Do not disturb the evil spirits [Unlimited]

Since the sacrifice was mentioned, there must be some kind of "mysterious existence" in this ancient castle that is dominating everything.

[Well, judging from the information we have now, it is difficult to determine which faction of weird creatures it is. 】The system said,【Even in the illusion, the big boss behind the scenes will not show up easily.The way they accumulate strength is like trees, they will first plant their roots all over the ground, and then they are willing to show their true bodies safely...]

In other words, so far, this illusion has not shown the unique characteristics of some kind of strange creature.If you can't determine the real body of the other party, you can't find a reasonable way to eliminate the other party.

Si Qingxuan also understood this truth.So he was not in a hurry to take action against NPCs like the butler who were obviously out of order.

"Since it is a precious sacrifice—then, no matter what happens, the sacrifice cannot be easily damaged. Right?" Si Qingxuan said thoughtfully.

[In theory, this is the case.Most evil gods will appreciate a living, sound, and healthy sacrifice.If it is missing arms or legs, or if the body is too dirty, some picky evil gods will not be able to talk about it. 】The system joked, 【Because every time the evil god comes, it will consume a certain amount of energy.If the sacrifice is not perfect, it will make them feel that they have done a loss-making business - of course, the premise of being picky is that their power has reached the god level.There are still quite a few monsters who are vegetarians. 】

Si Qingxuan: "..." It sounds like the evil god is like a pervert who likes to eat people.

【Oh, you have to be more imaginative.Although it is a sacrifice, it is not only used for eating.The evil gods seldom eat flesh and blood directly. What they love is to plunder the soul, because only the energy contained in the soul is the most useful.Of course, if you find a certain sacrifice pleasing to the eye, you can also develop it into your own believer, or even a relative—even if you keep it as a pet to relieve boredom.As time goes on, it is impossible for the evil gods to think about devouring souls all day long, they always want to have some fun for themselves. 】

[However, the situation of the strange creatures in this illusion is completely different now - devouring humans can quickly accelerate the expansion of this illusion.It seems that it yearns for the human world, and hopes that its illusion can be quickly turned into reality. 】

The system said that the current illusion is only passively devouring humans.

Once the monsters in the illusion suck enough flesh and blood, the illusion will continue to expand until it becomes reality.At that time, the castle under Si Qingxuan's name will become what it is in the illusion now, and NPCs including butlers, chefs, etc. will appear in the real world.At that time, they can even hunt the pleasing humans around them as "nutrients" at will, and this remote Spanish village will completely become a purgatory on earth.

...Of course, these are just hypotheses.The only thing that is certain is that Si Qingxuan will definitely lose this castle, suffer a loss of tens of millions of euros, and at the same time lose the birthday gift his grandfather prepared for him.

Although, Si Qingxuan has already begun to suspect whether his grandfather prepared this gift for him with ulterior motives.But make no mistake, he didn't want to lose any of his gifts.

Thinking of this, Si Qingxuan's eyes on the young master gradually became serious.

The young master: "... What are you thinking again?"

"It's nothing, I just want to ask, have you tried that Rudolph's bottom line? What do you usually do to annoy him the most?" Si Qingxuan asked him humbly.

"...It's nothing. Probably when he contradicted him, he told me to go west and I wanted to go east, and his face would become ugly; besides, when I mentioned my father, I used to be at the dinner table I mentioned once that I wanted to find my father, and although Rudolph was smiling after hearing it, I could feel that at that moment he wished he could pierce my tongue with a knife." The young master touched his neck and recalled to this day When I got up, my back felt a little chilly, "Recently, it's the time when I'm teasing Lucia. Once my words and deeds go too far, Rudolph will warn me."

Si Qingxuan thought about it, the first one, contradicting Rudolph, he had already done it before, and the effect was good, but not to the point where he failed; he hadn't tried the second and third ones yet.

However, Rudolph took the initiative to defend Lucia...?

It seems that this poor girl was also used as one of the sacrifices.

It's a pity that this young master and Lucia are just background characters in the illusion.In fact, the only ones that can really be used as sacrifices are——

Si Qingxuan raised his eyebrows, his eyes showed some interest.

the other end.

