Chapter 154: Tarot Game (4)
Chapter 154: Tarot Game (4)
Everyone looked solemn after hearing the rules. From the beginning of the movie to the present, there was too much information. They couldn’t tell which of the information given was valid or not. They were currently extremely passive and could only take one step at a time.
The maid in black clothing made a gesture to ask if everyone understood the rules. After getting a positive answer, she didn’t take everyone to see the owner of the castle as she said. Instead, she gestured to everyone to ‘wait’ and headed toward a table not far away.
At the table, a maid in the same black clothing was waiting for her. The maid at the table had snowy skin, black and shiny hair and her facial features were deep and charming. She should be the most outstanding one among all the servants. Compared with her, the servant standing opposite her looked inferior and gloomy.
Due to her outstanding appearance, Xie Chi had an impression of the maid. She wasn’t among the three servants who fed the crows before but came out with the other servants when the castle door opened.
As the crows performed, she stood behind the maid who led them and was in the second position. If Xie Chi remembered correctly, the crow in her hand should’ve flown to the female cannon fodder.
Everyone waited. The maid who led the way and the beautiful maid exchanged a few hand gestures and the beautiful maid left.
Jiang Shuo stared for a moment. His eyes flickered and became dark.
The maid leading the way came back and led them upstairs to see the master. The group followed behind the maid.
The castle they were in had a huge internal space, light colored walls and stone floors. The decorations might be retro or the castle itself was old. Everything inside the castle had a sense of age. There were no fluorescent lights in the castle, only three pronged candle wall lights. The brightness was worrying. The color of the castle was red-black and the furniture and carpet were all similar colors, giving people a heavy and dull feeling.
Xie Chi watched the entire way and found that the castle had many identical rooms but all the doors were unlocked.
The maid had previously mentioned that they shouldn’t enter any room with a lock on the door without permission. In other words, such rooms definitely existed but they weren’t where they had walked through so far. Once free movement was allowed, he had to determine the location. Xie Chi had never liked following the rules but he didn’t want to blindly break them. He didn’t need to go in but he needed to know the location.
As Xie Chi lowered his head in thought, Jiang Shuo in front was communicating with the maid using gestures.
Ren Ze stared for a moment before whispering to Xie Chi, “Does Jiang Shuo know sign language?”
Xie Chi glanced at them. “Yes.”
“Do you understand?” Ren Ze was a bit worried that Jiang Shuo would use the advantage of sign language to get information they didn’t know first.
Xie Chi simply shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
Ren Ze was feeling a bit nervous and anxious when Xie Chi said, “Still, I know what he probably asked.”
Ren Ze was stunned.
“The maid can never say key information so he probably asked about the beautiful maid who appeared just now. If he can understand sign language, he will naturally know that the two maids had communicated with sign language. He might’ve found something strange so he decided to ask about the identity of the maid.”
Ren Ze’s expression was tense. “What did he find?”
Xie Chi smiled. “How would I know?”
Ren Ze remembered that Xie Chi couldn’t read minds and couldn’t help feeling a bit embarrassed. He always regarded Xie Chi as omnipotent.
They arrived at the door of a luxurious and old room. The maid knocked respectfully on the door before pushing it open and leading everyone in. The room was decorated just like everywhere else in the castle, except there was a weird and scary bed in the center of the room.
It was a pitch black bed but the quilt was a bright red like blood. It was very large and wide. It was also surrounded by a sharp fence that could pierce people to death. The high fence separated the person lying on the bed from the people outside. No one could get close to the person on the bed. The cannon fodders looked slightly nervous.
The servant led them close to the bed and the old woman lying peacefully on the bed came into view. The old woman’s legs were stretched out straight and her hands were naturally drooping on both sides of her body. Her body wasn’t leaning but was straight. Her sleeping posture was stiff like a stick.
Her face was wrinkled like tree bark and she was very old. She was probably in her 70s or 80s. Her entire body had shrunk and the bed was so big that it made her smaller. The hooked nose, skinny face, high cheekbones and deep sunken eye sockets made her look very scary.
Ren Ze wondered, “Is she alive?”
Xie Chi was just about to speak when the mobile phone he was holding in his hand shook. He almost couldn’t hold onto it and it almost fell. Ren Ze was close. He saw Xie Chi’s phone shaking and he thought it was a new instruction from the app. He unlocked his mobile phone to take a look but it was empty and he felt puzzled.
