Chapter 42

Chapter 41: Mountains and Seas 19

As the system prompt disappeared, the players had already arrived at the director’s room door.

On the two opened doors, each hung half a talisman paper. The papers were very tattered, with obvious signs of having been glued back together after being torn.

Shizong approached and could see all sorts of fingerprints covering them.

Moreover, Shizong remembered that day when he and the others, along with the enraged Zhou Lü, entered this room. There was no one inside, so everyone left quickly, and at that time they had not locked the door.

But now, the key and lock were in the hands of one of the chefs.

It seemed that this door had later been locked again, and someone had reattached the talisman paper torn by Zhou Lü.

Until today, it should have been when the two chefs went to welcome Cen Qianshan out of seclusion that the lock was unlocked again, and because of the pushing of the door, the already broken talisman paper split into two halves again.

Shizong immediately looked at the two chefs. “Do you know who locked this door and who put up the talisman?”

One of them replied, “That day, you all barged into the master’s room without consideration. We couldn’t stop you… fearing the master’s anger, we could only make some reparations afterward.”

Zhou Lü probably also thought this detail was important and walked over to ask, “Hiss, that day when we entered, I tore the talisman paper and threw it on the floor, then stormed out of this room, leaving the key casually at the door…

“So you mean that after we left, you two glued the torn talisman paper back together and hung up the lock?”

“Yes.” The two chefs nodded together. “At that time, you were worried about monsters and didn’t dare to come up. We two checked every room and did these things along the way.”

Zhou Lü asked in surprise, “But your master wasn’t in the room at that time. Why did you lock the door?”

“Normally, when the talisman paper is on the door, no one can enter the room, including the master. But the master was missing. So we thought maybe the master’s seclusion ended early. During this seclusion, he not only recovered his powers but also learned other abilities, so he could pass through doors to leave.

“Though we don’t know where the master went, he always comes back. When he returns, if he sees the door unlocked and the talisman torn, he would definitely be angry. So we locked the door again and put up the talisman.

“Of course, the talisman is damaged, which already shows our negligence, but we didn’t replace it and just put it back because we dared not deceive the master.

“We only hoped that at least he wouldn’t think we were grossly negligent. But we never imagined…

“The master is dead… how could the master die…”

At this, tears appeared in the chefs’ eyes, and they broke down, unable to speak.

Seeing this, Shizong temporarily didn’t ask further and first went with the other players into the director’s room. This was a very important crime scene in the current case.

The director lay on his back under the blanket.

The players lifted the blanket and first saw the stab wound at his heart.

Around the wound was a large area of dried, coagulated, dark red blood.

Besides this, there were no other obvious injuries on his body, and no signs of poisoning were found.

Finally, the players completely removed his clothing and examined him from top to bottom, finding many red dots on his back.

These red dots were dense, unevenly distributed, like needle marks.

Soon, they discovered the source—

A glass bottle was placed at his bedside, containing alcohol, cotton balls, and many silver needles.

This was basically all the information from the scene. There were no signs of struggle, and the only lethal wound appeared to be the stab to the heart.

When leaving the room, Shizong saw the two chefs still in the corridor and called out to ask, “Does your master usually get acupuncture?”

“Yes.” Both answered.

“Do you perform acupuncture for him?” Shizong asked again.

“Yes.” They nodded together.

Shizong asked, “When was the last time he had acupuncture?”

“It was…” They exchanged a glance, then said, “Five nights ago.”

“Have you two been in the castle all this time? What is this place?”

Facing Shizong’s question, they exchanged a glance again and said, “We don’t know. When the master created us, we were already here.”

“What do you want to do now?”

“Of course, we want to make a coffin and lay the master inside. He cannot rot here alone… Although we still don’t know how to leave the castle, we hope to bury him properly.”

Shizong thoughtfully observed the two chefs for a moment and said, “The murderer who killed him might be here. We must find this killer to avenge your master. If the body is gone, it will affect our judgment. Don’t you agree?”

“Understood.” Both nodded. “Then we won’t touch the body. We…”

“I’m a bit hungry. Did you prepare breakfast?”

