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Chapter 157 The Pitiful Old Man

After leaving the prison cell, they found themselves on a suspended long corridor. The corridor was quite dilapidated, with many sections fractured and collapsed, and looking down from the broken parts revealed an endless abyss below.

Even the places they stepped on felt like they might collapse at any moment, causing the three of them to be on high alert again.

Murong Yue was quite curious: “I really can’t understand how a simple little girl could survive in this castle?”

“Don’t ask, it’s just a plot device,” Ling Mo shrugged casually.

Xia Xinyan frowned slightly, seemingly deep in thought.

This game generally wouldn’t force unreasonable plot points just for story purposes. Now that she thought of it, even their group of superhuman players faced near-death situations after entering the castle. It could be said that it was nearly impossible for a simple little girl to survive here, so what exactly did the game task intend for them to do?

And that reward task…

Just as she was contemplating this, Tianji suddenly announced the dungeon’s missions—

【Point Task Released: Find the real girl to obtain 10,000 points】

【Point Task Released: Defeat the witch to obtain 10,000 points】

【Point Task Released: Escape the castle to obtain 5,000 points】

【Extra Task Released: Achieve an S-level rating in the dungeon for a lottery chance; achieve an SS-level rating for an accurate lottery chance; achieve an SSS-level rating for a premium lottery chance.】

Seeing these tasks, Xia Xinyan paused.

Then she couldn’t help but inwardly ask Tianji a question—

‘Are you deliberately trying to help me?’

【This system is fair, just, and open. It will never help the host out of personal interest under any circumstances; it will only provide support within its scope of responsibility.】

‘So this is your official statement?’

【This system is fair, just, and open. It will never…】

‘Alright, no need to say more.’

Tianji fell silent.

Xia Xinyan found it rather amusing.

She was increasingly interested in the origins of this system—why it had bound itself to her and why it was unconditionally supporting her; everything about it seemed implausible.

But for her, it was a good thing.

At least for now, that was enough.

Later, when she had the strength, it wouldn’t be too late to investigate the truth.

As for now, she was quite intrigued by the tasks Tianji had just announced.

Though labeled as tasks, they also indirectly reminded her of something—like 【the real girl】, and 【the witch】.

These were all pieces of information the game system had never revealed to them before.

If earlier she had only guessed, now she could be sure that there was definitely a witch in this castle, and she was highly likely the final BOSS.

One more thing was the term 【the real girl】.

Could it be that there were fake girls in this castle?

But before she could figure this out, the three of them safely passed through the corridor and… ran into Yan Zigui and others coming towards them.

At the end of the corridor was a resplendent hall, probably the brightest place in the entire castle. When Xia Xinyan and the others arrived, Yan Zigui and the others were examining the situation in the hall.

Including Hao Nan and his companion, who had gotten separated from them earlier, they were now in the group.

Now, aside from the presumably deceased Su Xiaobai and his companion, everyone else had gathered.

“Old Ling! You’re still alive?!” Seeing them approach, Hao Nan and Wen rushed over, “Dude, we saw you fall through earlier and it freaked us out! The floor was dead and couldn’t be opened, so we had to find a way out ourselves.”

“It’s fine,” Ling Mo nodded, “We misinterpreted the puzzle and took a punishment route, just old game tricks.”

Murong Yue also curiously leaned in: “So how did you solve the puzzle then?”

“Uh… We just tried pouring water from that teapot onto all the blankets and then the door opened,” Hao Nan scratched his head.

“…Why?”

It was that simple?

Then why had they fallen through?

Hao Nan shook his head: “We don’t know, we were just messing around.”

Murong Yue: “…”

Xia Xinyan sighed and explained: “The key to that puzzle probably was to respect the elders—young ones should pour tea for the elders at the dining table, that’s likely the case. Maybe there were unseen ghosts sitting at the table, and Murong Yue just plopped down, which would be disrespectful to the elders.”

This was also something she wanted to say.

Unfortunately, this leopard girl was a step ahead of her.

Murong Yue shivered: “Ghosts? Don’t say that! This is the Witch’s Castle; how could it also involve ghosts? Don’t scare me!”

“Isn’t that what witches do too? Soul practicing and all that, it’s normal to have ghosts,” Ling Mo nodded in agreement.

Anyway, his girlfriend was definitely right.

Murong Yue’s expression turned green.

Oh no, would she be possessed by a ghost?

The others, including Yan Zigui, merely glanced at them before continuing to survey the surroundings. The hall had only one path leading to a large door adorned with various gemstones.

Yan Zigui cast a sidelong glance at Cheng Yu: “Go open the door.”

Cheng Yu’s expression shifted, as if he wanted to say something, but after a pause, he nodded and stepped toward the large door.

Xia Xinyan and the others also turned their attention to Cheng Yu as he headed towards the door.

Hao Nan couldn’t help but click his tongue and mutter, “This old bro is really pitiful.”

They had met these few people halfway, and by then, Su Xiaobai and his companion were no longer with their team. So after that, they’d seen Yan Zigui make this old bro lead the way, and he didn’t dare say a word, just looking like a punching bag.

They weren’t clear about the situation of this little team, but it was evident that this old bro was being bullied—poor thing.

However, that Yan seemed quite strong, and since it was just a game, they didn’t plan to meddle, pretending to be small and deaf.

Cheng Yu, very reluctantly, walked up to the door, cautiously pushed it open with all his might, then immediately stepped back a good distance and assumed a defensive stance.

But there was no danger behind the door.

Behind the door was a very large bedroom.

The bedroom was extravagantly decorated, with a princess bed placed in the center, and on the princess bed lay a young girl.

“Is that the person we’re supposed to rescue?” Cheng Yu thought cheerfully, considering the game points for the reward task, and immediately rushed inside, “I’ll go check it out first.”

Since he was asked to scout, then scout he would.

Gotta earn some interest.

Yan Zigui cast a slightly mocking glance at him.

He naturally knew this guy’s intentions, but he didn’t care about those several thousand points at all.

“Let’s go in and take a look,” he said to the side, thinking he was quite suave.

Tang Niannian ignored him completely, walking straight in.

Yan Zigui’s expression froze a bit.