Chapter 5

To Tang the butler, Shi Jian’s actions were like a sweet, delicious little cookie swaying back and forth right in front of him. Just as he patiently waited for the cookie to drop into his mouth—snap—the cookie suddenly flew away at the last second!

And it even swayed its body as it flew.

Tang the butler had no interest in saying “good night.” He wanted a midnight snack.

Because he was worried, Zhang Dong, who had been watching Shi Jian through the peephole, couldn’t help but give her a thumbs-up through the air.

Awesome, seriously—she even provoked Tang the butler.

Her nerves must be made of steel, and she looked so good while doing it too.

Zhang Dong thought Shi Jian had deliberately struck a stylish pose as part of her provocation, when in fact, she had just posed without any intention of provocation.

Of course, no one but Shi Jian believed that.

...

A large amount of saliva dripped from Tang the butler’s mouth, even forming a small puddle on the floor—far beyond what any normal person should produce.

He stared coldly at Shi Jian’s room door for a while, then pulled out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and wiped the corners of his mouth before turning and leaving.

He was off to look for other little snacks—he could already smell their scent.

Shi Jian, having finally pulled off a glorious moment and nailed her perfect exit, was still riding a wave of intense excitement.

And the good news was, back in her room, the temperature didn’t feel as cold anymore.

The ping-pong-ball-sized hail had stopped too. The room seemed to have returned to how it was before, except the bedsheets were really damp.

Thankfully, she had brought her blanket and pillow out—otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Shi Jian split the blanket in two: one half to cover herself, the other to lie on. Honestly, it didn’t feel too bad.

Sleep, then.

Shi Jian told herself, a little bitterly, not to overthink it. She was already here, there was no helping it. Still, she really missed her soft, fluffy bed and her room filled with the scent of essential oils.

Shi Jian: Gotta hurry up and knock myself out—I don’t want to see that giant red eyeball.

With her eyes closed, Shi Jian pushed aside all distractions and prepared to fall asleep. The room was very quiet—so quiet she could only hear her own breathing.

Quiet?!

But she remembered her temporary roommate had rhinitis and usually breathed pretty heavily.

Shi Jian’s heart, which had just calmed down, began to pound again. She suddenly opened her eyes and looked toward the bed across from her in the dark. Though the lights were off, a bit of light from the hallway spilled through the crack beneath the door—just enough for Shi Jian to see clearly.

The urban lady, who had said she was scared of missing the curfew and returned early, was not on her bed.

The bed across from Shi Jian was completely empty.

Where did she go?

Shi Jian unconsciously tightened her grip on her blanket. Before she could think any further, a bloodcurdling scream echoed from the darkness in the distance—it was the urban lady’s voice.

The scream was piercingly shrill, ripping through the still night. It sounded like she had seen something horrifying. The scream burst out suddenly—and then, just as suddenly, was cut off.

SilenceShi Jian knew exactly what that meant.

Her good night’s sleep had abandoned her—at least for tonight, there was no way she could sleep.

…

Viewers in the public channel livestream could see everything from a bird’s-eye view.

The urban lady had told Shi Jian she was returning to her room early, but in reality, she had quietly slipped into the study.

She hadn’t slept a wink the night before, exhausted and terrified. Tonight, with the strange phenomena in the rooms starting even earlier and more intensely, she had no intention of going back. In her mind, the night would be another nightmare.

Earlier during the day, she had discovered there was a study on that floor.

Since no one else had shown any interest in it, she hatched a little plan: to secretly stay there without telling anyone.

At first, everything went according to plan. The study had carpet, so even sleeping on the floor was better than her room. Nothing unusual happened, and even after midnight, everything remained calm.

In the end, just as she was smugly gloating and mocking Shi Jian and the others as fools, Tang the butler found her—and devoured her.

The reason Shi Jian knew the urban lady was eaten by Tang the butler was because of the footage captured by Zhang Dong’s prop camera.