The Awakened are still discussing who killed Sophie.

"First of all, the possibility of her hanging herself can be ruled out. With her appearance, it is absolutely impossible for her to hang herself." Domingo, who had witnessed Sophie's thrilling "suicide process", resolutely said, "Besides, she has given us the clues. .”

"You mean the name with the suffix of the Morandon family?" Garcia frowned and said, "Ricardo...is that the young master's name?"

"There is doubt here, we will confirm it when we investigate tomorrow." Song Zan said.

"Aside from this clue, I think we should look for the motive of the crime - Sophie is just an ordinary maid, she has a child, if someone wants to bully her, IMHO, it's really too simple It’s so simple that there’s no need to strangle her to death in the woods.” Garcia hesitated for a moment, then suddenly said, “By the way, what about her child, did you see her child when she was chasing you? ?”

"No." Domingo shook his head.

"But there is only Sophie's coffin in that grave, not her child's." Garcia said.

"Maybe the child is too young...or he didn't have a name, so he doesn't have his own grave?" Song Zan said, swallowing the saliva in his mouth, feeling a little thirsty, "There will be a similar custom over there, minors There is no grave for a child who dies, and even if there is, the name will not be engraved on the tombstone."

"We don't have such particularities here." Garcia said, "When a child dies, we will also hold a memorial ceremony, prepare a coffin and a grave-if the child's name is not engraved on the grave, can it be considered that he has not been here? "

"No, it's just that we pay attention to 'karma and karma'... Simply put, how you behave in this life will affect your luck in the next life. If a child does not become an adult, his life is over. If he has not accumulated good deeds, then Naturally, there won’t be any good luck in a lifetime—so it’s better to treat him as if he hasn’t been here before, and let him go to another place to start over.”

Song Zan said a lot in one breath, and stretched out his hand to the water glass on the table very naturally, but was stopped by Domingo and others in unison: "What are you doing? Forgot that you can't touch the food here?"

Song Zan's face became bitter instantly: "...Does it even count as water? We have been in for several hours, and we can't even touch the water?"

"I have potions here." Domingo took out a small bottle of brown potion, "It was originally used to alleviate your abnormal condition... But it's not a big problem if you drink it in advance, I still have a lot here. You can Soak your lips in the potion and barely quench your thirst."

Song Zan took the potion carefully, and almost jumped up on the spot as soon as he got a little bit of it, "Bah, bah, bah": "Why is it so bitter?!"

"Wait." Garcia snapped his fingers and said kindly, "It's all right now, I've deceived your sense of taste and turned the potion into a strawberry flavor, which is very sweet."

Song Zan: "..." He didn't expect these two people to be able to play this kind of combo.

Song Zan took a deep breath, and drank down the small bottle of potion—as expected, the tip of his tongue smelled of sweet strawberries.

But a spicy taste suddenly surged in his nostrils.He hurriedly covered his nose and coughed heavily twice.

"Ahem...this smell...why is it so offensive..."

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Garcia said in a panic, "I just blocked my sense of taste and forgot my sense of smell!"

Song Zan was about to burst into tears: "You—"

Domingo rolled his eyes and said to Garcia, "You're making such a low-level mistake again."

Garcia: "I didn't mean to!"

"I can't do it... water! I want water!" Song Zan couldn't bear it any longer, lifted the kettle on the table and started to gobble it up, and didn't stop until the strange smell was suppressed.

"Now, the bottle of potion you just drank was useless." Domingo pressed the brim of his hat with a worried expression on his face.

Song Zan: "..."

Song Zan was about to collapse.

"Say a few words, all of you." Zhao Lin said, pulling him to his side, away from the table with the kettle, "so that his mutation value will not continue to rise."

A mentality that always collapses will also increase the variation value.

Song Zan was so devastated by the heavy reality that he lowered his head, looking like a wilted rabbit.

"It's been a terrible night," Domingo said in his deep voice. "I hope this night will pass soon."

This illusion did not live up to his hopes—about 1 minute later, the hands of all the wall clocks started running wildly again.As the moon sets and the sun rises, a duet of rainstorm and thunder gradually sounds outside the window.

