Chapter 293: As I Sink Westward

Ning Zhe reviewed the information he had: at least five Changgui in Vanessa Castle had been converted from police officers—three from the Sounak group, plus John and Suxi.

Only Suxi’s cause of death was certain: she was lured to the third floor by a phone call from Sounak, then killed by the ghost and turned into a Changgui —this was the only corpse with a clear cause of death, and the only current breakthrough.

Ning Zhe squinted slightly, watching Dejin Hansa and others standing by the interrogation room door: “Besides, they probably died once just now.”

That was the direct reason Prumelia made her Huiqi decision: after the investigation team entered the interrogation room, they were almost certainly wiped out outright.

“Why did the investigation team enter the interrogation room?” Ning Zhe asked himself internally.

“Because they were searching for the missing Sounak and others,” Ning Zhe answered himself silently.

He still remembered the silhouette moving against the fleeing crowd during the main force’s evacuation—by then, Suxi had already become a Changgui ; she approached Meilin voluntarily, saying she wanted to find her missing brother.

It was from Suxi that the investigation team first learned Sounak and the others had last been seen on the third floor.

“Known Changgui cannot kill directly—they rely on deception and trickery to kill indirectly. First, Sounak lured Suxi to the third floor; after Suxi became a Changgui , she lured the investigation team to the third floor… wait.”

As Ning Zhe pondered, a memory struck him: “Back in the dream, those notes and scraps I found scattered around the castle—they also seemed like guidance, trying to lead me to Vanessa Castle’s basement?”

Ning Zhe quickly recalled the first note he’d found in the dream:

【Red handwriting hidden on the inside of the wardrobe:】

【To the survivor:】

【If you’re still alive and wish to escape, move toward the basement.】

【Do not leave through the castle’s front door, back door, windows, or any passage that looks like an exit—it’s a dead end! Everyone who takes that path gets lost and never returns.】

【The only exit lies beneath the castle, in a secret basement at the lowest level of Vanessa Castle’s sewer system. If you want to escape, go there—remember to bring a light, absolutely bring a light! Without a light, you cannot reach it.】

【Be careful—don’t let it find you. I’m setting out now.】

At this thought, Ning Zhe felt he had grasped the key to the problem:

Just as Sounak lured Suxi to the third floor, and Suxi lured the investigation team into the interrogation room, the dream’s notes were guiding him and Bai Zhi—outsiders who had wandered into the castle—toward the basement.

And the notes emphasized one thing: you must bring the corpse-oil lamp; only by entering the Otherworld’s Vanessa Castle could you reach the basement.

And the Otherworld… was haunted.

“Sounak told Suxi he found clues about intruders on the third floor. That was a lie.”

“Suxi told the investigation team that Sounak and the others might be in the interrogation room. That was a lie.”

“The dream’s note told me the basement was the only way out of Vanessa Castle… that was also a lie.”

The deepest basement of Vanessa Castle had long been destroyed by a landslide; both major renovations had only repaired the boiler room and storage on the first underground level—the deeper basement was abandoned entirely.

“Any guiding statement spoken by a Changgui is likely a lie,” Ning Zhe murmured, crouching over the cabinet, silently shifting his wings backward: “And the common thread in all these lies is that they lead people to a certain place.” What place?

The place where the ghost dwells.

“People tricked into the forest by Changgui get eaten by tigers and become Changgui themselves, then lure others into the mountains to be eaten by tigers… It’s exactly the ‘serving the tiger as a Changgui ’ routine.”

Ning Zhe silently retreated to the wall, leapt down to the ground, and recalled Meilin’s warning to the investigation team right after her Huiqi : 【Never approach the interrogation room. No matter what you see or hear, do not believe it—and absolutely, absolutely do not approach the interrogation room.】

Now, Ning Zhe understood the meaning of those words.

“It seems the ghost’s core rule lies in ‘deception.’”

Using the small body of the long-tailed tit, Ning Zhe slipped quietly to the Moon-Viewing Terrace and crouched behind the railing, observing Prumelia and Meilin below on the open ground.

Combining Suxi’s reaction when her identity was exposed, Ning Zhe roughly deduced the fatal condition of this rule:

1. 【Any living person who believes a Changgui ’s lie and voluntarily enters the ghost’s domain will die.】

2. 【Those who die this way become Changgui , enslaved by the ghost.】

3. 【 Changgui use lies to lure others into the ghost’s domain.】

Whether in the real world—Suxi, the investigation team—or in the dream—Spencer, Geya, and others—all their deaths shared one trait: they believed the Changgui ’s lies and went willingly to the ghost’s location.

Not a single error, not a single inconsistency!

“This makes sense, but it still doesn’t explain one question,” Ning Zhe shook his head: “How did the first Changgui come into being?”

Before killing its first victim, how did a tiger demon with no Changgui at all manage to kill anyone?

Therefore, besides the Changgui ’s deception, the ghost in the castle must have another hidden, undiscovered killing condition.

“Prumelia and Meilin probably don’t know this hidden condition either—that’s why they didn’t go directly to confront the ghost, but instead set up the chessboard here, using the investigation team as pawns to probe.”

At this thought, Ning Zhe no longer hesitated. He glanced at the upright female steward and the slender black-dressed girl below—the ground, Meilin slightly bowing her head, speaking into a microphone.

Ning Zhe turned and re-entered the building; the interrogation room door was now shut. Dejin Hansa had barred it with an iron rod, and the others stood guard outside with guns—clearly following Meilin’s orders.

“Time is running out.”

The investigation team had already confirmed the ghost’s location; there was no time left for Ning Zhe to continue unraveling the mystery.

Ning Zhe took a deep breath, shifted back from the tit into human form, crouched behind the curtain beside the bookshelf, and pulled a small, fist-sized, octagonal wooden box from his chest.

“Xia Rong, are you there?” Ning Zhe whispered softly, cradling the music box.

Before he finished speaking, a light weight settled on his shoulder—he turned his head and saw a cute cloth doll shaped like a little girl, with beautiful golden curls and eyes made of sapphire buttons. Her short legs dangled as she sat astride his shoulder, her tiny arms gently hugging his neck.

This was the Daike family’s unique ritual artifact—the Soul-Calling Doll.

(End of Chapter)