In the first-person perspective of the opening cinematic, soone took out the key to the ancient manor, pushed open the double doors made of solid mahogany, and stepped into the gloomy room.
Next ca a heavy thud as the wooden doors slamd shut on their own with a loud bang.
With that, the Script's introduction ended. Bai Mu regained control of his body. The surrounding light abruptly dimd, and he found himself standing inside the ancient manor.
Although the manor exuded a heavy, eerie chill, it was undeniably built with extre grandeur.
Bai Mu was currently standing in what appeared to be the ancient manor's drawing room. It was tall and spacious, entirely paved with neat wooden floorboards. The furniture and decor boasted a dieval aristocratic style. There were no electrical appliances in sight, only pure silver candelabras and antique light fixtures.
To Bai Mu's right was a stone spiral staircase about two ters wide leading to the second floor. On his left, a flight of steps descended into the ground. The ancient manor had two upper floors and a basent.
Further down at the end of the drawing room stood three red doors, their destinations unknown. Judging by the introduction, this ancient manor was quite large. Bai Mu took a few seconds to observe his surroundings. His four teammates had spawned in the exact sa location. Even though the introduction claid they were "cold and starving," their status bars showed no negative debuffs.
A few seconds later, the candles on the candelabras suddenly ignited out of thin air, casting a warm glow. The Main Quest triggered at that very mont. [Main Quest: Explore the Ancient Manor and find a way to escape.]
"Why does this quest feel completely different from what we agreed on?"
Scattered Fireflies was the first to break the silence, looking up at the vast, empty manor with evident anxiety.
Bai Mu could tell from the look in her eyes that she was rather frightened.
On one hand, it was perfectly normal for Scattered Fireflies to be a bit timid. On the other hand, the discrepancy between her expectations and the actual content of the Script had likely fueled her unease.
"There is a bit of a deviation," Great Northern Wilderness said, scratching his head as he followed up on her comnt. "However, while this Main Quest looks like a puzzle-solving scenario, we can't rule out the possibility of various monsters hiding in the dark corners."
"Doesn't that make things even worse?" His words only deepened Scattered Fireflies's worries.
"We're already here, so there is only one path forward," Misty Rain Traveler stated. "The Script doesn't have a quit option. Stop stressing over things that haven't even happened yet. Let's focus on figuring out our basic situation first."
"Sister Misty Rain is right," Great Northern Wilderness quickly chid in to ease the tension. "We can't let our morale drop right at the start. After all, we ca fully prepared. Clearing a D-grade Script shouldn't be too hard."
While they were talking, Bai Mu had already turned his head to inspect the main doors behind him.
The taciturn Nancheng Port was also silently observing the surroundings.
Bai Mu took a few steps, casually picked up a small knife from a candlelit dining table, and approached the door lock.
"Brother Bai, are you... trying to pick the lock?" Great Northern Wilderness asked.
"That won't work, right?" Scattered Fireflies pointed out. "If you could actually pick the lock with a pocket knife, what would be the point of exploring?"
"It's fine, I'm just giving it a try," Bai Mu replied.
The era of this Script was not modern, so Bai Mu could tell at a glance that the main door used a very old chanical lock. With his skills, picking it would be a breeze.
However, when he jabbed the knife toward the keyhole, the blade struck an invisible wall of air, making it completely impossible to reach the lock cylinder.
"How is it? Can you pick it?"
Misty Rain Traveler didn't bother asking for his reasoning. She knew Bai Mu possessed lockpicking skills. Unlike Scattered Fireflies's skepticism, she had already prepared herself to act as Bai Mu's assistant before entering the Script.
To put it nicely, she was an assistant; to put it bluntly, she was prepared to just be a tag-along.
This wasn't her first ti teaming up with Bai Mu. The two of them had previously masqueraded as Forensic Doctors together, so they shared a fair amount of unspoken chemistry. "I can't even touch the lock," Bai Mu stated. "I'm guessing the main doors, the windows, and even the walls are all protected by so supernatural force." "That makes sense," Misty Rain Traveler replied. "If we could just pick a lock and leave, this would barely qualify as a beginner's Script."
As Bai Mu spoke, he retrieved the Night Vision Camcorder from his inventory and aid its lens at the hall and the main doors.
Through the screen, he spotted a faint, ethereal mist coiling throughout the interior of the entire building.
More accurately, the entire ancient manor was shrouded in that supernatural energy. With the exception of the five Players, everything else—the furniture, the candles, the doors, the floorboards, every single stone brick, and even the small knife in Bai Mu's hand—was far from ordinary.
The others peered through the camcorder's lens and witnessed the strange anomalies for themselves.
"This manor really is haunted," Great Northern Wilderness noted.
"If we want to get out, we have to find the source of this power and figure out a way to dispel it," Bai Mu explained. "Looking at it this way, the process is quite similar to the Village of Mist you all ntioned."
"True," Great Northern Wilderness agreed, stroking his chin. "The fog and zombies in the Village of Mist were all caused by the final boss. In fact, the initial Main Quest there rely tasked us with finding a way to escape the village."
"It was only after we found a few NPCs and killed a quest-specific zombie that the subsequent Main Quest triggered."
"Based on my experience, I wager that as long as we find the boss hidden inside the ancient manor and kill it, we should be able to clear the Script." "However, I feel like we could also just brute-force our way out of here, like blowing things up with a powerful explosive or throwing a couple of supernatural skills at the walls," Bai Mu added.
"Saying that... does that an you actually have sothing like that on you?" Scattered Fireflies asked.
As soon as she said that, Great Northern Wilderness, Nancheng Port, and Misty Rain Traveler all turned their gazes toward him.
It couldn't be helped. The final scene of the Death Trek had left a massive impact on them. They still vividly rembered the sight of Bai Mu smiling as he chucked a Cherry Bomb into the horde of zombies on the shore. They couldn't forget it even if they tried.
"Brother Bai... you aren't planning to use that, are you?" Great Northern Wilderness gasped, drawing in a sharp breath of cold air.
"I'm rely making a hypothesis," Bai Mu clarified. "But my guess is that even if we managed to blast our way out of the manor, it wouldn't clear the Script." "After all, according to the background story, we were guided to this ancient manor by so mysterious will. If we used brute force to escape, I imagine the quest would just update to 'escape the forest'. Then we would inevitably get lost in the woods and end up right back at the front steps of the manor. We still wouldn't be able to avoid finding the source of this power and eliminating it."
This wasn't just an empty theory. In fact, Bai Mu had discreetly summoned the Hand of Walrider, attempting to liquidize it and slip it through the cracks in the main doors.
The Hand of Walrider did successfully reach the outside of the ancient manor. Air could freely circulate through those gaps; the manor's lockdown wasn't entirely airtight.
However, that supernatural power was clearly capable of more than just locking doors. Otherwise, the previous inhabitants wouldn't have repeatedly gotten lost in the forest, and those candles wouldn't have ignited on their own.
Strangely enough, he got the distinct feeling that this manor bore them no ill will. The spontaneously lighting candles felt more like a welcoming gesture for "guests".
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