“Yes. But it has been delayed, so it might be a bit cold.”

“Then please help us heat the breakfast. After breakfast… lunch will need to be prepared in advance as well, right? Thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome. It’s our duty.”

After saying this, Shizong watched the two chefs leave, his gaze serious.

Zuo Sanqiu stayed by his side.

He glanced at the chefs’ backs and then at the other players. Quietly, Zuo Sanqiu asked Shizong, “What are you thinking? Do you find them suspicious?”

“They said they cannot leave the castle. Then where did the food we eat come from?” Shizong said. “Meat is understandable. That day in the kitchen, I saw a dedicated freezer. But where do fresh vegetables and fruits come from?

“Could it be that they use some kind of magic to create the food?”

“Yes. These two chefs have been strange from the start. During our exploration, we need to keep a close eye on them. By the way…”

Zuo Sanqiu scratched his head and whispered in Shizong’s ear, “This morning, when the two chefs came over, I was in the corridor. Not only me, but Zhou Lü, Zhang Qijun, and Zhu Shuangyun were also there. When we saw the chefs, Zhu Shuangyun immediately demanded food. Huh, that’s not the point. The point is—

“We saw with our own eyes the chefs using the key to unlock the door and tearing off the talisman.

“So this is a locked-room murder case!

“Before the chefs knocked on your door to wake you, I even asked them. They said that torn talisman paper still works. Normally, no one can pass through a door without tearing the talisman!”

After a brief chat with Zuo Sanqiu, Shizong walked with him to the staircase.

All the players had gathered here to discuss the next investigation steps.

Since the first floor of the castle was open, everyone decided to go there together to check.

Shizong remembered the hesitant look on He Zhen’s face during breakfast the day before and glanced at him.

Among the crowd, their eyes met, and He Zhen nodded at Shizong.

Shizong said he and He Zhen would explore the banquet hall first and then join everyone on the first floor later.

Hearing this, Zhou Lü suspiciously looked at them, then half-jokingly said, “Last time you two tricked us badly. Don’t be on the same side again this time.”

“No,” Shizong said. “Otherwise, do you want to come to the banquet hall with us?”

Zhou Lü thought for a moment and said, “I really want to check out the first floor. I’ll go first. You two hurry.”

Zhu Shuangyun interjected, “I’m curious about the first floor too. But I need to grab some food from the banquet hall first. After that, I’ll come find you.”

Thus, everyone headed downstairs together.

On the way, Shizong patted Zuo Sanqiu’s shoulder. “Keep an eye on the others. Don’t let them pull any tricks.”

Zuo Sanqiu quietly gave him an “OK” gesture.

Upon reaching the fourth floor, Zhou Lü, Zuo Sanqiu, and Zhang Qijun continued downward.

Shizong, He Zhen, and Zhu Shuangyun went to the banquet hall together.

The table already had a fairly abundant breakfast. Zhu Shuangyun took a large bag and packed all the food she could, then ran to the kitchen entrance and asked the people inside, “Excuse me, could I have some more food?”

Hearing this, the two chefs handed over plenty of fruit and snacks.

Zhu Shuangyun packed them into her bag, gave Shizong and He Zhen an apologetic smile, and quickly left.

Standing at the kitchen door in the banquet hall, Shizong smiled and waved at Zhu Shuangyun, watching her leave.

Shizong’s reason for first exploring other floors was simple.

The first floor was sealed, and the murderer was among the players. He assumed the killer had not gone to the

“After putting up the talisman, I stepped back and looked at it. I found that no one would notice the problem at once, so after putting the lock back on the door, I left the fifth floor and, while invisible, went to the fourth-floor chef lounge to return the key.”

What He Zhen said was basically his original script.

After hearing the full story, Shizong asked him, “When you stabbed the director, did you feel that he was already dead?”

“Yes,” He Zhen said. “At that time, I was actually very weak and mentally furious. I didn’t pay close attention to his state. But I could feel that he was already dead. His body was cold, even somewhat stiff, and he didn’t move at all.”

