Chapter 276: Taiyin

The pipe from the ground floor to the boiler room on the first basement level is not long, but it is very tortuous, turning 3 right-angle bends in a distance of less than 5 meters.

Fortunately, Aurore's body is flexible enough, and Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was able to successfully reach the end of the pipe and crawl out of the pipe, covered in dust and holding the corpse oil lamp.

Click, light the lighter.

The bright flame danced in the darkness. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe looked up and saw the pipe opening he had just slid down from. There were 8 such pipe openings, evenly distributed on the arched wall and ceiling.

The coal cinder under his feet gave a crisp touch, and the smell of burnt charcoal lingered in his nasal cavity. He is now in the center of the huge furnace in the boiler room, and a few black coal blocks that hadn't been fully burned could still be seen in the corner of the wall.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe held the lighter to the furnace mouth, pried open the door with his sword, and walked out.

Just after leaving the furnace door and not walking two steps forward, a line of text carved on the floor suddenly caught his eye:

【I already said it's a dead end, why are you still walking forward.】

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was stunned for a moment and looked back at the furnace behind him. This stone slab carved with words was exactly located about three steps in front of the furnace door. It could be seen just by walking out of the furnace, and it was almost impossible to miss.

Is this message written for all players who have reached the underground area, or... specifically left for me?

After pondering for a moment, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe squatted down and carved a line of text on the floor with his sword:

【Who are you.】

After carving the words, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe lit the corpse oil lamp and began to observe the situation in the boiler room.

Under the illumination of the lamp, there was a layer of accumulated water in the boiler room that exceeded the calves. The turbid water was full of mud and sand, and water droplets constantly dripped from the ceiling. Several shovels for shoveling coal and rattan baskets for holding coal floated on the water, but there were not many coal blocks piled up in the room.

—To eliminate fire hazards, the warehouse for storing coal and the boiler room are separated, and servants need to use wheelbarrows to transport back and forth.

The boiler room has two large doors, both of which had been washed open by the flood. Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe carried the corpse oil lamp to the first door, and before going out, he saw a line of text carved on the side of the door frame:

【Don't go deeper, there are ghosts in the castle basement.】

Walking to the second door, the same words were carved on the side of the door frame:

【Don't go deeper, there are ghosts in the castle basement.】

"It's really trying to persuade me..." Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe looked at the Chinese characters carved on the wall, somewhat confused. Who exactly carved these words here and for what purpose?

After thinking about it, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe didn't leave the boiler room rashly. He carried the corpse oil lamp and returned to the furnace, to the floor carved with two lines of text. A third line of text had appeared at some point:

【At the Danzig Royal Military Academy, a pair of cousins cheated at the initiation ceremony of the Brotherhood of the Eucharist. Who are they?】

The moment he saw this sentence, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's pupils shrank violently: "How... is it possible?"

Danzig Royal Military Academy, Brotherhood of the Eucharist, initiation ceremony, cheating, cousins... connecting several keywords together, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe instantly thought of that incident.

Van Dai Ke and his cousin, Edi Dai Ke, both studied at the Danzig Royal Military Academy and both joined a student organization called the Brotherhood of the Eucharist. Among them, Van Dai Ke shone brilliantly at the initiation ceremony, ignoring the wounds on his body, and forcibly cut off the steel sword in his opponent's hand, thus becoming a man recognized by the Brotherhood.

His opponent at that time was his cousin Edi Dai Ke. The two had colluded in advance, and Edi deliberately used a tampered sword to hack at his cousin, artificially creating the heroic deed of cutting off the opponent's blade.

This matter was a secret between the two brothers, and only Van Dai Ke and Edi Dai Ke themselves knew the inside story.

After Van Dai Ke died in Jiangcheng, two more people in the world knew about this, namely Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe, who stole Van Dai Ke's identity, and Seeing Lan Shiwen, who was listening on the side at the time.

"Of the 4 people in the world who know about this, Van Dai Ke is already dead, Edi Dai Ke is at the Jiangcheng Consulate, and I am sleeping on the Dai Ke family's airship, so the remaining one is..."

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe thought for a moment and carved two characters on the floor:

【Little Lan?】

After carving these two characters, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe carried the corpse oil lamp and squatted on the spot without moving, staring at the floor in front of him without blinking.

A moment later, below the two characters 'Little Lan', a scratch made by a sharp tool slowly appeared, stroke by stroke, as if someone was writing on this stone slab:

【It really is you.】

【How did you run to this ghost place.】

【Vanishing Castle is a prison where the Freim family imprisons 'Disqualified Ones.' Staying here for a long time won't bring you any good results. Hurry up and find a way to leave.】

It really is Seeing Lan Shiwen... Looking at the sentences appearing on the ground and the familiar tone, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe felt like he had seen a ghost.

