Yu Xing searched the room again and hid some useful little things in the pocket of his trousers.

Other than that, he didn't find anything else suspicious.

In other words, there were only two things in the room that had a ghostly aura, a painting and a doll, but they didn't emit a chilling aura that would affect him. They were neither the source of the curse nor the offering...

At most, they were just little things released in advance by the source of the curse to disturb the deductionist.

And one of them didn't seem to be very obedient.

After finishing tidying up, Yu Xing turned around and saw that the doll had turned its head towards him and crawled a few meters in his direction without him noticing.

Looking at the doll's raised hand that hadn't been put down yet, Yu Xing guessed that as long as he didn't look, the doll could move. His gaze fell on the doll, and it stopped moving.

It was a bit like a wooden doll.

If someone unknowingly got caught by the doll, they might be in trouble.

Yu Xing frowned, picked up the doll from the ground, and stared at it for a few seconds.

"Didn't I tell you two to play by yourselves?"

He turned the doll to face the painting. "Look, at least you're colleagues. Can't you communicate with each other? Come on, be good."

Doll: ...

The next moment, there was a "pop" sound, and the doll's head was gone.

Yu Xing held the doll's body in one hand and the forcibly pulled-off doll's head in the other, successfully splitting the doll into two parts.

Then he locked the body in the bottom drawer of the bedside table, while the head was placed opposite the painting, facing the woman in the painting.

He nodded in satisfaction. "Hmm, that's better."

After completing this inhuman act, Yu Xing held the silver-capped cane and closed the door, going downstairs.

-The cane wasn't really necessary, but he always felt that walking like this could save a bit of energy.

Downstairs, York was playing chess with Alice, while Susan watched by the side. Martha wasn't there, probably back in her room.

Yu Xing walked downstairs lightly and became one of the onlookers.

The fire in the fireplace made the room hot, and the table was close to the fireplace. Soon, Yu Xing's forehead was covered in a thin layer of sweat.

He saw that York's face was also red from the heat, but Alice didn't seem to be affected at all. Apart from showing a bit of annoyance because he was losing, he seemed to have no sweat glands at all.

After watching for a while, Yu Xing couldn't stand it anymore and found a cool place away from the fireplace to stay.

After that, Mrs. Brown prepared dinner and went upstairs. When she came back down, they all sat around the dining table. Martha also came out of her room and sat hesitantly between Yu Xing and York.

Her expression didn't look good, and Yu Xing guessed that she had seen something in her room.

Probably a situation similar to his room.

Facing a table full of food, Martha asked softly, "Can we eat?"

Yu Xing replied, "I think we can."

Martha hesitantly picked up a small piece of steak and asked again when Mrs. Brown, Alex, and Susan didn't pay attention to her, "What if it's made by the ghost?"

Yu Xing smiled. "It probably is."

Martha: !? How can you be so calm about it!

She turned her head to ask York, "Are you going to eat?"

But York was already chewing on his food.

He swallowed slowly and gave Martha an answer with his eyes.

Martha wanted to kneel down for the two of them.

She was the type of person who was brave when the wind was at her back but cowardly when facing adversity. With someone to rely on, she could confidently rely on her own abilities and take risks. But when it came to dealing with specters, she would definitely be scared.

She hadn't deduced many cases, and they were still in the main mission stage. Every time they deduced, she and her teammates would hesitate for a long time on whether or not to eat something that might have been made by a specter. Sometimes they would just go hungry, and it wouldn't be a big deal to go hungry for a day or two.

However, the new teammate seemed to be very skilled!

York glanced at her and then at Yu Xing, finding the contrast between the two of them interesting.

Martha seemed like a rookie, while Yu Xing... his calmness reminded him of the first time he met someone, in the old site of the Republic of China, where a red-clothed female ghost wandered. That person also had a steady demeanor.

This game was a bit special for York because the system prompts were different from usual.

Well, it's better to think about the present than to think about that.

He said to Martha, who was hesitating to eat, "If you don't eat this meal, are you not going to eat the next one? What if we stay for more than one day? Are you going to starve to death?"

After speaking, he patted her head. "Eat."

In Mrs. Brown's eyes, this scene was a display of sibling affection.

She looked at Alice, who was frowning while eating, and Susan, who had put the music box on her lap, and sighed quietly.

...

