather pen and an ink bottle on it, evidently, this was where Sir Carigula, the castle’s owner, used to read and work.
However, Frey did not ask everyone to spend a lot of time in the library reading ancient books in search of clues. He just led the group up the spiral staircase in the library to the third floor of the castle.
From the third to the fifth floor, in addition to three closed bedrooms on each floor, there were also Sir Carigula’s private bedroom, the castle’s meeting room, the iron-casting room, the armory, the weaving room, the painting room, the pharmacy, the tower and so on.
There were many places in the castle rooms they passed by that seemed likely to reveal clues.
However, the detective didn’t have any intentions of that sort.
Just like he had seen through the diversions, he acted straight and to the point, based on the most efficient plan he had already confirmed in his heart.
Following a three-hour round of thorough castle explorations, the challengers finally confirmed that the five-story castle was covered with solid magic spells, able to resist very strong attacks, especially the bedrooms, which were equipped with reinforced defenses.
From the second to the fifth floor, each level had three rooms, providing exactly twelve safe bedrooms. Each challenger had a magic key which could open the corresponding room door and windows, in their own pocket.
By this point, the mechanics of the Shadow World became clearer.
When the Blood Lord awoke at night and the traitors were able to use their power, it was highly probable that all the people gathered together would be killed by the two traitors at once.
So, the apparent strategy for the night was that everyone should separate and hide in the safe bedrooms.
Even if there were offensive or curse-lifting powers amongst the Blood Clan’s abilities which could break the protective spell of the bedrooms, due to the limitation of borrowing power only once a day and considering the absolute reasonability that Shadow World had always maintained, a single bedroom could be broken down on a daily basis at most.
The more clustered the living arrangement, the more likely several challengers were to be killed in one night. The more spread out they were, the fewer deaths there were likely to be in a single night.
If they could not catch the traitors as soon as possible, the five days would probably be enough for the two traitors to kill the other challengers.
The tenants of each bedroom had been made public before the start of the Shadow World, the challengers with important identities were in particular danger, especially the detective.
The only way to avoid danger was to take up residence with a trustworthy challenger.
Even if it meant sacrificing themselves, the challengers were determined to protect the detective, obligated to prevent the traitor from killing the detective on the very first night.
The sooner the detective died, the more heavily the game of the Shadow World would tilt towards the traitor’s victory!
Correspondingly, if they could successfully mislead the traitor or skillfully manipulate their psychology, there was a chance they might leave the traitor empty-handed after a whole night! 𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒑𝙪𝙗.𝙘𝒐𝙢
After having thoroughly examined the interior structure of the old castle, the group, led by Frey, descended the stairs, returning to the base layer.
Frey went to the kitchen and food storeroom and found some portable food, which he put into the cross body leather bag he found upstairs. Then he went to the wine cellar and picked up several bottles of sweet white wine.
The time was approaching nine in the morning.
In front of the double doors, light freely flowed between the window bars, passing through the colorful glass on the dome, making the slightly dim interior of the building alternately bright and dark.
Frey pushed open the huge doors. Everyone followed him as they left the mightily historic castle from the base layer, and were immediately struck by the intense sunlight, a sensation they had never experienced before.
Finally, they had a clear view of the entire Cloud Castle.
Stepping out of the main entrance, looking back, the intricate decorations on the ancient castle walls appeared particularly clear under the morning light. The limestone walls contrasted sharply with the lush green forest surrounding it. The suspended platform and the tower at the top seemed especially magnificent under the surrounding fog.
Now, Frey instructed everyone to go to the edge of the cliff to verify whether the information provided by the geographer and the lawyer was correct.
If the information was accurate.
The credibility of two people would become higher.
The castle was surrounded by mountains and trees. Everywhere was lush, and the desolate autumn made it all the more gloomy.
The twelve figures moved through the forest, the atmosphere increasingly tense.
The trees in the fog appeared like eerie shadows, while the shallow stream became a mysterious passage disappearing into the fog.
They knew that the real purpose of this trip was to inspect the condition of the bridge.
It only took five minutes for them to arrive at the cliff following the accurate directions described by the geographer.
The scene before them was terrifying. The road to the city-state was blocked by a huge cliff.
The eight hundred meter high, hundred-meter-wide cliff already brought intense visual shock before they even reached the edge.
Just as Lanci predicted, the hundred-meter long bridge was indeed destroyed.
It was as if someone deliberately aimed to trap everyone in the ancient castle.
Undoubtedly, it must have been the actions of the traitor using the Blood Clan Authority before the start of the Shadow World.
The height of eight hundred meters, the distance of over a hundred meters to the opposite side, along with the aerial magic effect of the National Defense Barrier, seemingly separated them from the rest of the world, turning them into prisoners of this rocky island.
In this chilly morning.
Everything was still in the confusing stage of mystery.
Just as everyone’s mood was on the verge of depression due to the broken bridge.
Like a detective who was getting close to solving the case, Frey walked towards the cliff alone!
