In the darkness, two men wearing smiling masks stared at a small wooden box, getting very close to it. For a moment, there was silence, like a pantomime suddenly paused, the scene looked ridiculous.

Yu Xing didn't expect to find any lighting tools, but unexpectedly found something in the last cabinet. He held the small wooden box and examined it in the dim light. There were no patterns on the box, and it was bare. It was hard to notice unless you looked closely. There was a lock on the box, and it was locked. Yu Xing didn't find a matching key in the drawer where he found the box.

Zeng Lai's head got closer and closer to the box, almost touching it, and he asked, "What is this?"

Yu Xing suggested smashing it open, but Zeng Lai agreed and said, "Let's smash it!"

Yu Xing felt the hardness of the box and was about to exert his strength when a deduction prompt appeared.

【There seems to be a special mark left on the box. It cannot be opened without a key, nor can it be destroyed.】

【You have a feeling that the key is at the end of this corridor.】

"This must be a prop box," Yu Xing said, feeling more confident after seeing the deduction prompt. The fact that even the key prompt was given meant that the deduction system wanted them to open it.

Unfortunately, they still hadn't found any lighting tools, so they couldn't immediately go deeper into the corridor to get the key.

He told Zeng Lai about the prompt, and Zeng Lai nodded, "Well, at least we have a target now. Let's take the box back to the room and hide it. Although we're not sure if it's definitely a prop, it must be something powerful. We can't let the Fallen Line take it away."

"I was thinking the same thing," Yu Xing said with a slight smile, feeling unexpectedly pleased with the find.

Drip, drip.

Suddenly, a drop of water fell at Yu Xing's feet, shattering into countless pieces. His hearing was sensitive, especially after being enhanced by the system, so even such a small sound didn't escape his ears.

Zeng Lai also heard it and asked, "Why is there water dripping here?"

As he spoke, another drop of water brushed against Yu Xing's mask and landed on his clothes. Yu Xing looked up with interest.

They had been so focused on looking at the corridor and the walls that they had forgotten to look up.

In the dim and lightless environment, the ceiling was an easily overlooked place. As Yu Xing looked up, another drop of water fell straight into the eye hole of his mask. He sensed something and stepped back to avoid it.

At the same time, he managed to see the scene on the ceiling clearly.

The ceiling was covered with heavy marks, and in the center, there was a blood-red circle with a diameter of over a meter!

The blood circle looked strange, with clear and complete lines. At first glance, it reminded Yu Xing of some kind of demonic culture in Europe. It looked like a summoning circle, exuding an evil aura that made him squint.

The blood circle should have been dry, but in the short half-minute that Yu Xing stood directly below it, it became moist, and the blood-colored lines seemed to be moving, slowly coming to life.

The drops that had fallen were not water, but blood!

【You have discovered the "Abyssal Blood Circle." Since the circle is not activated, the Ghost Notification Book will not be updated.】

【Warning, the Abyssal Blood Circle is awakening. Please move away as soon as possible.】

"Oh, we need to leave," Zeng Lai said, pulling Yu Xing. "Based on my experience, this should be a sensing ghost circle. It won't be triggered if no one is nearby, but we're within its sensing range! Or maybe it's guarding the box, and it will wake up when we take the box. In any case, let's go..."

"Got it," Yu Xing said, not needing to be pulled. After hearing Zeng Lai's words, he immediately ran towards the stairs and disappeared in a flash, running faster than a rabbit.

Zeng Lai: "..." This guy!

He closed his mouth and chased after Yu Xing. They quickly returned to the third-floor intersection.

After they left, the melted blood had dried up again, and the blood circle had moved for a while before falling silent.

...

"You run pretty fast. Did you strengthen your physique with points...?"

Zeng Lai finally caught up with Yu Xing, but saw him panting with his hands on his knees.

He looked so tired, it didn't seem like someone who had strengthened their physique. If he panted any louder, Zeng Lai would suspect that he was about to pass out from lack of breath.

He scratched his head and said, "Never mind."

Was his physique weaker than the average person's? Was Yu Xing sick in real life? He didn't mean to offend, he was referring to physical illness, like heart disease or cancer.

