章 6: Chapter 6: Bloody Banquet
The corridor was brightly lit, and a sense of familiarity suddenly surged.
The sound of fighting near his ears was relentless, and upon another look at the metal-scaled Baldy, wasn't this the same corridor as before?
Had he been knocked out of one glass door and then back in through another?
When Su Lun turned back, the glass he had previously shattered had mysteriously returned to its original state. Had it not been for the glass shards still crunching underfoot, he would have thought he had experienced a hallucination.
There was something wrong with the space in this mansion!
"An illusionary space? Or perhaps it's that 'Ghost Seed's' ability?"
Su Lun grew increasingly convinced of the strangeness of this world, then suddenly realized, "Indeed... If it was so easy to escape by jumping through the window, those guys before wouldn't have been killed by these bizarre puppets."
With that jump, Su Lun found himself back in the corridor, crashing into a pile of puppets.
Now he really was like a lamb to the slaughter.
While the puppets didn't do much damage to Baldy, for an ordinary person like Su Lun, they were definitely deadly.
Su Lun had already resigned himself to not struggle anymore, but to his surprise... the puppets seemed to ignore him as they floated past and surrounded Baldy instead.
"Huh... they didn't attack me?"
Su Lun watched the puppets drift past with a post-danger surprise, secretly speculating, "Could it be because they discovered my 'surveillance' earlier?"
He vaguely guessed that the puppets didn't kill him perhaps because the "Ghost Seed" thought... adding a fun toy to the mix, they were reluctant to kill him so soon.
This was quite the predicament.
...
And just then, without any warning, he suddenly heard a chilling sound of "crack, crack"—the sound of bones breaking.
Upon closer inspection, Marcus's limbs had grotesquely broken in the wrong direction.
Like a marionette, he was suspended in midair by several invisible threads, his head hanging limply.
Marcus was dead!
After this guy died, the knife-wielding puppets also stopped their attack on Bald Ivan and receded like the tide, disappearing at the end of the corridor.
Nearby, Bald Ivan, witnessing the sudden death of his subordinate, was clearly baffled and cursed, "Damn it!"
With no puppets around Marcus, how had he died?
He came to a sudden realization that the "Ghost Seed's" methods were probably not limited to controlling puppets.
Baldy had also noticed Su Lun, spared earlier by the puppets, guessing he might know something.
But before he had a chance to ask, at that moment, a nearby sealed door suddenly opened.
At that moment, a kindly old man in a tailcoat stepped out, speaking in an emotionless tone, "The master invites the two of you to dine with him in the banquet hall."
The master, a meal?
Su Lun frowned upon hearing this, feeling that this was unlikely to be anything good.
At the same time, his eyes assessed the butler-like old man.
He noticed that throughout the conversation, the old man's eyeballs hadn't moved at all, upon closer inspection, his skin also had a wax-like glossy appearance.
Clearly, this butler was not a living person.
Su Lun remained composed.
The problem was, he wanted to react, but he couldn't have fought back anyway.
But how could Bald Ivan, with his explosive temper, bear it?
Right in front of him, a brother from his group had been killed, and now they were being invited to dine?
"To hell with you!"
Baldy cursed loudly and threw a punch.
"Boom"—the butler was blown to pieces.
But just then, that deep, sinister voice suddenly sounded again, "Not following the game rules, you will be killed..."
"Hmph!"
Baldy scoffed, still somewhat dismissive.
But all of a sudden, just like when Marcus died, his entire body stiffened.
Nearby, Su Lun this time clearly saw, strands resembling fishing lines glimmered as they ensnared Baldy, leaving him completely immobilized.
And as the thread tightened, the metallic scales on Baldy's skin indeed shattered, and the thread cut directly into his flesh, oozing out scarlet blood.
Su Lun watched, his eyelids twitching, "What a bizarre method..."
Clearly, that bizarre ability far exceeded imagination.
The very next second, Ivan was about to be dismembered into seven or eight pieces, but just a second before his body would have been torn apart, Baldy, no longer as defiant as before, bellowed, "Wait, I'm willing to go!"
....
Just like that, Su Lun and Bald Ivan were invited into the banquet hall by a butler whose body had been blasted apart.
The decoration here was equally luxurious, with soothing music playing from the phonograph.
The dining table was already seated with many people, looking quite lively, and the dining atmosphere seemed rather harmonious.
Su Lun was guided by a maid to an empty seat.
He glanced at the people on the table and had an idea in his mind.
Although these "people" all sat properly in their places, their faces were expressionless and their bodies stiff...
Clearly, not one of them was alive.
They were either mannequins or corpses fixed to their seats with threads, giving off a gloomy and eerie vibe.
However, Su Lun wasn't too surprised; he naturally didn't think that this "ghost species" would kindly invite them to dine.
And looking at Baldy's expression as if he had swallowed a fly, he probably knew these corpses.
The two of them took their seats, a mannequin dressed as a maid wrapped napkins around them, then uncovered the silver lids on the plates in front of them.
As Su Lun sat down, he smelled the strong stench of blood and vaguely guessed what it might be.
Once the lid was opened, the smell of blood became even more overwhelming.
The plate in front of him held a piece of reddish-brown liver, still faintly steaming with blood, seemingly just taken from a living body not long ago.
This manor probably had no living livestock, so one could easily guess what kind of liver this was...
Su Lun raised his eyebrows slightly, not particularly surprised.
In this bizarre manor, it would have been strange if it had been normal food.
He had played many twisted horror games, and this scenario...wasn't too outrageous.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that his plate was relatively mild.
In front of Baldy was unmistakably a human head. The eyeballs were placed on a small dish, seemingly as "dessert" for after the meal.
Upon seeing the green hair next to it, the head seemed to be an old acquaintance—the Cock's Comb who Su Lun had dealt with in the study before.
At that moment, that haunting voice rang out again, "The game rule is: you must finish it. Otherwise... you'll die."
At that time, every "person" at the table, whether mannequin or corpse, turned their heads towards the two living guests, staring intently with their hollow eyes.
The butler also urged with a tone full of warning, "What's the matter, esteemed guests, does the food not suit your taste?"
....
Clearly, Su Lun and Baldy had no intention to voluntarily eat what was on their plates.
But obviously, whether they ate or not, it wasn't up to them.
At that moment, several transparent threads had already quietly fallen from the beams above and bound their limbs.
Su Lun was aware, but he felt no abnormalities in his body.
Baldy, on the other hand, realized what was happening, his facial expression turning ugly as he muttered in despair, "Mental 'limb control,' at least a 'Gold-tier' ghost species, we're done for..."
He had already experienced the ferocity of these threads; initially thinking it was just a physical kind of control, he thought maybe there was still a chance if he found an opportunity.
Yet, seated in this chair, he confirmed that the "ghost species" also excelled in mental control.
This was a capability that could easily kill him.
"..."
Su Lun, sharp-eared, clearly heard what Baldy was muttering.
Soon, he understood what that "limb control" meant.
Then, he found his hands lifting on their own accord, then picking up the cutlery placed beside his plate and slicing the liver, his actions elegant and gentlemanly...
This feeling was bizarre—not simply like a marionette being pulled by strings, as if his brain had lost control of his body, and he could only watch helplessly as his hands uncontrollably cut the flesh on the plate.
In this quiet banquet hall, it was especially sinister.
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