Yu Xing thought he would see Angel and Mr. Brown during dinner, but neither of them showed up.

After dinner, he couldn't help but ask Mrs. Brown, "Where's Mr. Brown? I didn't see him during dinner. Is he okay?""My husband coughs easily. Today, with the three of you as guests, he said he didn't want to come down and disturb you for dinner, so he will eat in the room." Mrs. Brown's explanation couldn't find any faults. Seeing Yu Xing's puzzled expression, she added, "I have already brought the food up to him."

Yu Xing nodded in understanding. "I see. By the way, madam, do you have only two children at home?"

Martha, who hadn't returned to her room yet, perked up her ears.

Mrs. Brown almost dropped the plate in her hand, but York, who had been watching her every move, caught it steadily.

Taking the opportunity, York asked, "Madam, is there something wrong with this question?"

Mrs. Brown smiled and took the plate that York handed over. "I have another daughter, her name is Angel, but she is not at home recently."

Not at home?

Yu Xing discreetly glanced at the stairs.

If Angel is not at home, why did the fake "Susan" specifically remind him to be quiet and not disturb Angel?

From the situation, it was obvious that Mrs. Brown knew something.

Suddenly, fragments of thoughts in Yu Xing's mind connected into a line. He saw Alex, who was about to go back to his room, deliberately raise his voice, "Has Miss Angel reached the age where she can go out alone? Then who is older, Miss Angel or Alex? Is Angel Alex's older sister?"

"Angel..." Mrs. Brown's tone hesitated, but Yu Xing's loud voice came in handy.

Alex stopped in his tracks, turned around, and his usually serious expression softened a bit. There was a hint of tenderness in his amber eyes. "She is my sister. She has been out for over a month, and I miss her."

After speaking, Alex, who was not good at expressing friendly emotions, quickened his pace and entered the house, closing the door.

Yu Xing glanced at Susan behind the sofa at the right time. Susan, holding a music box, was about to wind it up, and her expression revealed no likes or dislikes.

A few seconds later, a piece of music floated out of the music box, filling the hall.

Mrs. Brown seemed to furrow her brows slightly, but then relaxed and smiled as she approached Susan, patting her head. "It sounds so good. Sweetie, go play in your room."

"Okay." Susan didn't avoid Mrs. Brown's hand, but she didn't seem very happy either. She held the music box and ran back to her room.

Yu Xing obtained the information he wanted and smirked.

Combining all the information channels, he already had some guesses about this family's situation.

In addition, he had another idea - among the five people in this family, including the supposedly "not at home" Angel, not all of them were specters.

There must be living people mixed in.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from "pawread.com".

Mrs. Brown went to the kitchen to wash the dishes, and the people in the hall... or rather, the ghosts, left one after another.

Martha: "Brother Roy, Brother York, do you want to come to my room and play?"

It was still some time before bedtime, during the free activity period, which was a good time to communicate and discover things.

Yu Xing was about to agree when he received a deduction prompt.

[This is your first day at the Brown's house, and you are very tired from the journey. The investigation progress is slow, and you all know that the most important thing is to find out the source of the singing and screaming at night, so it's better to rest early.]

[Please return to your rooms. If you must exchange information, 60 stamina points will be deducted.]

This meant that Yu Xing couldn't speak anymore.

"..." Yu Xing didn't know if the system had figured out that he had found some key points or if it was just a setting that the three characters didn't want to communicate before nightfall. It would be a big loss to deduct 60 stamina points. After deducting them, Yu Xing would fall asleep on the spot... He only had a total of 60 stamina points.

If his stamina points were depleted, he would be forced to sleep.

In that case, forget it. He should just go back to his room.

Sure enough, York also said, "No, we've been busy all day and are a bit tired. Let's take a nap first. After all, we need to be alert at night."

Their mission was to exorcise demons, after all.

The three of them exchanged a few words of advice to each other, and York went back to his room first. Yu Xing also went upstairs under Martha's helpless gaze.

In the Brown couple's room on the second floor, there were still coughs coming from Mr. Brown, but Angel's room was silent.

She didn't like noise...

Yu Xing walked to Angel's door with a clear conscience and raised his hand to knock.

"Knock, knock."

[You knocked on Angel's door. -10 stamina points.]

Yu Xing ignored it. He remembered that the system had said that only when making key actions would stamina points be deducted directly.

