Death

After she finished reading and restoring all the letters, as she put down the last one, a notification sound suddenly appeared in their ears—the same sound they had heard when they first died.

[Found 1 Key Clue, 1 Dream Point, 1 remaining Dream Attempts]

"Did you hear that?" Luo Jiayu turned around in surprise, and the others nodded in unison.

Tang Pin looked at the book in her hand with a troubled expression, then glanced at the cosmetics in Luo Jiayu's hand and the letter in Tao Yuan's hand. "Leaving aside the purpose of these Dream Attempts, what clue triggered this prompt?"

Tao Yuan said, "It seems we can only write down the clues for these three items first. Everyone should try to look through everything and see if we can find this Key Clue again."

Luo Jiayu said, "It would be great if we could take all these clues with us."

"No, losing something will definitely be noticed. Even if we hide the clues, it will make our next search more difficult," Mi Chuchu said.

The Eldest Miss's room was filled with so many things, mostly expensive jewelry and clothing, that they searched for a long time without finding anything.

After an unknown amount of time, they suddenly heard the Eldest Miss's angry voice coming from the stairwell.

"What bad luck! What happened to that horse? It splattered mud all over me! What was the groom thinking? Chop off his hand!"

The expressions of the four people inside the room changed.

Oh no, the Eldest Miss has returned ahead of schedule!

The four looked around, trying to find a place to hide. The Eldest Miss's house was large, but there weren't many places to hide.

"You stay here." Tao Yuan first pressed Tang Pin behind the most secluded dressing table, then turned around and saw that Luo Jiayu had already hidden herself under the bed.

Mi Chuchu didn't hide; she used the Holy Staff's ability: invisibility.

The Holy Staff's invisibility prevents it from speaking or moving; it can only cover one person.

Seeing that her companions were all hidden, Tao Yuan first opened the window to escape, but she stopped after only opening the window a crack.

Through the crack, she saw a patch of blood red.

The peaceful daytime outside was gone, replaced by scarlet moonlight and pitch-black night.

Tao Yuan immediately slammed the window shut and turned to look at the quiet doorway.

They were discovered; they broke the Rules.

Click.

The door was pushed open, and a sludge figure dressed in a beautiful long dress eerily squeezed out from the crack in the door.

Her entire body was covered in black, foul-smelling mud, with only a beautiful human head growing atop the mud. The head was disheveled, and its eyes were fixed on the woman inside the house.

"Miss." Tao Yuan lowered her head, having temporarily changed into an inconspicuous outfit, and was using a piece of cloth torn from her clothes as a rag.

She bowed calmly, as if she were a cleaning servant.

The Eldest Miss stared coldly at her. "Why isn't the cleaning done at this hour?"

Tao Yuan bowed slightly. "I'm sorry, Eldest Miss, it was the Eldest Young Master just now... I'm sorry, it was my fault."

"It's him again!" The Eldest Miss couldn't help but feel irritated by the Eldest Young Master's temper. "What are you doing going to my brother's place, servant? You just go because he tells you to? Tonight, you'll thoroughly clean this entire third-floor Corridor! If there's even a speck of dust, you can expect to be kicked out!"

"Get out of here! I need to change my clothes!"

"Yes."

After bowing, Tao Yuan quickly went outside and slammed the door shut behind him.

She frowned as she looked out at the crooked Corridor, its Corridor a distorted, bright red, and filled with the heavy stench of blood.

The torches on the wall reminded her of the night she first arrived at the Ancient Castle, a night just as quiet, deathly quiet.

Something's wrong; the crisis surrounding the death Rules hasn't passed yet.

Tao Yuan didn't make any rash moves. She leaned against the wall, anxiously watching the doorway, wondering if the three people could escape the Rules this time.

"Meow."

A faint meow behind her caught Tao Yuan's attention. She turned around and saw a Black Cat with bright blue eyes at the end of the Corridor.

The Black Cat sat leisurely at the top of the stairs, its tail swaying gently behind it; the darkness behind it seemed less intense than the black of its fur.

It looks exactly like the Black Cat she encountered in the Yin White City Instance.

The person and the cat stared at each other for a moment. When Tao Yuan blinked, the Black Cat turned and went downstairs, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

Tao Yuan was debating whether to follow when she suddenly heard a clanging sound from inside the house. She immediately reached into her waistband and pulled out a huge Pink Chainsaw from her Storage Weird Object.

"Bang!"

The door was kicked open, and inside, the mud covering the Eldest Miss's body had completely wrapped around Luo Jiayu, who was lying under the bed.

Tang Pin and Mi Chuchu were both entangled in mud, their hands and feet stuck to the wall, making it quite difficult for them to cope.

Luo Jiayu's body was completely sealed in the soil, the soil covering her entire body had turned her into a clay sculpture, and she was completely lifeless.

In that instant, Tao Yuan sensed an absolute power of Rules.

Lethal Rules.

How did Luo Jiayu trigger the lethal Rules? Was it discovered by this strange entity?

"Sizzle!"

The screeching Chainsaw stopped the mud flying towards her; the mud, after flying out, stuck to the wall, quickly dried, cracked, and fell off.

Tao Yuan quickly retreated, severing all the strange mud binding them in a few moves, and shouted to Tang Pin, "What are you standing there for? Hold them off!"

Tang Pin regained control of her hands, gritted her teeth, and slammed the end of the Long Staff she was holding against the wall, completely smashing the dirt on it. Only then did she finally regain full control of her body. "Hold on!"

Mi Chuchu also took out her Holy Staff, its halo tearing through the soil, but the next moment it was covered by dense black mud, making it completely powerless.

Her Weird Object was subdued by the mud. She could tear apart hard, dry mud with brute force, but the soft, fluffy black mud completely neutralized her strength.

"Click--!"

The mud was constantly being broken up, and Tao Yuan's Chainsaw was fast and accurate, cutting a path through the mud-filled room.

She first grabbed Luo Jiayu, who had already turned into a clay sculpture, and threw him forcefully at Tang Pin. Then she turned around, took out a strange bullet from her pocket, clenched her fist, and threw it at the strange creature.

The bullet landed in the eerie black mud, producing a not-so-loud booming explosion that shattered most of the mud on the creature's body, splattering mud all over half the room.

Although Tang Pin rarely went on missions with Tao Yuan, she understood what she meant at this moment. Her Long Staff struck Luo Jiayu's back heavily, the skillful force landing on her back and shattering most of the mud on her body.

The dried mud cascaded off her skin, finally revealing Luo Jiayu's face, but she had already stopped breathing.

For a moment, all three of them looked grim. It was at this moment that the Eldest Miss, whose body had been blown up, let out a sharp, piercing scream, and her mangled, muddy body slowly began to coalesce.

The three of them covered their heads, enduring the pain.