They ushered in a "new day", and they were still facing an extremely severe rainstorm, which was not conducive to the investigation of the case at all.

All Awakened: "..."

Song Zan showed a weak smile.

He obviously didn't say anything, but his partners understood his expression tacitly: Ah, it's the damn breakfast time again.

This time, what reason are they going to use to prevaricate?

……

At eight o'clock the next day, the "consulting detectives" were once again invited to the parlor as guests.

The still handsome butler had a white tablecloth hanging in his arms, and asked the detectives curiously: "Everyone...did you not rest last night? It seems that you are not in a good mood."

Song Zan showed a pale smile: "No, you have won the prize."

All Awakened: "."

"Hahaha, don't mind, he just likes to make jokes." Garcia nudged Song Zan to wake him up, "Maybe there was a little bit of wind last night. Like me, I know the bed more. It is indeed difficult to sleep in a castle overnight."

"If you need anything, you can ask us at any time." The butler said gently, "Today's breakfast happens to have fresh goat's milk and oatmeal. You can use some, which is good for calming your mind."

"..." The detectives stared at the food on the plate, but they remained motionless as if they had made an appointment.

"By the way, there is one more thing to say. The police officer who came with you has already returned to the town because of stomach discomfort, and will not come back in the short term." The butler said to them Li, his tone was full of regret, "If you still plan to continue investigating the case, you can come to me if you encounter any difficulties. But there is one thing - the black forest of the castle and the cemetery behind the garden are forbidden for outsiders to come and go. Without my leadership, please don't come in and out at will."

Awakened: "..." It's too late, I've already finished what I should have seen yesterday.

So they became more guilty.

Today, the main seat in the living room is empty, and the young master did not attend.

Zhao Lin glanced in the direction of the main seat, and asked seemingly unintentionally: "Where is Master Morandon, he doesn't seem to have gone downstairs for dinner?"

Unexpectedly, after the housekeeper Rudolph heard the word "Master Morandon", his expression suddenly became subtle.He took a deep breath, took off the monocle on the bridge of his nose with his fingers in white gloves, and said in a light tone: "The young master was a little tired last night, and he has always been in poor health. Come down for breakfast."

"Tired?" Domingo raised his eyebrows and asked following the topic, "What did the young master do last night?"

The butler was strangely silent for a while, and then replied vaguely: "...It's just that the young people are playing too much. Please don't continue to delve into this topic."

"Everyone, the young master asked me to deliver some well-prepared meals to you..." Lucia, the maid in a long black dress, walked to the dining table with a plate.

All the awakened ones present knew her.Yesterday she delivered hot water to these guests, and also sent a practical "advice".

However, compared with yesterday, Lucia's face looked much paler, and there was a bloodstain faintly on his cheek.She was born with fair skin. Although she was a maid, her cheeks were as white and tender as suet.Such a scar suddenly appeared, attracting attention like a crack in jade.

And although the awakened ones are not real detectives, their vision beyond ordinary people still allows them to see that Lucia's walking posture is a bit awkward: she is trembling, and every step is like walking on driftwood, almost like a plate I can't hold it any longer.

"Ah!" Perhaps the skirt was too long, Lucia's feet were unsteady, and the hot soup on the plate spilled out. She hurriedly adjusted her posture, but exposed her arms covered with black bruises.

"Be careful!" Song Zan helped her up, saw the scars on her body clearly, and asked with a frown, "What's going on with you?"

"...Sorry, guest! I didn't mean it!" Lucia hurriedly put the plate on the dining table, bowed again and again, apologizing timidly and tremblingly, "Did I dirty your cuff? I'll do it for you right away clean……"

"No, I'm asking about your injuries—"

Unexpectedly, Lucia's face turned pale instantly.She evasively pulled down her sleeves to cover up the scars, and said, "I was negligent when I was working and accidentally hurt myself..."

Liar, the wound was clearly drawn out with something like a whip.

Song Zan wanted to ask a few more questions, but Lucia's eyes were filled with tears.She seemed unable to stay in the living room any longer, she hurriedly saluted the guests, and then quickly escaped from everyone's sight.

Song Zan shifted his gaze to the housekeeper.

