Trapped in the Secret Room
Xu Huo remained motionless, his breathing unchanged as he stared into the Wooden Puppet's eyes.
After more than ten seconds, the Wooden Puppet finally twisted its head and clattered up the stairs again. Before long, the sound of chopping meat thudded from above.
Xu Huo silently returned to the ground floor, went up the stairs, and looked up at Tao Chengxin, who was clinging to the ceiling above the landing. He beckoned for her to come down.
Tao Chengxin landed lightly as a cat. She studied Xu Huo's expression in the faint light from the window and saw not the slightest change in his mood. A self-deprecating smile tugged at her lips.
The two of them avoided the Wooden Puppet chopping meat on the second floor and returned to the fifth. Xu Huo went straight to one of the rooms and kicked open the door. The room was empty, and the bed showed no signs of having been used.
Tao Chengxin went inside and tapped and knocked around for a while. Then she crawled out from under the bed. "There's a secret passage here."
Xu Huo moved the bed aside and lifted the ring in the floor. A staircase appeared beneath it.
"Are we going in?" Tao Chengxin asked. "There could be more Wooden Puppets down there..."
Before she could finish, Xu Huo had already started down the stairs. She paused, then hurried after him.
To their surprise, the passage led to a dining room with a very pleasant atmosphere.
The walls were made of casually arranged red bricks, hung with various block-shaped scented candles and flower baskets. Warm-toned spotlights illuminated the room's four corners, each of which held a skull-shaped ornament with a scroll clamped in its mouth.
A huge chandelier hung in the