Chapter 2498: The Castle
“Wait a minute! Is this still the annex building we visited before?” the Half-blood Elf Girl exclaimed in shock. She probably couldn’t remember how many times she had been astonished since she broke into the manor.
The building before them was not the annex she remembered. In her memory, upon entering the annex, there was a living room with a fireplace, a fur carpet, several sofas, and bookshelves. Then, on both sides of the corridor and on the second floor, there were rows of guest rooms.
In this commercial realm, most guests were wealthy merchants, and their retinue usually consisted of their capable subordinates, such as financial managers, investment advisors, public relations directors, and so on. Some even had their subordinates make the final business decisions while the boss only provided capital.
Therefore, inviting other merchants to the manor as guests did not necessarily mean that wealthy merchants would discuss and negotiate business. Often, the bosses were only there to have fun, while business matters were finalized among their subordinates, requiring only the boss’s signature and seal afterward.
The annex building, where the subordinates resided, was designed to facilitate business discussions. The main hall was set up like a salon or club, with meeting rooms nearby. The hall was for networking in a friendly atmosphere, while the meeting rooms were for formal negotiations or private consultations.
But this was not the case now. Not to mention anything else, the hall alone was countless times larger than the previous salon-style living room. The hall was vast and grand, and very dark, completely unsuitable for business negotiations. It looked more like a ballroom in some noble’s mansion.
Several long tables were placed in the hall, with platters, cutlery, and wine glasses all in ancient medieval styles, very old. They were laden with roasted chicken, steak, fruits, red wine, and more, appearing quite luxurious, as if a great noble were preparing to entertain guests.
However, the red wine in the goblets was a bit too bright red, and it looked very viscous. Perhaps it wasn’t red wine but some kind of fruit juice?
Even if they were slow-witted, they would have realized by now that this was definitely not the annex. Putting aside other things, the hall alone was larger than the entire annex. Even by the standard of a castle, this hall was quite large, at least the kind of castle a Count could build.
“Be careful, something is very wrong here. Don’t eat anything on the tables,” the Half-blood Elf Girl said seriously.
Actually, after experiencing such a terrifying and intense crisis, to suddenly find themselves in such a peaceful and serene banquet setting without any transition felt utterly bizarre. No one would dare to eat anything.
“What do we do now? We can’t just stay here, and we don’t dare to go out,” one of the men asked. He truly did not dare to open the door now, for fear of seeing that terrifying scene again should he do so.
The Half-blood Elf Girl braced herself and said, “Let’s go in and see. If there’s a back door or a window, we’ll escape from there. Anyway, we definitely can’t leave through the front.”
“Are we really going to explore such a huge castle?” the woman, who looked to be in her twenties, said fearfully. In her eyes, the dark corridors of the castle were like the gaping mouths of man-eating monsters, and once inside, there would be no way out.
“There’s no other way, we can only try. This is our only chance to survive. Let’s go,” the Half-blood Elf Girl said, and took the lead towards the depths of the hall. The others had no choice but to follow.
After entering the castle’s massive, high-arched portico, they became even more convinced that they were walking inside a medieval castle. On both sides of the corridor stood knight armors with swords as decorations. The walls were adorned with paintings of human heads, their expressions gloomy and harsh.
However, the corridor was very dark, with only the weak light provided by the candles on the ancient chandeliers. The areas beyond the reach of the light were even darker.
Furthermore, this castle was as intricate as a labyrinth. The corridor split at the end, with several other diverging paths in the middle, as well as stairs leading up and down. After walking for a while, they had to use a pen to mark their way. Yet, after walking for a bit longer, they were still lost.
“Damn it! Is this corridor endless? How can I feel like we’re walking in different places?!” one man shouted in frustration. The markings he had drawn earlier were useless because they had not retraced their steps at all.
The corridor seemed infinitely divisible. As they continued to walk, there was always a path. Pushing open the doors beside them, they found a musical instrument room, a collection room, a dining ware room, a theater, a card room, a library—everything. Not a single room was repeated.
If their experience outside felt like being trapped in a ghostly wall, endlessly looping in one place, then once inside, they felt like mice in a maze, completely unable to escape.
Now, they believed this was definitely not the annex. There was no annex that was this large. It would need to be at least ten times larger to accommodate so many halls and corridors.
“Also, I feel like the people in those paintings are watching us, and are those armors also watching us?!” another man said, not in frustration, but in fear. His body trembled involuntarily.
“Don’t talk nonsense. You’re just having hallucinations due to nervousness. These paintings and armors have no magic power or souls, so they can’t possibly produce any gaze. Calm down,” the Half-blood Elf Girl seemed to regain her composure and led the group forward.
“What if?! What if they suddenly attack? This place is so big, it’s likely their home. How could there be no traps?” the timid man asked.
“If we’re completely out of options, let’s surrender. We’ve provoked a faction we shouldn’t have. The lady will understand our predicament. As long as we surrender, we shouldn’t die, and we don’t fear torture,” the Half-blood Elf Girl said rationally.
She had recognized the current situation and the power of her opponents. The gap between their side and the enemy was too vast. Surrendering was not shameful; rather, surrender was their only chance of survival.
Finally, they found a long hall with a window. For some reason, they hadn’t found a single window in the castle before. It seemed they had reached the edge of the castle. On one side were rows of windows, all covered by red velvet curtains.
They hurriedly pulled back the curtains, only to see an even more bizarre scene. All the windows were boarded up tightly, as if this place were an ill-omened spot that had been sealed off.
“Ah!! I can’t take it anymore, I’m going out now!” the frustrated man punched the wooden boards.
“Wait! We don’t know what’s behind there!” the Half-blood Elf Girl shouted to stop him. There must be a reason they were sealed off. He was opening them directly, and they had no idea what was outside.
However, it was too late for her to warn him. The wooden boards and the window were smashed open by his punch simultaneously, and a viscous flow of fresh blood gushed out.