"Isn't this the personal maid of Master Morandon? Why do you still need to do those dangerous jobs to leave such obvious scars on your body?"

The housekeeper Rudolph was silent for a few seconds, and his frowning eyebrows clearly expressed his displeasure at the moment: "...this is beyond my control."

Song Zan suddenly seemed to understand something, and exclaimed in a low voice: "Could it be that this is what you meant when you said 'Young Master played too much last night'?" He said in disbelief, " Does he take pleasure in torturing his maid?"

The old butler seemed to be a little embarrassed to close his eyes, and in the end he didn't deny it, but said in a slightly tired tone: "No matter what, the young master is the only heir of the family, the owner of this castle—I hope everyone can pay attention Your own words and deeds. This castle treats you as honored guests and has never neglected you. Please understand that there are some things that you cannot interfere with."

"Of course." As he said that, the butler suddenly slowed down his tone, "I will also serve as an assistant to the butler, and try to lead the young master on the right path. Please don't spread today's matter to outsiders..."

From the looks of it, he looks like a competent housekeeper who is rigorous, responsible and bears the burden of humiliation.

But Song Zan and others naturally wouldn't believe it easily.

They have seen the voice of the butler in the castle.In his position, if he ignored the young master's abuse of his servants, it would be tantamount to condoning the crime, and he was also a member of the accomplices.

——The awakened ones are all from modern times, but they don't have the deep-rooted class thinking and master-slave concept hundreds of years ago.

In short, the steward's justification not only did not whiten his image, but even made his impression in the hearts of the awakened a little more hypocritical... This is probably something the steward himself did not expect.

Song Zan sighed, and returned to his seat. After thinking for a long time, he dropped the fork in his hand: "Sorry, I won't eat breakfast. I have no appetite."

There are three awakeners left: "..."

They glanced at each other and expressed that they had no appetite either.

"Then I will order the maid to deliver the food to your room." The butler said, "I'm sorry to disturb your dining enjoyment."

"Dining comes second." Zhao Lin said coldly, "Let's hurry up and start investigating the suicide case."

The housekeeper was silent for a while, then glanced out of the window: "But today's weather is really not good, it's been raining heavily outside..."

"Then let's investigate the indoor part first." Garcia smiled. He was the least aggressive of the awakened quartet, and when he smiled with soft eyes, there was a pure aura— —In the eyes of the housekeeper, it may be called "idiot-like simplicity and deceit", "Take us to the maid Sophie's room first, and tell me about Sophie by the way."

Sophie's room is in the middle of the servants' room.

It was a rather shabby room.In addition to a wooden bed with dark green curtains, a shelf and a bedside table, there is only a dilapidated wooden cradle and some cheap toys scattered on the floor.

"Sophie lives here with her child," said the butler. "During the rainy season, most of the grapes they planted were blown down by the wind. She had no choice but to bring her newborn child to the castle to find a share." Work. The work here is not easy, but she always does her best to complete what she should do... Maybe life is too heavy. I remember her family sent her several letters, telling her The predicament of her family, maybe she won't be able to go home in two or three years—this is the information I know."

"Poor kid." He concluded, "Maybe I really couldn't hold on anymore, so I chose a wrong path."

After listening to the butler's overview, Domingo walked past the butler and carefully looked at the empty room: "You haven't packed her things, have you?"

"Not yet." The butler said.

Domingo nodded, put on a pair of gloves, went to the bedside table and opened it, reached out and groped inside: he took out a small cloth bag, some mottled letter papers, and one tied with a rubber band. A small tin box.

Domingo opened the cloth bag, and there were some rings, necklaces and other small jewelry in it, not many, and the materials were poor enough to be seen by the naked eye.But when he shook out all the contents of the cloth bag, he found a string of pearl bracelets inside.

The color of the pearl is moist and glows faintly, and a small diamond is inlaid on the clasp of the wrist for decoration.

...No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look like what a maid with Sophie's status should have.

After the housekeeper saw it, his face changed: "This is the dowry of the deceased lady..." Then he seemed to react quickly, although his expression was still a bit ugly, he didn't say another word.

Awakened: "..."

Who will inherit the dowry of the previous head's wife?

Isn't it still only young master Morandon?

