Chapter 232

Chapter 232

There was only a little bit of information about the little girl in the diary, and the topic was brushed aside without specifying which room it was. But that was fine; first, find where the little girl currently lived, then work backward to narrow down the general area.

With this idea in mind, Ji Xinghai took another stroll around the second floor. He found the room where the little girl now resided, on the right side facing south, with windows overlooking the front garden.

It seemed that all five rooms were clustered on the right side.

He immediately turned and headed left, where there were fewer people, making it easier for him to check each room one by one.

Ji Xinghai did not meticulously examine the items in the rooms. There might be clues left behind, but the effort-to-reward ratio was low. Instead, he went directly to the window of each room and looked out, not standing but half-squatting, as if from a little girl's perspective.

In the corner of the back garden, there was a stable and a small wooden house covered in vines nearby.

The small wooden house had already been pried open by other students, presumably yielding no useful finds.

At this point, the team checking the governess’s room had already come out.

The room wasn’t large, and there weren’t many things inside. It seemed everything could be seen at a glance. After just three days of living here, it was indeed difficult to leave any useful clues, which is why that group came out so quickly.

Ji Xinghai walked in and stood by the window, looking to the left.

"Let's go," he said, noting that there were still two hours until the first meal, plenty of time.

Qin Yu followed him without objection. The other students, seeing this, didn't think much of it. The ancient castle was here, and everyone was free to explore based on their own abilities. They were all top students who had fought their way through, and they had their pride.

Ji Xinghai went straight to the stables on the left side of the back garden. Qin Yu thought he would enter the small wooden house next to it, but instead, he carried a bucket of water into the stable. There were no horses in the stable, only some dry hay scattered on the compacted mud ground.

He started pouring water, observing as he did so.

Gradually, Qin Yu also noticed something peculiar: there was an area on the ground that was particularly resistant to water absorption. While the water seeped into the rest of the ground, this spot remained wet.

Seeing him take a shovel from the corner and start digging, Qin Yu couldn’t help but ask, "How did you know there was something here?"

"Just a guess."

To explain, from the windows upstairs, one could see the corner of the garden, the stable, and the small wooden house. However, from the governess’s window, only the stable and part of the small wooden house were visible.

Initially, the small wooden house was within his scope, but it had already been checked by other students more than once. These students were not ordinary, and since they found nothing, Ji Xinghai didn’t expect to gain anything new.

Moreover, something had happened in the stable; the horses had gone mad and broken the little boy’s leg.

As for watering, he guessed that what was hidden was a painting. Oil paintings are waterproof and flat, making them ideal for laying flat.

These elements quickly flashed through his mind, leading him to conclude that it was a logical deduction. Everyone could think of it, but most were often distracted by other suspicious options.

Soon, a large portrait was unearthed, depicting a figure drawn in life-size proportions, vividly as if a real person stood before them.

Previously, Ji Xinghai had assumed the missing woman was the original owner’s only daughter, who had been wronged by her husband. But the woman in this portrait wore a long black dress and a small black hat, her face filled with sorrow. He realized his assumption was slightly off.

Indeed, she was wronged, but it was likely a wealthy widow living alone.

A young, wealthy widow was like a lone sheep, tempting to many. Men had a hundred ways to take advantage of her, and if she refused, they could accuse her of being a witch or a devil. In the end, they always got what they wanted.

Of course, none of this mattered to him.

Ji Xinghai put away the portrait and covered the traces with straw. "We’ll wait until tonight."

Choosing rooms, having meals, wandering around—Ji Xinghai even had time to gather flowers from the garden and place them in a vase in his room. By then, the other students had finally pieced together the mystery and confirmed that the ghost haunting the ancient castle was the missing lady, the origin of everything.

But by then, night had fallen, and the oil lamps in the corridors automatically lit up, casting an eerie glow over the already sinister-looking house.

Later, the students finally found the attic hidden in the ceiling, but it was already eleven o'clock at night, with thunder and lightning outside, and a sudden downpour.

Through the dark rain, a faint candlelight approached, a lantern-encased candle swaying in a carriage buffeted by the storm.

The owner of the ancient castle had returned.

"The carriage must contain the owner; they have returned. If we encounter them now, it won’t be good for us."

Though regretful, the students quickly returned to their chosen rooms. They didn’t truly sleep but waited in their rooms, ready to act at the slightest sign of trouble.

Of course, it was best to avoid direct confrontation. In these scenarios governed by certain rules, becoming the party at fault would result in negative effects, putting them at a disadvantage in a direct confrontation.