Both of these could be treated with points, but many deductionists, after just reaching the differentiation level, exchanged their points for props to comfort their young and fragile hearts after experiencing life-threatening situations.Maybe Xing is like this, so he didn't have time to treat his illness? Terminal illness and incurable diseases require a lot of points, so it was delayed... Zeng Lai thought.

Yu Xing had no idea that Zeng Lai had guessed so much in his heart. He just wanted to run out of the blood array to avoid getting hurt and exposing his abilities.

His current speed is still good, and his explosive power is enough, but his physical strength can't keep up at all. He has to rest for a while after running for a while, otherwise he will feel dizzy and suffocated. After this deduction is over, his wish list conditions will be met, and the subsequent actions will be much easier.

After panting for a while in Zeng Lai's unconcealed concern for the disabled, Yu Xing finally straightened up and walked with Zeng Lai to the intersection of the main corridor.

There was a buckle on the small wooden box, which he picked up at the moment, and the things inside made a dull sound.

The two of them stayed on the fifth floor for more than ten minutes. At this time, Huai and Huang Bai just finished investigating the bathroom and walked out, while the other four deductionists were nowhere to be found.

Zeng Lai turned his head and glanced at Huai and Huang Bai coming from the other side of the intersection, and whispered to Yu Xing, "Hide the box in my room first."

"In my room?" Yu Xing's eyes flashed with a hint of playfulness. He thought that Zeng Lai would say it's not safe to put such an important thing here and would take it for safekeeping.

After all, the two of them found the box together, and it didn't belong entirely to him. Zeng Lai had ample reason to take it away.

"Just put it in your room. I'm afraid that if I put it in my room, it will be stolen again. Ren Yi scolds me every day for not being stable enough," Zeng Lai said with a bit of frustration, then realized that Yu Xing couldn't see his expression under the mask and couldn't feel his complaints, so he boringly restrained himself.

The two of them muttered to themselves, walking fast, and Huai, who was behind them, vaguely saw that they were holding something in their hands, and then their sight was blocked by the curved wall.

"Huai~ it seems like they found something good," Huang Bai bounced over to Huai with her hands behind her back, "Should we go and negotiate with them? I heard that the gambler has a good reputation and is trustworthy. We can discuss exchanging information with them!"

Theft is never good, try looking at [ pawread.com ].

Huai felt a little headache from this overly lively girl, "I've considered what you said. Don't speak so loudly, in case someone hears..."

"I'm sorry~" Huai hadn't finished educating Huang Bai, but she immediately looked like she was admitting her mistake, leaving Huai's second half of the sentence hanging.

It was the first time he had seen Huang Bai, and he could be sure that this woman definitely had a sharp tongue, not as harmless as she appeared on the surface.

But so far, she hadn't done anything out of line, and she had no objections to his orders. From the perspective of a "teammate," she was undoubtedly qualified.

Thinking of this, Huai didn't say much and just said, "Alright, let's try to make contact with them during dinner. Based on my understanding of gamblers, he and Xing should have gone to the fifth floor. They came down so quickly, it's very likely that there's an obstacle on the fifth floor and they couldn't search far, so let's go to the second floor first."

...

Dinner was at six-thirty. When Yu Xing and Zeng Lai walked to the observation deck, it was already past five o'clock. The outdoor kitchen on the second floor was brightly lit, overshadowing the light of the observation deck.

After realizing that neither Huai and Huang Bai nor the things in the blood array on the fifth floor had followed them, their pace slowed down a lot. At this time, they still had the leisure to stand on the crystal observation deck and look down.

From their excellent angle, they could see the entire kitchen.

The kitchen was in the familiar steampunk style that Yu Xing was familiar with, with a main color scheme of red and white. Everything that could be seen in a kitchen, such as refrigerators, stoves, soup pots, ingredient bowls, knife racks, and spice racks, were all there.

Sure enough, Alice still liked this style, which was very familiar.

Two obese humanoids in white chef's uniforms were stirring a pot of thick soup with giant spoons. The gears on the pot were spinning rapidly, and the steaming soup sent a fragrant smell straight into Yu Xing and Zeng Lai's noses.

Another chef of the same size was carrying a plate of vegetables with his fleshy hands, walking towards the cutting board.

"Damn, are these chefs?" Zeng Lai was not fooled by the fragrance. He looked at these chefs who were completely covered in fat and asked in a low voice.