Go and flip through the mottled pieces of letter paper—what is written on them is nothing more than Sophie’s struggles. The family keeps telling her about the difficulty of the situation, and the family cannot lose the salary she is currently receiving; She took her children home, and she called the castle "the most terrifying nightmare land", but when the family asked her what was wrong, she could only falter, unable to explain why.

It seems that all the information the housekeeper has comes from these letters.

In the end, it was the tattered iron box that was taken apart.Not to mention inside, there was a faded image of the Virgin Mary and a string of rosary beads, and a ripped-up copy of the Our Father lay at the bottom of the box.

The rest are useless clothing, daily utensils and so on.

After the investigation, the butler had some business to deal with and needed to leave temporarily, leaving only the four detectives with different expressions.

"... To be honest, there is not much evidence. But the point is too obvious." Domingo sighed and said, "There is a statue of the Virgin Mary and a rosary in her room, which fully shows that she is a Catholic believer— —Catholics will not take the initiative to commit suicide. They believe that suicide is no different from murder, and they will fall into hell after death. Besides, how could she bring her own child to hell? "

"Let me just say that Master Morandon did it!" Song Zan said a little speechlessly, "This guy might have a lot of criminal records!"

The helpless figure of Lucia they saw this morning gradually overlapped with the image of Sophie in their imagination.

"But don't you think this is really weird?" Zhaolin calmly analyzed, "We investigated the scene last night, but we could find only one clue. It's just that after one night, all the obvious and hidden All the clues are under our noses. How can there be such a coincidence in the world?"

"That's right." Song Zan nodded, "But, the name Ricardo Morandon was personally pointed out to us by Sophie—"

"I think we're guessing here and there. Why don't we just explore the dark woods at night again. After seeing Sophie's soul, read all the names of the suspected murderer and ask her to nod YES and shake her head NO to identify the murderer." Shia waved her hand helplessly.

Everyone: "..."

This is really a road that has never been imagined.

"I think, let's check that Ricardo again." Domingo sighed, and concluded, "This clue must be used, otherwise I was frightened for nothing yesterday. But we can't directly follow the The people in the castle mentioned the name—we were not supposed to know it."

Where in the castle has the most historical data accumulated?

The most ideal state is naturally to find a genealogy of the Morandon family.But such things are usually kept in a hidden place with great care.It is difficult for outsiders like them to have the opportunity to contact.

The remaining places where some old items may be kept are probably the treasure house for storing antiques... or the study of the castle owner.

There is probably only one last place they can visit.

"Actually, there is another way." Zhao Lin said suddenly, and all three teammates looked at him.

Garcia: "What method?"

Zhao Lin: "We can directly ask Master Morandon himself."

Awakened: "..."

"Boss, are you joking?" Song Zan said suspiciously, "With that young master's high-spirited appearance, I'm afraid he will answer our questions only if we kneel down and beg him!"

"After all, the object of our suspicion is him now." Zhaolin blinked, "Whether it is to observe him secretly or test him directly through conversation, it is a step we must take."

"...That's true." Song Zan was persuaded, "But I still don't think it's reliable to ask him directly. Let's make a judgment by observing him secretly first."

"I'll keep an eye on it right now." Zhao Lin nodded, "See you tonight."

Before Song Zan said goodbye to Zhao Lin, the other party had already turned away from their sight.

"Wait, Boss, you have to be careful when you're stalking—how can he walk so fast? I haven't seen him so active when doing investigation tasks?" Song Zan muttered in a low voice.

Instead, Garcia showed a meaningful look.He waved his hand and signaled Song Zan and Domingo to come over quickly: "Do you feel that there is something wrong with Zhaolin's situation?"

"Actually, the boss has become weird since he received a text message a few days ago." Song Zan recalled, "Before, he couldn't cheer up for several days in a row, and this time he came to Spain. Use tasks to paralyze my meaning—do you think I would say that he came to Spain to relax? Hehe, there is no word 'relax' in his life dictionary. He is No.1 in our executive department. Come to adjust your mentality, the big brother among the big brothers..."

Domingo was a little funny: "What are you expressing when you say so much?"

