Death at the Door

The wind howled low through the numerous, towering windows above the Castle.

Their footsteps echoed through the Ancient Castle, and the light and shadow distorted into bizarre shapes in the torchlight.

Finally arriving at the Ancient Castle gate, Qin Rang pushed open the heavy door with all his might.

A strong stench of blood hit us.

The huge main hall was brightly lit, with long wooden tables neatly arranged on both sides of the hall, stretching as far as the eye could see.

The table was covered with a heavy embroidered tablecloth, and silver wine glasses, gilded plates, and crystal goblets were arranged in a staggered pattern.

In the center of the hall, there was a huge harp, upon which sat two magnificent Thrones.

What should have been a lively and festive scene turned into a shocking sight that even the experienced Calamity Crossing Squad, who had witnessed countless scenarios, dared not enter rashly.

The hall was filled with corpses.

Lying on the table, sleeping on the floor, heads severed, corpses scattered everywhere...

Two people dressed in magnificent robes lay supine on the Throne, each with a Silver Arrow piercing their chest.

Besides them, there was a dead woman standing on the long table, her head drooping and her face obscured, only her skirt completely soaked in blood could be seen.

Tao Yuan was also uncharacteristically dumbfounded. "Captain, this..."

Qin Rang was about to say something when he suddenly stopped, and his teammates also focused their attention and gripped the Weird Objects in their hands.

In a corner of the hall, the person they thought was dead actually moved slightly and slowly rose from his knees.

The man had his back to them, holding a silver bow and arrow in his hand, his body stained with blood, and his laughter reached their ears.

"Enjoy... the banquet!"

With a flash of silver light, a Silver Arrow appeared in the chest of each of the nine people, and their lives ended instantly.

Looking at their corpses, the young man slowly turned around, his eyes, which had a grayish tint than those of ordinary people, gleaming in the lamplight.

"This is going to be interesting."

You are dead.

[Dream Attempts consumed: 1]

"Ah--!"

Sheng Qingqiao screamed and jumped up from the bed, groping her chest but finding no wound.

Um?

No, how did he die and then come back to life?

Sheng Qingqiao belatedly looked at her hands; they were delicate and smooth, and the pain in her buttocks had disappeared.

He was now lying on soft bedding in a silk nightgown, the window in the room open, the sunlight streaming in perfectly.

The wooden floor inside the room had a warm feel to it in the sunlight.

What happened? Was he dead, or alive?

"Young Master, Young Master, what's wrong—Young Master?"

The servants who heard the commotion outside rushed in.

Upon seeing the others, Sheng Qingqiao quickly composed herself. "It's nothing, I just had a nightmare."

"Young master, would you like some water?"

"No need," Sheng Qingqiao said, then pretended to have a headache. "What time is it now?"

The servant replied respectfully, "Young master, today is your first day at Liwenhuoer Earl's Estate, so you don't need to get up early for morning lessons. Breakfast is ready and will be served shortly."

Okay, where are the others?

"You mean the other young masters and ladies? They shouldn't be awake yet; they're resting in their rooms right now."

Sheng Qingqiao was relieved. "I understand, you can go and prepare."

The servants left respectfully, and soon several servants brought breakfast. After checking that there were no problems, Sheng Qingqiao ate it all in one go.

After changing his clothes, he opened the window and looked outside.

Outside the Castle, there were no withered trees, but vast expanses of lush green forests and patches of flowerbeds. Gardeners were busy pruning the flowers early in the morning, while herding servants laughed and joked in the distance.

In the small pavilion in the Garden, a tall, slender young man dressed in gray aristocratic attire sat at a table, absentmindedly flipping through a book. As if noticing his gaze, the other man looked up and gave him a slight smile.

That smile inexplicably made Sheng Qingqiao feel very uncomfortable.

He pulled his head back, just in time to hear a knock on the door.

He opened the door and the moment he saw An Ying, he felt relieved.

"Come on, let's go to the captain's room," An Ying said.

"Good."

When Sheng Qingqiao arrived, only Wang Ding was in Qin Rang's room.

After An Ying picked him up, she went out to find the other teammates. Sheng Qingqiao looked at Qin Rang's understated black patterned clothes in amazement, then looked at her own nouveau riche-looking clothes, and then at Wang Ding's well-tailored clothes, and curled her lips.

"Your clothes look richer than mine."

Qin Rang waved his hand impatiently. "Come over here and let's get down to business."

Wang Ding pushed up his medieval-style round-framed glasses, which now had straps, and said, "You're not wrong. Clothing is indeed a symbol of status in a certain sense. Currently, the captain's status is higher than ours."

Before long, An Ying had already brought the Bai Ao over.

"Alright, everyone's here," Wang Ding said.

Bai Ao was still a little dazed when he was pulled over. He subconsciously glanced around the room and asked, "Where are Tang Pin and the others?"

An Ying said, "They are girls, they don't live with us."

"I've checked the entire floor. Only a few of us live here. The other rooms are either locked or empty."

Sheng Qingqiao gave An Ying a thumbs up. "You're really fast, a real go-getter."

The Bai Ao raised its hand to interrupt them, "Wait a minute, so what exactly is going on between us? Did you hear what the Instance said about death and dreams?"

Sheng Qingqiao: "That goes without saying, they definitely heard it all."

Qin Rang patted the sofa and said, "Let's not talk about this now. We won't understand it even if we do. Let's take it one step at a time."

"The most important thing now is to figure out our current identities. I've just checked my luggage; we are still the young masters of the Du'en Family, and our crest is on the luggage."

"I also asked the servants, and they said that there are still some days until the night of the full moon, so we must have arrived at the time before the banquet," Wang Ding also said.

Sheng Qingqiao suddenly realized. "So, could our mission for this Instance be to prevent the tragedy we witnessed at the banquet last night, or to catch the culprit?"

Qin Rang said, "For now, that's how it seems. If we arrived before the banquet and witnessed that scene, then the banquet on the night of the full moon would be everyone's death day, including us."

"If we don't find the murderer or stop the party, what we just saw will probably come true."

Wang Ding said, "It sounds like what we just saw was more like a premonition. Could this Dream Point be related to this? A precognitive dream?"

Qin Rang shook his head. "It's still unclear. Besides me, your identities are currently unknown. Nobles place great importance on class. When we go out to look for clues, be careful not to miss anything."