Shizong said, “But there was a lot of blood at the scene. If the corpse had already stiffened, there shouldn’t have been so much blood. When you stabbed his heart, did you notice a lot of blood?”

He Zhen shook his head. “I was there to kill, so I didn’t turn on the light. It was still dark, and I was facing away from the window while stabbing, so I couldn’t see clearly.

“After stabbing, I heard faint noises in the corridor, so I hurriedly left.

“Once in the corridor, I calmed down and realized no one was coming, so I did the door closing, talisman putting, and lock hanging. In short, under the circumstances, I didn’t pay attention to whether he was bleeding.”

He Zhen paused, then said, “Just now, one sentence from the two chefs caught my attention—

“‘The talisman was damaged, which already exposed our negligence, but we didn’t replace it and just put it back because we dared not deceive the master.’”

Shizong immediately understood his meaning and said, “There wasn’t just one talisman.”

He Zhen nodded, glancing toward the kitchen, and whispered, “We need to check over there.”

Shizong asked, “Can you still go invisible?”

He Zhen said, “Yes. But if I move things, it will make noise.”

“Then I’ll draw them out. You go find it,” Shizong said.

“Okay.” He Zhen agreed and quickly used the [Transform Ghost] skill, disappearing from Shizong’s sight.

Shizong waited a moment, then pushed all the items on the table to the ground.

For a while, the banquet hall was full of clattering sounds.

Hearing the unusual noise, the two chefs quickly ran out.

“What’s going on?” they asked Shizong.

Shizong showed just a hint of fear on his face: “That monster seems to have returned. It was the one—”

Seeing their slightly awkward expressions, he quickly changed his words, “Maybe I’m too tired and hallucinating. To be honest, I always feel like I’m dreaming. I won’t hide it…

“These past two days I’ve been locked in my room, often standing by the window looking outside… whenever I see the sea at the foot of the mountains, I keep thinking—

“If I jump and kill myself, would it end all this…”

With a gentle sigh, Shizong looked at them and said, “You’re not in a hurry to make lunch, right? Just stay here and chat with me. I… I really feel uneasy. What kind of world have I come to?”

Under the dim light, Shizong chatted casually with the two chefs and, using He Zhen’s words, organized the whole murder case—

The night the director went into seclusion is called Day 0 of seclusion.

Around 9 PM that night, the director returned to his room in front of everyone.

Afterward, the two chefs locked his door and put up a [Calm Mind Talisman] that allowed him to focus on seclusion and blocked all outside sounds.

On the morning of Day 1, Zhang Qijun used [Charm] to trick the chefs into giving him the key. He probably wanted to enter the director’s room. Whether he succeeded or what he did is unknown.

The only certainty is that he returned the key afterward.

At 4:50 AM on Day 2, He Zhen stole the key from the chefs and at 5 AM entered the director’s room to stab him.

That same morning at 9:30, Zhou Lü, eating breakfast with everyone, became agitated, claiming he wanted to find the director and release everyone.

He forced the chefs to hand over the key.

Around 10:20, the players returned from the fourth-floor banquet hall to the fifth floor and experienced a power outage, with all lights in the corridor going out.

Not only that, the players were apparently chased by a monster.

Later, the monster’s sound disappeared, and they found the director’s room using flashlights.

At that time, the talisman damaged by He Zhen had miraculously restored itself.

Zhou Lü tore the talisman, unlocked the door, and led everyone inside.

Later, everyone searched the bathroom, wardrobe, and under the bed and found that the director was not there.

Unable to find the director, the players left and went downstairs.

The two chefs later went to the fifth floor again, claiming they checked every room for monsters and found none.

They also reattached the talisman torn by Zhou Lü to the door and locked it again.

Today was Day 4 of the director’s seclusion.

By rights, the director should have ended his seclusion.

The two chefs went to find him and discovered him dead in his room.

Before entering the director’s room, the lock was secure and the talisman properly attached.

Although the talisman had been torn and reattached, it was still effective. In other words, even if there were Asuras or ghosts, no character could casually pass through the walls.