Xie Chi checked and also didn’t see a notification. He was a bit puzzled. Then the phone shook again. Xie Chi was stunned for a few seconds before thinking of something and opening his backpack.
Ren Ze was behind Xie Chi and saw that the Blood Demon Sword in Xie Chi’s backpack was shaking. In the backpack grid, the Blood Demon Sword was only the size of a nail but it emitted a dazzling red light the moment it was seen by its temporary owner.
Xie Chi’s reaction was extremely quick. Before the others could notice, he covered the phone screen with his hand.
“What’s going on?” Ren Ze realized something was wrong and asked with concern in his eyes.
Xie Chi’s expression was indifferent and his voice was almost inaudible. “I’ll tell you later.”
He stuffed his phone back into his pocket. Jiang Shuo cast a glance at Xie Chi and frowned. His perception was very keen and for a moment, he seemed to feel a familiar aura. Xie Chi met his gaze in an expressionless manner. Jiang Shuo retracted his gaze and continued to gesture with the maid in front of him.
Since discovering that Jiang Shuo knew sign language, the maid stopped writing. She instead communicated with Jiang Shuo and Jiang Shuo told everyone.
The maid talked and Jiang Shuo was slightly impatient. “She said that her master is seriously ill and can’t receive us. Seeing her is just a courtesy and we can go out now. Her master needs to rest. We can find a room we want to live in by ourselves but please be careful not to choose a room with a locked door. In addition, after the room is decided, you can no longer switch or it will be considered a game violation.”
Xie Chi heard the last rule and frowned. It was a bit strange that they couldn’t change rooms.
Everyone turned around and was about to leave when the old lady on the bed opened her eyes without warning. Her fingers twisted and her arms rose, frantically slapping the edge of the bed. The group looked at each other. Something flashed in Xie Chi’s heart and he rushed to the bed along with the frightened servant.
The servant hurriedly used a black key to unlock the iron fence around the bed. Then she went up to press the old lady down. More servants heard the movement and rushed in, the beautiful maid among them.
By the time the actors reacted and gathered around, the old woman was pressed down and unable to move at all. Her chicken skin-like eyelids blinked frantically and she rolled them around like it was a dying struggle. Xie Chi was the closest one to her. The skinny hand broke free of the servants and grabbed Xie Chi’s wrist.
She seemed to think of something but couldn’t get up due to her serious illness. The back of her head lifted a bit before immediately falling down on the pillow. Her muddy eyes stared at him and her grip became stronger. No matter how much the servants pulled, she held onto him.
Xie Chi seemed to understand her behavior and asked in a deep voice, “Is there something you want to ask or tell me?”
The old woman’s eyes lit up and she nodded hard. Her lips moved but she couldn’t squeeze out any words. She was smoothly held down by the servant, her arms straightened and her legs placed together.
The old woman fell asleep again as if nothing had happened. The servants sighed with relief and sweated profusely.
Gu Yu walked up to Jiang Shuo, his eyes dark and his voice extremely low. “The slaves are hindering the master? The owner of the castle is sick so the servants made a conspiracy with this tarot game, thinking of gaining or stealing something?”
It wasn’t surprising that Gu Yu had such a guess. The servants’ actions were so rude and inhumane. It was as if it wasn’t their master lying in the bed but a certain animal. Moreover, the old woman holding Xie Chi’s hand had been clearly eager to tell him something but was stopped in time by the servants and didn’t say anything.
Jiang Shuo thought about it. “Probably.”
The mute servants drove them out of the room. Since the rooms were randomly decided based on their own preferences, the actors dispersed by themselves. Gu Yu followed Jiang Shuo. He saw there was no one around them and asked in a low voice, “What did the two maids talk about before?”
Gu Yu knew that Jiang Shuo understood sign language. Jiang Shuo had stayed in the app long enough and had a lot of time to learn these small skills that were useful in instances. At first, Jiang Shuo pretended not to understand when he saw the maids gesturing. Gu Yu knew this was for them to disclose information without knowing it.
Jiang Shuo only said, “The maid who led us reported our news to the beautiful maid and called her… Master.”
He smiled coldly.
Gu Yu stared. He was astute and figured out the possible ins and outs in an instant. The servants were led by the beautiful maid and took advantage of the master’s serious illness to get rid of any restraints and change masters.
The old woman might be pitiful but judging by previous clues, she definitely wasn’t a good person. She had cut out the tongues of the servants. How cruel and tyrannical was she?
Gu Yu hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly and his expression relaxed.
