Se Lang initially felt bad vibes coming from the castle. Even before he entered it, especially after he saw how ugly it looked from outside the castle gates when Pyro Jack was talking.
But that sneaky Jack O Lantern lied.
The moment all three entered the castle courtyard, the gates behind them closed shut fast as if it closed its mouth to keep its prey inside and never allow them to resurface again. Se Lang noticed the door closing after taking a few steps inside but he was unable to react in time because of the Gingerbread Knights that blocked the gateway.
When the gate closed, the dull interior design of the courtyard turned into something desolate and broken. It was an illusion that Pyro Jack was barely maintaining till now when the cultivators stepped into the ‘castle’ courtyard.
It was in fact, an abandoned house that was left untouched for ages. Shi Hui turned back to demand an explanation from the knights but they seemed to have disappeared from their sights. Se Lang tried to pull open the castle gates to gain access back to the island but it was to no avail.
The ‘castle’ walls surrounding the abandoned house were smooth like concrete, unlike the fluffy and colourful walls they had seen from the outside. Jia Ying sprinted around and searched for a way up, but found no stairways to the top of the walls. She tried to do a few high jumps, even executing a jump attack weapon art but it was equally useless.
No matter how high she tried to jump, the walls got even higher. It proved to show that they were stuck. “Shit! No wonder that stupid pumpkin was being so kind to us. This was a trap after all! Why did I even bother to listen to it!” Se Lang banged his hands on the castle gate but there was no sound produced at all. Shi Hui went to comfort him, it was in his nature to help people after all, he could not exactly be blamed.
It seemed that it did not allow anything, even sound, to escape beyond the gate and walls. Were they imprisoned? They had no idea at all. All they could do was explore the abandoned house which Jia Ying considered a bad idea.
“You know, we can just quit the instance if we think it’s too hard for us.” Jia Ying suggested as she felt the creeps coming from the vibes of the abandoned house.
“But we won’t be able to get anything back after reaching this far. Jin only said he would refund those who could not get past the first stage. It seems to me that we are far past the first stage.” Shi Hui replied.
“Besides, I was in captivity almost the entire time. Not really the best way to spend my ticket and I have to burn some calories after eating those candies. Fighting the chimera if it really exists sounds like a better option to me than quitting.” Shi Hui added on.
“But I just have a very bad feeling about the abandoned house. I am not sure if it is the right choice to even go in.” Even though Jia Ying was considered the bravest of the Venus Four, and often scoffed at the other three for their wimpiness, the vibe she felt from the abandoned house gave her a bad feeling.
“We have no other place to go. We tried jumping over the walls, trying to destroy them, but not even able to leave a dent on them. Nothing seems to work. The only thing left to do is to go inside the abandoned house.” Se Lang explained. “If things really get too rough, we can just leave. No use staying if we get too scared.”
“If that’s the case, then why are we even in a dimensional instance? Isn’t its purpose to train us up while having fun whenever possible? I think Boss Jin had a reason to create something this ominous. If it was in real life, I would have just ignored it.” Shi Hui said as she began to walk towards the house and entered the building.
“Ahh, that girl!” Jia Ying hesitated for a while but eventually could not help but to follow after her. She entered the building next, followed by Se Lang after he took out his scythe blade from his scythe since he was going into small cramped area again.
Unfortunately, Se Lang should not have wasted any time. After he went in, he found himself…in a hall of mirrors.
“Oh, what the hell…so does that mean Shi Hui and Jia Ying who entered separately are in a different maze?” Se Lang considered what to do next and tried to break the mirrors with his blade. He guessed that if he managed to break them, they would not have any illusory effect on him. Sadly, no matter how hard he tried to break them, they would not budge.
“F.u.c.kl, I hate this kind of scene!” Se Lang remembered the last time he was placed in this situation. Fear was eating him up as he trembled forward.
Meanwhile Jia Ying was not in a hall of mirrors but instead, she was tied up on a chair and blindfolded. She could only hear footsteps which she assumed belonged to either Shi Hui or Se Lang.
“So… you think you fooled me, huh? Thinking that I was not around to witness anything.” The voice of Shi Hui went in from one ear to another.
“What are you talking about? Don’t play around Shi Hui, we need to explore this abandoned house and find a way to get revenge.” Jia Ying sweated a little. Did Shi Hui somehow know about the little incident between them when Jia Ying and Se Lang were in the ice barrier? How could that be? Did Se Lang secretly tell her about it?
“Stop lying to me!” A forced push caused the chair’s legs to give way and Jia Ying crashed to the ground. “So, you thought that we are best buddies and that I would be fine with the idea to share him with you?!” Shi Hui continued to kick Jia Ying in the stomach but she was not relenting.
There was something off about Shi Hui. This was not her normal behaviour at all. Jia Ying felt it was not right and decided not to say anything at the moment. “Huh! You think keeping quiet will help you in any way!” Shi Hui pulled Jia Ying up by her hair as she shouted in her ear.
Separately, when Jia Ying and Se Lang were up against their own fears, the real Shi Hui was wounded fighting with the Gingerbread Knights that ambushed her in the abandoned two storey house. “Where did Jia Ying and Se Lang go? Why are they not here yet?! Did they leave me alone? Was that why Se Lang did not rescue me but Jia Ying?!” Those were the hidden thoughts that were being echoed throughout the abandoned house as the three gingerbread knights, now with green fire in their eyes fought her.
Each of the three cultivators was fighting against their own insecurity, their own personal fears in their own way in this abandoned house that they entered. However, each and every second that they spent in there was equally torturous, Pyro Jack was laughing heartily at their misery as he watched the three suffer in his personal house of madness.
