The mansion was even larger than they had imagined. They had been walking for quite a while and still hadn't finished exploring, nor had they encountered the other three people.
Even in broad daylight, this place exuded an eerie atmosphere. Every room had its doors tightly shut. Although they were told that the Second Young Master was about to get married, there was no festive atmosphere at all - no red silk, no red lanterns, not even a single "happiness" character in sight.
The maids and servants they encountered seemed normal enough, each one well-behaved and respectful with downcast eyes.
Dong Yue attempted to strike up conversations with a few maids and actually succeeded.
"We've been here for so long, how come we haven't seen your master and mistress?" she asked.
"The master and mistress passed away a long time ago," said a round-faced maid. "For many years now, the Elder Young Master has been holding everything together."
"Then why haven't we seen the Elder Young Master either?"
"The Elder Young Master passed away last month," another maid sighed. "Truly, good people don't live long. Heaven's plans are unpredictable..."
Gu Wanyin immediately asked, "How did he pass away?"
"Huh?" The maids suddenly looked confused. "Yes, how did he pass away? It seems we haven't heard."
"The Second Young Master doesn't know either, nor does the butler."
"The Elder Young Master just died without any explanation."
"He died."
The maids' eyes suddenly became vacant simultaneously, they even stopped blinking. They stared at Gu Wanyin and the others for a moment, then one by one, they lowered their heads, formed a line, and left.
They chanted in unison: "He died, he died..."
Even in broad daylight, this scene was terribly creepy.
Bai Shuwen rubbed the goosebumps on his arms and speculated, "Could it be that the condition for passing this instance is to find out the cause of the Elder Young Master's death?"
"Most likely," Gu Wanyin nodded.
"This is too strange. The elder brother passed away just last month, and the younger brother is getting married this month? And this is in ancient times, how could such a thing happen?" Gu Han frowned as she spoke.
Zhuang Xiaoxia had a sudden inspiration: "Do you think it's possible that the younger brother killed the elder brother? That's why he doesn't care about his brother's death and is going ahead with the wedding without any delay."
"It's possible, but I don't think the instance will be that easy to pass," Gu Wanyin said with a wry smile.
Moreover, she not only had to pass the instance but also find 088.
But the biggest problem now was that she didn't know in what form 088 would exist in this instance.
They had been wandering around the mansion for a while now and hadn't seen anything resembling a system.
She had also told the others that if they discovered anything unusual, they must tell her.
After all the maids had left, they continued walking forward.
Unexpectedly, as they passed by a room, they saw that its door was open.
From the outside, they could see the furnishings inside; it appeared to be a study.
As they were peering in, a voice suddenly sounded behind them: "What are you looking at?"
The voice was normal, but coming so unexpectedly, it still startled them.
They turned around to see the Butler standing behind them, smiling.
"Just looking around," Bai Shuwen said with a smile. "Butler, what is this place? Why is the door open?"
"Oh, this is the Second Young Master's study," the Butler said. "The servants must have been careless and forgotten to close the door while cleaning. I'll have to have a word with them."
With that, he turned and left.
Gu Wanyin: "..."
You say the servants were careless and forgot to close the door, but why don't you close it yourself?
This was almost like an invitation for them to enter.
No wonder Tao Jianchun had said earlier that this instance wasn't too difficult.
"Shall we go in and take a look?" Gu Han asked.
Gu Wanyin nodded.
The five of them divided tasks. Gu Wanyin, Gu Han, and Bai Shuwen would go in to search for clues.
Dong Yue and Zhuang Xiaoxia would keep watch outside. If anything unexpected happened, they could alert the others immediately.
As they entered the study, there was a faint scent of sandalwood.
The three searched for useful clues while trying not to move any objects in the room.
Gu Wanyin found a small box in a drawer.
Opening it, she saw a hairpin inside.
It was an exquisite design, seemingly quite expensive.
Was this something the Second Young Master was planning to give to his bride?
Gu Wanyin looked at it for a moment, then put the hairpin back, closing both the box and the drawer.
"Look at this, there's a strange letter here... no, not a letter, more like a diary entry?" Gu Han said in a low voice.
Hearing this, Gu Wanyin and Bai Shuwen walked over.
Gu Han was holding a piece of paper with messy handwriting, as if written by someone who was drunk.
The three carefully deciphered the writing.
"The person I love most... taken away... I hate..."
"This sentence says... it should have been mine?"
"I cannot bear this pain, I cannot watch the person I love be with someone else... This sentence is quite clear."
At the bottom of the paper, six characters were written most neatly.
"Kill him, kill him."
The neatest writing was the most chilling.
"I'll make a bold guess. Could it be that the Elder Young Master took away the person the Second Young Master liked, so the Second Young Master killed the Elder Young Master?" Gu Han said, stroking her chin. "From the clues on this paper, it seems to be the case."
"After killing the Elder Young Master, he couldn't wait to marry the woman he liked," Bai Shuwen agreed with Gu Han's analysis.
Gu Wanyin felt their analysis made sense.
But her intuition told her things wouldn't be that simple.
The content on the paper was just this much. They memorized it and put it back where they found it.
After all, they were in a horror instance. It was okay to look at things, but they couldn't take anything away. Who knows, it might trigger the ghost's killing condition.
It was still daytime, so the ghosts hadn't appeared yet, but come nightfall, who knows what might happen.
After wandering around for a while longer, they finally met up with the other three.
Both groups exchanged the clues they had found.
Chen Sisi had learned from a maid that the Second Young Master and his soon-to-be-bride, the Second Young Mistress, were childhood sweethearts who grew up together. Their marriage had been arranged when they were still children.
"Did they say anything about the Elder Young Master and the Second Young Mistress?" Gu Wanyin asked.
"They mentioned it briefly," Tao Jianchun said. "It seems the Second Young Mistress greatly admired the Elder Young Master, thinking he was brilliant in his studies and business, but there was no romance between them."
"Oh, and one more thing. Apparently, the Butler has always had a poor relationship with the Second Young Master," Chen Sisi said.
"If their relationship is poor, why keep the Butler in the mansion?" Dong Yue asked, puzzled.
Tao Jianchun shrugged: "We were about to ask, but those maids suddenly seemed possessed, muttering 'died, died' over and over, then they all left together. No matter how we called, they wouldn't turn back."
"I wanted to go pull them back, but you wouldn't let me!" Liu Zhuang said, displeased.
Tao Jianchun glanced at him and said, "Don't forget where we are. We can't act rashly. Look, it's almost dusk. Once night falls, who knows what might happen..."