Jiang Shuo didn’t smile. “There is no need to be happy. Don’t you know it is useless? This won’t help us play the game.”
Gu Yu was stunned before immediately becoming sober. Jiang Shuo was right. What was the point of knowing the grievances and hatred in the castle? They had to play the tarot game. Even if this information was true, it was useless. It was a pity but it really couldn’t help them.
[This movie emperor is a bit high level. He is very clear-headed. He is just a bit cold-blooded and insidious, which makes people uncomfortable.]
[Could you get to this position without some of that?]
[Xie Chi will be cold hehehe.]
[This movie is so complicated.]
[What was that red light on Xie Chi’s phone just now? Curious.]
Xie Chi came out of the room with Ren Ze and Ye Xiaoxiao and wasn’t in a hurry to explain the problem with the Blood Demon Sword. He whispered, “I looked around. This castle has a total of three floors. Can I trouble you to walk around the first two floors to look for a locked room?”
Ye Xiaoxiao and Ren Ze nodded.
After the allocation, Xie Chi went to the top floor. The old woman’s room was in the middle of the second floor. Xie Chi went up to the third floor and called Xie Xinglan to come out and search quickly.
The castle was circular so all the corridors were curved. He could circle around the third floor and finally come back to the original point, making it convenient to go downstairs and meet the others. Xie Xinglan passed quickly by rooms that looked exactly the same before suddenly stopping. The doors of the three connected rooms in front of him were all locked.
It was here. He found it.
Xie Xinglan wondered, “Should I go down?”
Xie Chi was just about to speak when he saw Gu Yu coming from the other end and the sound was stuck in his heart. They must’ve had the same idea as him.
Xie Chi ignored him and whispered, “We’re done here.”
“Okay.”
Xie Xinglan had just passed by Gu Yu when he heard Gu Yu scoff. Xie Xinglan paused and tilted his head. “Using your master’s position to bully others, you’ve learned well.”
Gu Yu’s face was a bit ugly. Xie Xinglan stopped caring about him and moved on. Xie Chi wasn’t afraid of Gu Yu. Previously, he could kill Yu Yao with three orange items while he now had three red items. He was just worried about Jiang Shuo.
Xie Xinglan stopped in front of a room where there was an apparent fire. The door of the room wasn’t locked so he opened it. The room might’ve been cleaned and all the furniture replaced but the signs of a fire were still obvious. The pale walls had light, lingering black marks and they were also on the stone floor. There was even a huge lightning-like crack on the wall.
Inspiration flashed through Xie Chi’s mind. After a few brief words with Xie Xinglan, he suddenly thought of something. He frowned for a few seconds before making up his mind. “Brother, let’s go back instead of going down to meet. We will live next to the three locked rooms. We will occupy the space first before calling Ren Ze and the others to come up.”
Xie Xinglan understood what he meant and returned to the three locked rooms. He chose the one on the left of the three rooms and was about to open the door to go in when he saw Jiang Shuo and Gu Yu walking to the door on the right.
After seeing Xie Xinglan, Jiang Shuo’s voice suddenly stopped and he watched Xie Xinglan without a trace of warmth.
“What a coincidence.” Xie Xinglan spoke lightly. They were both rushing to live here to benefit from it. They knew each other well and there was no need to talk.
Jiang Shuo stared at him coldly.
Xie Xinglan didn’t care about him. He walked directly into the room on the left and sent a message to Ren Ze and Ye Xiaoxiao.
[Fuck, why live there? If there are ghosts in these three rooms, won’t they die first?]
[Ah, terrible.]
Ren Ze came up first. He was still worried about the shaking of Xie Chi’s phone from before. Since they were close to Jiang Shuo, Xie Chi was afraid the walls had ears. Thus, he directly used the app to chat with Ren Ze.
Ren Ze: What happened with the Blood Demon Sword?
Xie Chi: It can perceive evil.
Ren Ze: Huh?
Ren Ze glanced at Xie Chi. He knew the sword. A blood demon who ate evil was sealed in the sword. In addition, a dark, humid and secluded environment could stimulate its combat effectiveness.
Xie Chi replied: For the Blood Demon Sword, the more evil the surroundings, the more red light it emits. This is because it can absorb evil and transform it into its own ability.
Ren Ze was visibly stunned. Then he realized something and quickly wondered: You mean, the old lady is evil? She is so bad that the Blood Demon Sword trembles in the backpack?
Proofreader: Purichan