This was indeed a classic locked-room murder.

Where did the director go in the middle?

Why did he disappear from the room?

When exactly did he die?

Several possibilities arise here.

The first possibility: the person He Zhen killed was not the director, meaning the castle still hides someone unknown who looks like the director, causing He Zhen to make a mistake in the dim light.

The real killer may have killed both the real director and this “impostor” director.

As far as is known, there is only one key to the director’s room.

He Zhen returned the key around 5:10 AM.

However, the chefs would get up at 5:30 to prepare breakfast.

This means the real killer could have stolen the key between 5:10 and 5:30, moved the impostor body, and returned the key.

Shizong thought this was too tight a time frame.

Without finding another body, he temporarily ruled out this possibility.

The second possibility: when He Zhen stabbed the director, he felt the body cold and stiff because it was a special stiffness during seclusion.

He Zhen’s stab did not actually kill the director.

Later, the director, having discovered some ability unaffected by the [Calm Mind Talisman] during seclusion, used it to leave the room through walls.

Afterward, while Shizong stayed in his room without going out, the director returned and was then killed by the real murderer.

Perhaps the killer saw the wound on the heart and stabbed it again to cover He Zhen’s stab.

This means the director was killed after He Zhen acted.

However, if the director could leave the room through walls, ignoring doors, locks, and talismans, he had already regained his powers.

Then, among those present, who could kill the Celestial Dao master with great power?

Could such a person be killed by just one knife?

Shizong also ruled out this possibility.

The remaining possibility: when He Zhen stabbed the director, he was already dead.

How he died, why the body disappeared from the room, and how the killer created the illusion that the director left the room and died afterward—this was the locked-room mystery the players needed to solve.

Meanwhile, He Zhen successfully passed through the kitchen invisibly and went to the chef lounge.

He didn’t find the talisman there, so he went to the storage room.

The storage room had a locked chest.

Remembering another key in the lounge, He Zhen went back to get it and tried each key one by one until he successfully opened the chest.

Inside were multiple sealed bags.

All the bags looked the same and had identical labels—

[Calm Mind Spell: Each talisman must be placed in a sealed bag, otherwise it will accumulate messy fingerprints]

He Zhen took several Calm Mind spells in sealed bags.

Then he didn’t leave immediately but carefully looked around the storage room.

He noticed many wooden shelves with various items: wooden fish, meditation cushions, weapons like swords and spears.

The placement pattern wasn’t immediately clear.

What surprised He Zhen was that there was a grand piano on a tripod.

The piano and bench were covered with thick black velvet cloth.

He Zhen carefully lifted the two pieces of cloth and saw the piano and bench. They were exquisite and elegant, somewhat antique, with unknown origin.

All items in the storage room were dusty. The piano itself wasn’t dusty because of the cloth, but the surrounding area was.

He lifted the cloth carefully, leaving almost no trace of disturbed dust.

He noticed that the dust pattern around the piano and bench was

Listening to Shizong’s smooth-talking, He Zhen’s lips curved into a faint smile.

But as he was about to leave the kitchen and return to the banquet hall, something caught his eye, and he stopped in his tracks.

He Zhen was looking at an iron door in the kitchen labeled “Freezer Area.”

He recalled the discussion Shizong and Zuo Sanqiu had before going downstairs about the source of their food.

Reaching the kitchen’s front door, He Zhen glanced into the banquet hall. Seeing that the two chefs were completely unaware, he quickly walked to the freezer area and gently pushed open the iron door.

A wave of cold hit him. Under the debuff effect, He Zhen felt noticeably uncomfortable, as if he might collapse at any moment.

But he didn’t even furrow his brow, quickly stepping inside and closing the door behind him.

Inside the freezer, He Zhen saw many freezers, each labeled “Beef,” “Lamb,” and so on.

He scanned row by row until he came to the freezer at the very back of the area.

Looking through the transparent glass, He Zhen’s brow furrowed slightly.

He discovered two corpses inside.

Stepping forward, he quickly opened the glass door, revealing the full sight of the two bodies.

—They were the two chefs.