After thinking about it, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe carved a question on the floor:

【Did I die here?】

Seeing Lan Shiwen's reply appeared quickly:

【Yes.】

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was about to ask something else, but new strokes appeared on the ground immediately.

【Are you trying to torment me on purpose? With your ability, even if you accidentally entered here, it wouldn't be difficult to escape, right?】 【You have some kind of ability to avoid death, and you have life-buying money. Why did you die in this place for no reason? Is there something here that you must have?】

【If you want to die, die yourself, don't drag me into it.】

Looking at the text constantly appearing on the ground and the cursing tone, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe was stunned, and then quickly understood Seeing Lan Shiwen's meaning.

The previous guess was correct; he was indeed trapped to death here, and Seeing Lan Shiwen was unlucky along with him.

—After the previous trip to Jiangcheng, Seeing Lan Shiwen's identity was also recorded by Donghuang Taiyi. Although it was not his complete cognition of himself, it was already enough to pull this unlucky kid over to die as a substitute.

It's just that under normal circumstances, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe would not choose to pull Seeing Lan Shiwen to die for him, because once Seeing Lan Shiwen dies, the rule of death return will be triggered, and Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe's own memory will be forcibly reset.

"In other words, I encountered some kind of danger in the basement of the castle, forcing me to pull Seeing Lan Shiwen over to die for me?"

After thinking about it, Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe picked up the sword and carved a line of text on a floor slab nearby:

【How much do you know about Vanishing Castle?】

【For some reason, I must know all the inside information about this castle, otherwise I will be trapped to death here forever.】

The current Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe has been enslaved by Jue Yuan.

At a glance, look at /p>

Before 'solving the puzzle of Vanishing Castle,' it is impossible for him to leave here.

After waiting for a moment, Seeing Lan Shiwen's resigned reply appeared on the floor:

【What the hell is wrong with you...】

【It's my bad luck to be involved with you.】

【You know about 'Disqualified Ones,' right?】

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe held the sword and carved 'I know' on the floor, and Seeing Lan Shiwen's reply began to appear stroke by stroke in front of him.

The so-called 'Disqualified Ones' are existences completely opposite to 'Ascended Ones.'

Ascended Ones are people who master rules.

Disqualified Ones are people mastered by rules.

Every Ascended One's core rule has its unique fatal flaw. If a new strange phenomenon is not mastered in time to compensate for this flaw, only death awaits the Ascended One.

If Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe had not mastered Jue Yuan in time to anchor himself, then this Ascended One named Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe would have been lost in the vast ocean of memories, losing all personality and will, and falling into a disqualified evil ghost.

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe in this state is called a 'Disqualified One.'

Wealth Wu Tong attached to Ji Bochang's corpse, Jue Yuan who thought he was Yu Zi Qian after Yu Zi Qian died, She Shen Zhao who was brainwashed by Jue Yuan into thinking he was Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe... these terrifying existences formed by the fall of extraordinary Ascended Ones are collectively referred to as 'Disqualified Ones.'

【Vanishing Castle is a prison where the Freim family imprisons Disqualified Ones.】

【This prison is built by the core rules of two ghosts.】

【The two ghosts are 'Taiyin' and 'Xi Zhao.'】

【Taiyin's rule is 'Stillness.' The closer you are to it, the slower the movement speed of objects will be.】

【The 'movement' here refers to all movement, whether it is macroscopic object movement, microscopic particle activity, or even the rotation speed of electrons rotating around the atomic nucleus. All material movement will slow down synchronously.】

【Taiyin's body is absolutely still. With Taiyin as the center, the further out the area, the closer the material movement speed is to normal speed. The external performance is as if the time in this area has slowed down. But Taiyin itself does not affect time; it only affects the movement speed of matter, indirectly causing the illusion of time slowing down.】

【The Freim family has hoarded a large amount of 'Yin' in this castle, affecting the material movement speed in the castle. You can regard these 'Yin' as granted items of the Taiyin ghost, while Taiyin's body is still missing.】

Seeing Seeing Ning Zhe looked at the long-winded text appearing on the ground and fell into deep thought.

—

I originally wanted to spend a few more chapters to solve the puzzle, but some readers have already said it's boring, so let's just flip to the back of the summer homework to see the reference answers.

The Vanishing Castle dungeon will end soon.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 277 =====