The owner of the ancient castle had returned, and the empty castle lit up as they entered, followed by screams.

"Someone has moved my chair."

"Someone has touched my piano."

"Someone has handled my dishes."

"Someone has read my books."

"There is the scent of humans."

Upon hearing this, the enraged entities changed their expressions—they became extremely excited.

The yellow light of the oil lamps cast shadows, turning their eye sockets black. They were no longer human but skeletons cloaked in human skin.

The students carefully avoided touching anything in the rooms, but they didn’t realize that entering the castle had already violated the taboo of "touching objects and leaving scents."

Hunting time had arrived, and the entities shed their disguises, revealing their grotesque appearances.

"Snap!"

The heavy gate suddenly slammed shut, interrupting the excitement of the entities. They turned to look, and at some point, a young human had appeared at the door. His hand naturally rested on a board covered with a black cloth, his handsome face radiating vitality in the warm light.

"Human... was it you who touched our things? What an impudent and rude guest," the elderly male host said, discarding his cane. His hunched body straightened, and his withered eyes stared intently.

"That's truly regrettable," the young man shrugged indifferently. "But I did prepare a small gift as compensation... please come out, madam."

With that, he pulled off the black cloth.

Upon seeing what it revealed, the entities' expressions changed dramatically.

"Hehehehe..." The woman in the portrait slowly stood up, emitting a terrifying laugh. With a gentle tug, she freed herself from the painting, gracefully lifting her skirt and stepping over the frame, appearing before the elderly entity like a ghost.

"It's been a long time."

Ji Xinghai watched coldly as the elderly entity was torn to shreds, while the other four panicked. Two ran upstairs, two toward the door. Those heading for the door were kicked back by him, landing near the woman in the black dress.

"Mama..."

The woman in the black dress paused, slightly bending down, one hand pressing against the trembling body of the middle-aged man. "When he killed me, you helped hold my foot down, didn't you?"

The middle-aged entity's arms were broken one by one. The one-sided slaughter continued as Qin Yu appeared beside Ji Xinghai.

The woman in the black dress originally lacked such immense power, even with her soul burning with hatred. Weakness remained weakness. But Ji Xinghai had fed her a large amount of Ghost Coins, filling the void.

"In the end, what you gain may be less than what you give."

"But she wanted revenge."

In Ji Xinghai's world, black was black, and white was white. The wronged woman had every right to seek vengeance, regardless of whether she was an entity or part of a set-up.

An eye for an eye, a debt repaid, were the simplest truths.

The woman in the black dress disposed of the three downstairs and chased after the two upstairs. The students, who had heard the commotion, opened their doors to see the entities fighting each other. Though they hadn't seen the portrait of the vanished woman, they knew this must be the ancient castle's ghost.

The students didn't know how to intervene, watching dumbfounded as the woman in the black dress elegantly lifted her skirt, grabbing the remaining two entities like chickens.

"Look!" One student pointed to the wall with an oil painting.

The wall had once displayed a row of portraits, including the five members of this family. Now, the portraits depicting them had melted into a mess of colored oil paint dripping from the canvas, revealing new images on the clean canvas.

It was the woman in the black dress.

No, not just her.

The largest portrait showed another young man sitting intimately with a woman in a pink dress, with a friendly pug in front of them, looking blissfully happy.

Beside this portrait was the image of the woman in the black dress, wearing a black hat, her face filled with sorrow.

The students understood everything.

The ancient castle had originally belonged to someone else, but this family had used some method to steal it. Most likely through marriage, as the woman in the black dress had lost her husband, living in an era where women could hardly own property.

However, the changes were not over. The storm outside the castle continued, but inside, an unquenchable fire burned, leaving only white mist afterward. Where was the ancient castle, where were the iron gates?

The students stood in the fog, looking at each other.

"So she was the ghost of the ancient castle," one said.

The ghost of the ancient castle was the wronged woman in the black dress, but if she was so powerful, how could she have been suppressed by the castle's later occupants?

And they wondered who had released the woman in the black dress and how they had done it.

These students, accustomed to leading the way, felt defeated for the first time. Despite their progress, they couldn't comprehend what had happened, and the matter was already over.

They parted ways without much conversation, each retreating into the white mist, Ji Xinghai included.

He flipped his hand, revealing a book with a brocade cover. He opened the latest page, which depicted the gloomy ancient castle, faint lights visible within, with shadows standing at the windows.

"It's been a long time," he smiled, then closed the book.

Such entities would vanish when their realm was shattered; better they vanish into his bowl.

Just enough to send a message home.