There's definitely something wrong with this murder mystery game

Chapter 399 The Banquet Started Soon

The highest place in the entire castle, as expected, should be the tall tower spotted from the hill.

That tower stood in the center of the castle, like a solitary, heaven-piercing pillar, with a spire on top that reached straight into the sky, giving the architecture a strong sense of visual penetration—although a modern person's first reaction might be to think it was a lightning rod.

The traveling poet remembered the shape of the castle he had seen from the hill and, navigating through the crisscrossing flying buttresses, made his way toward the tower.

But as he stepped onto the staircase, he suddenly halted, looking down another corridor.

The next moment, a figure emerged from around the corner.

Upon seeing him, the figure also paused.

It was the mountaineer, still dressed in modern, practical climbing gear, obviously restless and out exploring immediately after being assigned a room.

The two of them had run into each other unexpectedly, sharing a moment of mutual scrutiny and a faint touch of awkwardness.

"What are you doing here?" the traveling poet asked first, cutting to the chase.

"Hey, I'm a climber, so of course I like to scale high places, and right now, I feel a strong desire to conquer this tall tower," said the mountaineer with a grin, "What about you?"

"I'm a traveler, naturally I like to go wherever is most interesting," replied the traveling poet, unflinchingly echoing his words.

"Alright, so we share the same goal?" the mountaineer ventured.

The traveling poet didn't respond, but the two exchanged a glance and tacitly sidestepped the topic, continuing forward while maintaining a mutually safe and friendly distance.

The flying buttresses on all sides of the castle led to the central tower, encircling it like stars around the moon, with the silver-grey walls shimmering faintly in the sunlight.

Just as the two had begun to ascend the stairs leading to the tower, a deep voice suddenly sounded from behind them.

"Gentlemen."

The traveling poet abruptly stiffened mid-movement, glancing at the mountaineer who had also stopped, before turning around to look.

Behind them stood Steward Armand Ray, only two or three meters away, though they had no idea when he had appeared.

At this distance, in combat, it would have been considered strikingly close.

Steward Armand Ray's face bore the usual perfect, gentlemanly smile, his figure in a black tailcoat standing ramrod straight in the corridor, hands folded in front of his lower abdomen, the very picture of propriety.

"Gentlemen, dinner will soon begin; please return to your rooms promptly to change," the steward said with a gentle smile.

"Ah, sorry, I thought we still had plenty of time, so I wanted to wander around the castle a bit," said the mountaineer, maintaining a composed smile as he gracefully stepped back from the staircase.

As he retracted his foot, the pervasive sense of crisis that had been enveloping him dissipated.

And now, with the sun shining brightly, it seemed to be midday, showing no signs that dinner was impending.

Steward Armand Ray continued with an affable smile, "Dinner will be starting shortly. If the guests are interested in Prague Castle, after the party, you're welcome to visit at any time; we also have the largest collection in the empire for everyone's enjoyment."

Seizing the opportunity, the mountaineer expressed his interest, "Is that so? Then after the dinner, could you take us for a tour?"

"Certainly, now please make your way back to your rooms and change," the steward smiled, suggesting for the third time.

He politely stepped aside, giving them room on the spacious corridor.

The mountaineer didn't say anything further, briskly walking back the way he had come, even his tense breathing becoming involuntarily quiet.

The traveling poet walked down the flying buttress in silence, and as he passed by Steward Armand Ray, the latter nodded slightly in his direction—a seemingly ordinary gesture of courtesy.

He paused for a moment, then calmly turned and left.

Steward Armand Ray stood in place, watching their figures fade away before he too completely merged with the castle's structure.

...

...

Inside the castle palace.

In the midst of the rose bushes that adorned the room, a girl entwined with countless blood vines lay unconscious, the black roses greedily leeching her flesh and blood like leeches.

Then, one by one, crimson roses began to bloom upon her body.

"Master, those two have already returned,"

Armand Ray suddenly appeared behind Xu Shuo, his pitch-black eyes looking up at the young girl not far away, his expression respectful yet fervent.

Xu Shuo was concentrating on studying the female student tied up by Blood Vine, and upon hearing the report, he casually waved his hand.

However, just as Steward Armand Ray was about to leave, Xu Shuo suddenly turned his head and said, "The evening banquet is upon us, remember to treat those guests well, and do not neglect them."

"Yes, my esteemed master," Armand Ray bowed and withdrew.

As he stepped out of the palace, the sky outside suddenly darkened!

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The originally sunny sky was tainted with a dark blue hue, the cool night sky enveloping the entire estate, and the workers who had been laboring before instantaneously vanished.

Afterwards, specks of starlight spread throughout the estate.

The silver castle that had glistened under the sun was now adorned with countless lanterns in the darkness, like stars in the night sky.

Switching to night was even simpler for the Night Witch than maintaining daylight.

Xu Shuo naturally didn't have the inclination to follow the rules of time, to control the slow descent of the sun, given that he was now embodying a villain who did as he pleased.

He had said the evening banquet would come soon, and so it must come quickly!

Under the cognitive erosion of Prague Castle, aside from players, no outsiders would notice anything amiss with the passage of time and weather,

unless their willpower was particularly strong.

Like the Green Knight before, who, despite all kinds of imprisonment and torture by the Night Witch, still remembered to flee the castle in pursuit of the great freedom!

Indeed, his strong will was the most moving part of that love story.

Xu Shuo sneered internally at his own role, then waved his hand, and after Blood Vine and Roses engulfed the female student's body, flesh and blood reformed into a face.

This new puppet, it seemed, looked like Pei Sheng in women's clothes.

Xu Shuo snapped his fingers and the motionless puppet opened its eyes, turning its head spiritedly to look at him.

Feeling the connection between himself and the puppet, Xu Shuo pondered, "There's no trace of the Abyss's aura…"

As the saying goes, the more medicine one takes, the more one understands disease; similarly, the more bugs one experiences, the more one learns about loopholes.

Based on past experience, if he had assumed control over the wrong character, there would be an extra NPC that wasn't suppressed by a player's presence, and that NPC would be a loophole, likely to be exploited by the Abyss, subsequently affecting the entire Script World!

Observing that this female student was not a player, Xu Shuo had taken her to study for a while.

But there was no trace of the Abyss's aura.

Could it be that this time he hadn't taken over the wrong body?

Of course, there seemed to be more NPCs in this script than usual, perhaps the loophole lay with someone else.

However, capturing them all would be too conspicuous, possibly alarming his prey, which would be troublesome to deal with, so Xu Shuo decided to hold back for now.

He would wait until after the banquet.

Xu Shuo directed the Magic Power in the roses to change the freshly created puppet into an even more magnificent golden-red dress, and then placed her in another palace within the castle.

Besides these preparations, the script for the evening banquet also needed to be ready.

Xu Shuo momentarily felt very busy; he casually replied to Hong Rao's Little Flying Message and then continued to modify the remaining puppets within the castle.

These puppets, of course, were the workers who had been toiling earlier, or the servants scattered throughout the castle.

...

As the grand clock in the castle's hall struck eight o'clock,

the banquet, began.

...