Zhang Dong scratched his head. “I was wondering where those two big eyeballs were coming from, so I set up the camera in the living room. Didn’t expect…”

Didn’t expect it to record the death of the third victim.

Shi Jian saw the urban lady stumbling out of the study in a panic, clearly trying to escape. But she was caught almost immediately by Tang the butler.

Tang the butler devoured her whole like a python, stretching his mouth all the way to his ears. After swallowing her, his previously scrawny body swelled like a barrel.

No one could say for sure whether he noticed the camera or not, but Shi Jian had the distinct feeling that, at the end, Tang the butler smiled toward the camera.

Shi Jian: “…”

She casually reached up to touch her arm.

Goosebumps—everywhere!

…

“This Tang butler is definitely not human.”

“We shouldn’t split up again. No more cutting corners. The rooms might not be safe, but they’re still safer than outside.”

“If she had just told us, it wouldn’t have ended like this. We could’ve tried to talk her out of it.”

No one talked too much about what happened to the urban lady.

It was the third day at Rose Castle. Two people had died on the first day, one more on the second. The frequent deaths had left them numb.

And more importantly, this was the third day with nothing to eat except water.

Shi Jian even overheard someone muttering, “...I mean, rats aren’t completely inedible, right?” Their eyes were glowing green from hunger.

“…”

Others managed to talk that person down.

“How do you know that’s a normal rat?”

Shi Jian couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. She asked Zhang Dong, “Are newbie dungeons always this hard?”Zhang Dong also looked puzzled. “Logically, it shouldn’t be like this.”

There were just too many difficulties and death triggers. Shi Jian felt that if all newbie dungeons were like this, it’d be way too easy for everyone to get wiped out.

【Compared to other places, this Rose Castle really doesn’t feel like a newbie dungeon.】

【Lighting a candle for the rookie streamers.】

Zhang Dong motioned for Shi Jian to walk a bit farther away with him. Once they’d moved out of earshot, he asked, “How do you think we’re supposed to clear this dungeon?”

Shi Jian was at a loss for words: Great, he asked the exact question she wanted to ask him.

Well, no need to ask now—it was obvious he didn’t know either.

Shi Jian complained, “Aren’t you the newbie guide? You should be more experienced than me. I just got here.”

Zhang Dong looked a little embarrassed, but still came clean under the pressure of speaking to a pro.

“All the dungeons I cleared before were carried by pros. Don’t look at me like that—it’s true I qualified as a newbie guide, and usually newbie dungeons aren’t hard to clear…”

But somehow, this one felt like he was about to die in a so-called “newbie dungeon.”

So when he was completely out of ideas, he turned to Shi Jian, who had the strongest aura of a pro in the whole dungeon.

Delicate-looking, but actually fierce and unshakable.

Actually delicate. Shi Jian kept a straight face.

She understood now: Zhang Dong had coasted through everything up to this point.

Under Zhang Dong’s hopeful gaze, Shi Jian returned to her room, grabbed a pillow, tucked it under her arm, and headed up the stairs to the second floor.

Zhang Dong hadn’t expected Shi Jian to suddenly take such an action. Afraid that raising his voice would attract Tang the butler, he called out quietly to her from the stairs.

“It’s dangerous up there, don’t go!”

No one had dared venture past the first floor—Tang the butler always came down from upstairs. Who would willingly walk into a monster’s lair?

Shi Jian didn’t stop just because of Zhang Dong’s warning. “It’s fine, don’t worry about me.”

Zhang Dong looked at Shi Jian’s determined face and felt strangely inspired. He asked curiously, “Do you have a plan?”

Shi Jian nodded. “Yep.”

“To die.”

Zhang Dong: ???

He seriously started to doubt his hearing.

After learning that Zhang Dong—the only experienced streamer here—had always cleared dungeons by piggybacking off others, Shi Jian was already emotionally checked out.

A celebrity’s stomach couldn’t handle not eating for three days either. The point was, she knew if things kept going this way, her state would only get worse each day. In this monster-infested castle, if she was going to die sooner or later, she might as well die at her most fabulous.