Nighttime Exploration
It's easy to see from their attitudes that among the daughters of the Du'en Family, Tao Yuan's status is the most precious, which is why the Eldest Miss treats Tao Yuan the best.
Qin Rang holds a position similar to that of the Eldest Young Master in the Du'en Family, which is why the Eldest Young Master treats him the best.
In the Rivenhall Family, men and women fought for power separately, Young Master was a victim. Because there were two favored and powerful people above him, he was not valued and could be bullied at will.
The Eldest Miss's face darkened completely, but out of consideration for Qin Rang and the others still being there, she stood up with a stiff expression and said, "I'm full, please enjoy your meal."
After saying that, she left in a hurry, and Kane quickly got up and chased after her.
The Eldest Young Master, unfazed, told everyone to continue eating, but they were all eager to see what would happen next, and after only a few bites, they all made excuses to leave.
Only Bai Yang ate with great relish, taking bites of his Puppet and then bites of his own food, while Wang ate leisurely until the evening bell rang.
After everyone finished their dinner and the servants tidied up the hall, Ravenhall prepared to return to his room to rest. On the way, he bumped into An Ying, who was looking for Kane outside.
"It's so late, aren't you going to rest?" Wang asked.
An Ying said, "I'm going back now."
"That's good. Try not to go out at night unless you have to," Wang said with a smile.
An Ying smiled and said, "What, do you have any scary legends here?"
"No, not really, but there are fewer people around at night, and it's always easy to run into danger if you go out for a stroll." Wang waved goodbye, "I'm going back to my room now."
After watching him leave, An Ying searched the surroundings again, but still couldn't find Kane. Instead, the area became unusually quiet.
He didn't know when, but the noisy sounds of servants moving about and talking in the Castle had all disappeared. He went up the stairs and looked down into the hall, where he saw the clock pointing to eight o'clock.
It was eight o'clock at night, the time for nobles to sleep, but it shouldn't have been this quiet; it seemed as if he was the only one left in the vast Castle.
An Ying went from the first-floor hall to the second floor, and was about to go to the third floor when she saw a servant coming down the stairs from the third floor.
The servant looked somewhat wooden, wearing a black and white striped long dress uniform, and slowly swept the stairs with a broom.
An Ying slowly backed away, but then she saw the servant suddenly turn his head to look at her, his eyes vacant.
"Gardener, what are you doing here so late instead of trimming the flowers and plants?"
Gardener?
An Ying looked down and realized that she had put on a pair of boots without her noticing, and her luxurious clothes had been replaced with rough linen clothes with some mud spots on the hem.
This gives him a new identity.
"I'll go right away," An Ying replied.
The servant then continued cleaning, but his gaze remained fixed on An Ying.
An Ying felt uneasy under her gaze; a subtle sense of Rules seemed to surround him. He could only regretfully abandon his idea of informing Qin Rang, and recalling the tool shed he had seen during the day, he followed his memory to the first floor.
There were also servants cleaning on the first floor. They were all dressed in servants' uniforms, and their movements were stiff, like moving corpses.
He found the tool shed and carefully took a pair of pruning shears. An Ying remembered the tools she had seen the gardeners carrying when she was looking for someone in the Garden during the day, so she took a few more of them.
After taking all of these, the feeling of being watched lessened considerably.
An Ying arrived at the door, pushed it open, and stepped into the darkness.
Not long after he left, the Gray-Eyed Youth, who should have been "asleep," emerged from the shadows behind the stairs, raising his hand with a smile to beckon the servant who was sweeping the floor beside him.
"You don't have the right number of servants, do you? Are there any lazybones who haven't come to work?"
The servant looked up blankly, then suddenly realized. "Young Master, I'll go see which lazybones it is!"
He laughed arrogantly and said, "Go."
An Ying wasn't the only one wandering around outside; Qin Rang was there too.
When he came out from the second floor, he happened to run into another Illegitimate Son was not married. His shoes were covered in mud, leaving footprints on the floor.
He curiously leaned closer and stared at the footprints. In the mud beneath the footprints were some tiny, indistinct fragments, like flower petals. He collected some of the mud and put it in his pocket before going up to the fourth floor.
The Eldest Young Master's room was dark. When they came to search this floor during the day, they could only open the Eldest Young Master's room; the other rooms couldn't be opened even with the Weird Objects.
Qin Rang came here because he heard that the Eldest Young Master had arranged for Bai Yang to stay here.
Sure enough, not long after he came up, he saw a room with the lights on. He walked over and gently raised his hand to knock on the door.
The door opened quickly from the inside, and Bai Yang wasn't surprised to see it was him.
"Shall we go out and take a look?" Qin Rang leaned against the door, one foot inside to prevent Bai Yang from closing it.
Bai Yang laughed, "You're making it sound like you're inviting me to go out and have some fun."
"I'm sincere." Qin Rang smiled as well. "Right now, it's just the two of us in this Instance. We don't know the requirements or level yet, so it's definitely better to team up, right?"
"I can clear the game without you guys, and there's no Master's mission this time, so I have no reason to help you. Besides, what benefits are you planning to give me?"
Qin Rang pondered, "... What do you want? A meal?"
Bai Yang smiled and said, "How about this, let's make a deal."
What transaction?
"Our transaction today doesn't represent the Authorities. When the time comes, just follow the normal procedures and let me check out your Weird Containment Center, okay?"
That's it? Qin Rang thought he was going to ask for an exorbitant amount, but it turned out to be a very modest request.
"Sure!" Qin Rang gave a thumbs up. "Given our relationship, no problem."
"Alright." Having achieved his goal, Bai Yang took the Puppet and headed outside. "Anyway, I wasn't planning on going to bed this early, let's go!"
Having successfully brought Bai Yang along, Qin Rang felt much better.
As they searched for clues together in the Corridor, Bai Yang asked him softly, "What have you found out today? You must have gained quite a bit, right?"
"There are some." Qin Rang knocked on the door opposite Bai Yang, but no one answered. He pushed it hard, and the door opened.
He stopped abruptly, and he and Bai Yang looked at each other in bewilderment.
They hadn't expected the door to open so easily; they assumed it was locked, just like during the day.
"Tap, tap..."
Just then, footsteps suddenly came from the Corridor. Before Bai Yang could react, Qin Rang grabbed him and pulled him through the door.
Click.
The door closed gently, plunging the room into darkness.
Outside in the Corridor, the footsteps grew heavier and heavier, each one seemingly accompanied by the sound of something being dragged.
"Thump--Thump--"
Strange sounds approached little by little, accompanied by footsteps, and then the sound of something hitting the floor, as if someone had banged their head on the ground.
The sound slowly approached, drew closer—until it suddenly stopped in front of their door.
Qin Rang and Bai Yang held their breath instantly.