Lin Sheng searched the living room but found nothing.
He went to search the study, but aside from books, there was nothing else there.
Then he went from the study to the kitchen.
He quickly found a sharp kitchen knife and hurried straight to the bedroom with it.
In the manor's bedroom, a double wooden bed stood in the middle.
Along the wall beside it were a wardrobe, a vanity, and a large wooden chest.
The chest's lid was open, and it was completely empty.
Lin Sheng slowly scanned from side to side, then walked over to the vanity and pulled open the drawer.
Inside were several colorful hair ribbons in the style favored by young girls. Their colors had faded with age.
He pushed the drawer shut and glanced around the room.
Soon, he noticed something leaning against the wall in the corner near the window, covered by a curtain.
He strode over to it and reached out to grab it.
Hiss.
It was a Cross Sword with its blade drawn!
As Lin Sheng moved, the silver-black tip scraped against the floor, making a faint noise.
He carefully lifted the sword.
The longsword wasn't very heavy, weighing around four or five pounds. Its length reached from Lin Sheng's waist to his toes.
The hilt and blade formed a standard cross. It looked just like an elongated crucifix.
Lin Sheng gripped the hilt with both hands and felt rough strips of cloth wrapped around it. The hilt and blade seemed to be one piece, with almost no visible seams from the manufacturing.
Near the hilt, a simple Vertical Pupil Pattern was engraved on the blade. It was exactly the same as the one on the door.
He tried swinging the sword and found it a little heavy.
"Let's see if there's anything else."
Lin Sheng searched the bedroom for a while longer, but apart from this sword, he couldn't find anything else.
With no other choice, he carried the sword out of the bedroom and returned to the hall.
"This time, I'll be more careful. If I don't make any noise, I shouldn't get into trouble." Lin Sheng still felt shaken by having died the last time.
But that didn't mean he was afraid to go outside.
It was only a dream, so he wouldn't really die.
Lin Sheng was filled with curiosity about the outside world. He couldn't bear the thought of not going out to explore.
Carrying the sword, he stood before the front door and took several deep breaths to calm himself.
"This time, I'll try to keep the noise down. As long as I'm not spotted, I should be fine."
He cautiously reached out again and gripped the Snake-Head Door Handle.
Click, click.
A faint sound came from the lock turning.
The door opened a crack, just wide enough for Lin Sheng to squeeze through.
Carrying the sword, he moved outside as slowly as he could.
A wave of cold air swept over him, chilling him to the bone. His joints seemed to stiffen as his body temperature dropped.
"This feels more real than before. My senses don't feel like they belong to a dream at all."
Lin Sheng's heart tightened.
The strange change made him uneasy.
He slipped through the crack and stood outside the door.
He looked around but decided against going down the wooden steps in front of him.
"The steps made too much noise last time. I should jump straight onto the dirt. That way, I won't make a sound."
Having settled on a route, Lin Sheng slowly moved to the right of the steps.
Cold, damp mist swirled around him. The dark yellow floorboards beneath his feet were scored with old scratches and littered with little stones.
Lin Sheng had to be extremely careful to avoid the stones as he moved.
Holding his breath, he soon reached the edge of the boards and jumped down lightly.
Plop.
The faintest sound of a foot landing.
He landed steadily on the black dirt.
Standing on the ground, Lin Sheng looked ahead. No more strange sounds came from the direction of the carriage road.
"I did it! As long as I'm careful, I won't attract that figure."
He felt a little relieved.
Standing in the mist, he looked around.
Behind him was the half-open door of the living room, the way he had just come out.
To either side lay only a hazy darkness and dense woods. The only thing he could make out was the carriage road straight ahead.
Lin Sheng took a deep breath and began slowly walking around the manor.
He headed left.
He soon reached the courtyard in front of the living room windows.
A black swing stood in the courtyard. It was a wooden seat suspended between two dead trees by two thick hemp ropes.
Several rotting benches lay scattered across the ground.
A small patch of withered garden occupied a corner of the wall.
Lin Sheng made a round of the courtyard but found nothing, so he continued around the back of the house.
Hiss.
Suddenly, he stopped as he heard a sound drifting toward him.
Standing in the mist, Lin Sheng had the manor house on his right and the crude courtyard on his left.
Holding the sword in both hands, he froze and stared hard ahead.
That was where the sound had come from.
Hiss, hiss.
It sounded as if something was being dragged along the ground.
Lin Sheng found it vaguely familiar.
His body tensed. He stood motionless, staring at the dark mist ahead. It was the corner leading to the back courtyard.
Gradually, the sound drew closer and closer.
The source of the noise slowly appeared before Lin Sheng.
It was a strange humanoid figure whose entire body was covered in black pustules.
It held a black longsword in one hand, its hilt fused to its arm. The rest of its body was humanlike.
Its face, however, was wrapped in thick gray sackcloth. It had no visible eyes, nostrils, or mouth—only faint bloodstains seeped through the cloth.
The humanoid was half a head taller than Lin Sheng, about one meter ninety tall.
As soon as it emerged from the mist, it saw Lin Sheng too.
Hiss.
The humanoid awkwardly shuffled toward Lin Sheng, one step at a time.
Its pace was slow and strange. The tip of the sword in its hand dragged along the ground, making a faint hissing sound.
"What the hell is that thing!?" Lin Sheng instinctively stepped back.
Though the figure's sudden appearance had startled him at first, he wasn't as terrified as he had been the last time he died.
Instead, Lin Sheng quickly managed to steady himself.
He was still somewhat panicked, but could at least think through his options.
He looked down and noticed that the monster's right leg was lame. Large chunks of flesh were missing beneath its black trousers.
"Doesn't look that strong." Lin Sheng tightened his grip on the hilt. He had no intention of avoiding it.
He would test its strength first.
The front door was close by. He could turn and run back inside at any moment.
With an escape route available, he decided to try interacting with this second living creature to appear.
"Hey. Can you understand me?" Lin Sheng asked quietly in Celine Language.
The strange figure showed no reaction. It continued to shuffle steadily toward him.
"Are you a resident here? I mean you no harm. Can you tell me what this place is?" Lin Sheng tried to communicate with it.
Hiss, hiss.
The strange figure gave no response and continued to approach, one step at a time.
Lin Sheng sensed something was wrong and had no choice but to back away slowly.
When the two were less than three meters apart,
the strange figure suddenly lunged forward, holding its longsword level and thrusting.
Whoosh!
The blackened tip of its sword struck the blade of the Cross Sword in Lin Sheng's hand.
Clang!
A piercing, shrill impact rang out through the night, echoing into the distance.
The collision sent Lin Sheng stumbling. He nearly fell.
His expression changed drastically. He turned and ran, dragging the sword behind him. Taking the steps two at a time, he charged through the front door into the living room.
Bam!
He slammed the door shut and dropped the bolt with a click.
Hiss, hiss.
Suddenly, faint, rustling noises came from behind him.
Lin Sheng froze.
He slowly turned around.
In the middle of the hall, another Rotten Swordsman with its head wrapped in sackcloth was trudging toward him, one difficult step at a time.
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