Song Zan stretched out his index finger in front of everyone, shook it, and sighed lazily: "In a word, it's just one sentence: Don't guess what the boss thinks. Why do you suddenly get excited like you've been pumped?"

"The reason is very simple, and this is what I want to share with you." Garcia looked at Song Zan with clear eyes, and said, "I think it's because of that young master—every time Zhao Lin's attitude changes, he always agrees with that young master. related."

Song Zan and Domingo: "..."

Song Zan's smile was a bit forced: "Isn't it?"

Garcia was confident: "You can think about it for yourself, whether what I said makes sense."

Song Zan was a little furious: "How is it possible, we have only met a few times so far—" Song Zan's voice suddenly stopped.

He recalled yesterday, the night when he attacked the young master at night.

In the end, Zhao Lin was kicked down.It seems to have been brooding about it ever since.

For God's sake... no? !

……

On the third floor, in the study in the attic of the castle.

The library was originally locked.Si Qingxuan easily pinched the lock and opened the black carved wooden door of the study.

The study room was dim, and only a few books stacked on the bookshelf, as well as a few regular study decorations, could be vaguely seen.

Holding the kerosene lamp, Si Qingxuan carefully stepped on the floor of the study.By the light of the oil lamp, he carefully searched the dusty desk and bookshelf.

[High Priest, look at the bottom mezzanine of the bookshelf. 】The system suddenly said, 【There seems to be some interesting things there. 】

So Si Qingxuan bent down, groped for a few seconds at the bottom of the bookshelf, and found a hollow interlayer.After removing the wooden board, there were still a few thin books embedded in it.

He put the lamp aside, opened one of the ink-stained pages, and read a few lines at random.He found that there was a lot of messy and confusing content on it, and the language was very obscure, but he could understand most of it: it was nothing more than some weird spells, the writing of the summoning circle, and some information about strange creatures.

[Ah, isn't this "Anonymous Ancient Manuscript"?But it looks like a fragment...just a fragment is a big deal, and it was a rare thing hundreds of years ago. 】

"What is "Anonymous Ancient Manuscript"?" Si Qingxuan raised his eyebrows.

[To put it simply, it is a hodgepodge of nameless creatures with decent strength and special abilities, but they cannot be rated as gods, nor belong to any ancient gods. 】The system said, 【These days, strange creatures are also involved.To leave a name in history, one must either become a god himself, or follow the lap of an ancient god.And these nameless creatures... despise them, they may capsize in the gutter; if you want to say how powerful they are, it's not necessarily so. 】

Si Qingxuan became interested when he heard the words, and slowly flipped through a few pages, and found that these fragments belonged to manuscripts, and the content had been consciously screened, and most of the recorded information was related to the same strange creature.

【Ah, so it's this thing... Well, no wonder. 】

The system let out a sigh of unknown meaning.

【I know who created this illusion. 】

[It's 'Ouroboros' - of course, it's not a formal honorific name, it's just a popular name.As the name suggests, it is connected end to end, and it controls the laws related to time... However, it really only has a little bit of 'time'.To be precise, its unique ability is 'back in time'.It can fix the time in a certain cycle.The cycle goes on and on, without end. 】

"The drawing on it is the summoning circle." Si Qingxuan said, "Who is idle enough to summon such a thing?"

[It's hard to say, people who summon strange creatures always have various strange reasons.Maybe people just want to see what the real 'Ouroborcus' looks like and what kind of 'title' it is...]

"I think you want to know for yourself?"

[Hmm, I'm the Illusory Library System, and seeking knowledge is my instinct.And this kind of bug is really rare, it's hard to come across a big one.To be able to maintain such an illusion, this 'Ouroborcus' must be already a big guy. 】The system whistled.

Si Qingxuan ignored it, and summoned the library system to rub these fragments in, and then put them back into the mezzanine at the bottom of the bookshelf.

When he looked up, he happened to see a chessboard on a small round table not far away.

This is probably the mess that the young master said about Rudolph and his father.

Si Qingxuan walked over, looked at the pieces silently placed on the black and white chessboard, picked up a small white pawn, and overthrew the black king.

"Checkmate," he whispered.

rumbling...

A dull voice sounded, and a door leading to a deep secret room opened to him.