Because the chefs didn't look like normal people at all.

The tall hats were worn on the heads of the chefs, which were one size larger than those of ordinary humans. They seemed to enjoy the cooking process very much, smiling happily, almost laughing their eyes off.

These were the first castle staff that Yu Xing had seen with expressions, but just from their appearance, they were not as normal as the tour guide nun and the old steward.

Amidst the rising steam, an exhaust hood was working, making a unique mechanical sound, rumbling and making quite a noise, making the kitchen lively and bustling.

As the smoke dissipated, Yu Xing saw the faces of the chefs and found that the three of them looked exactly the same. The kitchen was very close to the observation deck, and he could infer that these chefs were probably a little shorter than ordinary men, but their horizontal area was large, with a pile of meat, definitely weighing over three hundred pounds, in an extremely deformed state.The chefs paid no attention to what was above them, failing to notice two tourists clinging to the crystal, watching the commotion with interest. They were happily cooking, not speaking to each other, yet their coordination was seamless, and their cooking efficiency was high. Zeng Lai was somewhat shocked: "They're like the gluttonous guests in Spirited Away."

Yu Xing fell silent for a moment before correcting him: "They're more like the chefs in Little Nightmares."

Little Nightmares was a horror game that had been released in the real world and had once been very famous. Yu Xing had bought it and played it; the gaming experience was decent, so the memory was still fresh.

In his view, the three chefs in Alice's castle bore an eighty percent resemblance to the chefs in that game, looking just like monsters.

"Can we eat the food they make? I hope we won't end up like them after eating it," Zeng Lai shivered, not showing any airs of a celebrity Deductionist. He patted Yu Xing's shoulder, "Isn't there always this kind of trope in horror movies? The more you eat, the hungrier you get, and the hungrier you are, the more you eat, until you turn into a beast or monster that knows only to eat. Hey, are you going to have dinner later?"

"Look at the ingredients they're using. You can tell they're fresh, normal vegetables, and there's the meat over there—" Yu Xing pointed to the meat rack on the other side, where freshly slaughtered cattle, sheep, and pigs could be seen, the origin of the meat clear and transparent.

The ingredients were healthy, at least there was no need to worry about eating something inedible to humans.

He glanced at Zeng Lai: "Senior, you should know the answer to the question you asked, right?"

"Hmph, just wanted to test your level, but you saw right through me," Zeng Lai shrugged, "You're right, the food should be edible. The main theme of this Deduction isn't greed or gluttony. If there were traps, they wouldn't extend to the food, otherwise, they wouldn't have put the kitchen right in front of us."

After watching the plump chefs cook for a while longer, Yu Xing lost interest and pulled Zeng Lai back to their rooms.

The rooms assigned by Alice had handles on both the inside and outside, allowing them to be locked from the inside by turning a knob, but there were no keys. This meant that when no one was in the room, anyone could enter someone else's room.

Just thinking about it felt unsafe.

Zeng Lai followed Yu Xing into his bedroom first, watching as Yu Xing placed his suitcase on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in the room and covered it with books, then glanced at the time.

Five forty-eight, time was passing slightly faster than their perception.

"We have forty minutes until dinner, should we go down to the first floor again?" Yu Xing asked.

There were four staircases in the lobby on the first floor, and they had only taken one. Going ahead of time might give them a chance to get a rough idea of where the other three led.

"Sure, let's rest for five minutes and then go," Zeng Lai said, "I'm going back to my room now, I'll come to get you in five minutes."

Yu Xing nodded in response: "Okay."

Zeng Lai walked out, even helping to close the door behind him. Suddenly, Yu Xing was alone in the bedroom.

He took off his mask and let out a long sigh, once again lamenting how suffocating the mask was.

The dagger at his waist moved slightly, and Yi Qing, who had been watching the whole way, materialized and floated in the air, teasing with refined sarcasm: "Frail and sickly, too weak."

"...I'll be better soon," Yu Xing glanced at him, sensing that Yi Qing, who had seen various Specters and the castle's chefs, was in a good mood, so he took the opportunity to ask, "Can you do me a favor?"

Yi Qing's fan fluttered elegantly in his hand: "What is it?"

Yu Xing held up the locked wooden box in his hand: "Can you use your smoke form to help me quietly place this box in Zeng Lai's room?"