The stamina points deducted from walking before were slowly worn down by -1-1, and there was no prompt for stamina points deduction.

This meant that knocking on Angel's door was a key action.

So Yu Xing continued to disturb the peace:

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock..."

After dozens of knocks, there was still no response from inside the room, but Mr. Brown's coughing stopped.

Yu Xing, like a tank that had taunted and run away, swiftly entered his own room.Closing the door, he pressed his ear against it and listened for a while. He heard the door of Mr. and Mrs. Brown's room open, followed by a series of disordered footsteps pacing back and forth in the corridor. It seemed as if they were searching for something. Finding nothing, they returned to their room.

"Mr. Brown can come out, and his behavior pattern is not like a normal person." Yu Xing concluded in his mind.

Who wouldn't ask "Who's knocking?" or "What's the matter?" before wandering around the corridor like a patrol?

Having confirmed this, Yu Xing turned around to survey the room. The doll had become much more obedient after being "split up", not moving around randomly.

It was indeed time to sleep for the night's operation.

Mrs. Brown had prepared pajamas for them, saying they were all washed and safe to wear.

After hesitating for two seconds, Yu Xing decided to change into the comfortable pajamas and have a good sleep on the bed, even though the chaotic time-space style in this deduction had deprived him of his mobile phone and alarm clock.

But if he wanted to control his sleep time, he could still do it.

There was a small clock in the room, showing that it was exactly eight o'clock.

At eight o'clock in autumn, it should be completely dark outside.

Yu Xing changed his clothes, pulled back the quilt, turned off the light, and the whole room plunged into darkness.

He buried his head in the soft pillow, rubbed it a few times, and closed his eyes contentedly.

However, the word "sound sleep" might be out of his reach.

Just as he lay down, before the quilt had warmed up, a rumbling sound appeared in the silence, reaching Yu Xing's ears.

He turned over, thinking: Great, the doll can't crawl without a body, so it's started rolling again.

At the same time, two messages suddenly appeared in his mind.

【Main task has been updated】

【Find a solution to avoid being killed by the specter tonight】

The sudden task made Yu Xing a bit more awake. He looked at it. This task did not conflict with the previous main line, it was completely new.

"...Why can't I ever get a good sleep?"

The irritable version of Yu Xing immediately got up, turned on the light, the light flickered twice, and went out.

Yu Xing:……

In the pitch dark, he listened carefully to the sound of the doll's head rolling, trying to adapt to the lightless environment and look in the direction of the painting.

He could only see a little outline, but it was enough. The ground in front of the painting—was completely empty.

And in the cabinet by his bed, there began to be a thumping sound.

—The doll's body also started to act up.

Yu Xing rubbed his eyes and yawned.

The task said that finding a solution could prevent him from being killed by the specter, which meant that tonight's specter had the ability to kill.

And this specter that could kill, either it was already in the room, like the painting and the doll, or it was anyone from the Brown family, who could come in by knocking on the door and gank.

He actually leaned towards the latter. If it was indeed the latter, then the two restless factors in the room could be dealt with more casually.

If it was the former, then he was now with something that could kill him, and he also had to think about why the Brown family had been living here for so long without any major incidents, but as soon as a "guest" moved in, they were in trouble. What was the relationship between the Brown family and the little ghosts that could be seen everywhere in the villa?

As he was thinking, the doll's body suddenly stopped moving.

A few seconds later, Yu Xing saw a small figure climbing up to his bedside with a wooden face.

It was the doll, which had somehow managed to piece itself together with great effort.

The moment his gaze fell on the doll, the unfortunate doll froze.

However, it had its eyes wide open, glowing faintly in the dark.

After staring at Yu Xing for two seconds, the doll raised its hand in the spot, making a "want a hug" gesture, and a childish yet grainy voice that was piercing to the ears came from inside the doll: "Mommy! Mommy!"

Yu Xing's heart was unmoved, he seriously reprimanded: "You got the gender wrong, and you're a generation off. Calling me grandpa would be a bargain for you, call me ancestor!"

But the doll didn't listen to him.

In the dark, the voice repeated over and over again, each sentence identical in tone to the last, like a broken record:

"Mommy!"

"Mommy!"

"Mommy!"

"Mommy!"

Ancestor Yu was not pleased and narrowed his eyes.