56: Chapter 56 Vampire Castle 12

When they met at the stairs the next morning, the veteran players were doing okay, but most of the New players were in poor condition; the White-collar Woman and Stuttering Uncle both had visible dark circles under their eyes.

Luo Yuejian arrived late. She hadn't slept well the night before, not because of nerves or anxiety, but because she had been pondering how to act elegantly and with dignity—and most importantly, how to do so without being warned by the system for committing suicide.

She had mulled it over all night and had a vague idea in mind, but she still needed to wait for the right opportunity.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, the Buzz-cut Man didn't waste any words and led the group toward the Third Floor. With the experience from the first two floors, everyone felt relatively at ease about entering the Third Floor, especially since the team was being led by an expert.

A few people couldn't help but sneak a glance at the White-haired Girl trailing at the end of the line. At that moment, the White-haired Girl was looking down slightly, her thick eyelashes obscuring all emotion in her eyes, making her look as if she were pondering something profound.

Everyone dared not make a sound, fearing they would disturb the White-haired Girl while she was thinking; it would be bad if they caused the White-haired Girl to miss any clues.

In reality, Luo Yuejian was just sleepy. If she had known better, she wouldn't have stayed up late. What kind of decent person sleeps at 4 AM and wakes up at 8 AM and still feels energetic?

She actually wanted to yawn, but yawning in front of her teammates and so many viewers in the livestream room was really pushing her psychological limits. So, she could only look around to distract herself and try to wake up.

As they climbed the stairs, an inexplicable stench of rot suddenly wafted into the players' nostrils. The tall Tall Fat Man couldn't help but frown, his expression showing undisguised disgust: "What is that smell? Are there dead bodies upstairs or something?"

The Buzz-cut Man furrowed his brows tightly, a look of vigilance appearing in his eyes. His lips moved slightly, and he said in a low voice: "Everyone be careful, don't let your guard down!"

With that, he took the lead and walked forward, keeping his body pressed against the wall. He took each step with extreme caution, as if the slightest carelessness would trigger some unknown danger.

Seeing this, the rest of the players followed the Buzz-cut Man's lead. They walked one by one, trailing closely behind, moving cautiously and not daring to even breathe loudly.

After all, the strong, foul stench permeating the air was enough to make one's hair stand on end just from smelling it; who knew what might be upstairs.

In this way, the group slowly and nervously reached the end of the stairs to the Third Floor. However, to their surprise, this place was vastly different from the first and Second Floors they had passed through—the Third Floor was actually firmly locked by a door!

This door looked completely different from the thick, solid iron doors set between each floor; it was a carved wooden door filled with a classical atmosphere. The patterns were symmetrical and intricate, intertwined with each other, looking quite aesthetically classical and mysterious.

Everyone's gaze was fixed on this door, and the Buzz-cut Man said: "It seems we need to find a way to open this door first."

After speaking, he stepped forward, approached the exquisite carved wooden door, and began to examine it carefully. The door was carved with complex and delicate patterns, but there were a few strange, distinct grooves that stood out, making them particularly eye-catching.

The Buzz-cut Man turned his head, looked at the other players with an inquiring gaze, and said: "It seems some important parts are missing from here; perhaps we can open the door once we find them. Do you have any ideas?"

The White-collar Woman frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and asked softly: "Could it be that we need to go back to the Second Floor to look for related clues? After all, we haven't..."

As she spoke, she subconsciously smoothed her hair, and using this movement, she glanced out of the corner of her eye at Luo Yuejian, who was behind the crowd, then continued, "...thoroughly explored it yet."

"I don't think the clue to open the door is there," the Short-sleeved Youth said, shaking his head.

He lowered his head in thought for a short while, then raised it and looked at everyone with a firm gaze, saying: "If we were to follow the normal route, we would definitely explore the Second Floor completely. If there really were a way to open this door on the Second Floor, then opening this door would be far too straightforward."

Hearing this, the Buzz-cut Man nodded affirmatively: "What you said makes sense. I was just wondering earlier, if we need to find items to open the door, where would those items be?"

As he spoke, his gaze naturally shifted to the paintings hanging on the side of the stairs.

The stairs of the Vampire Castle spiraled upwards, with smooth lines and a vintage design, looking very elegant. One side of the stairs was open, allowing one to see the ground floor from above, while the other side was a wall. Every two meters, there was a painting on the wall.

They had been in such a rush coming up earlier that they hadn't paid much attention to these paintings; they simply had no time to notice them.

In fact, the stairs from the first floor to the Second Floor were also lined with many such paintings, but because they were regarded merely as ordinary decorations and had no practical use, they were naturally and easily overlooked by the players.

Now, prompted by the Buzz-cut Man, they remembered there were paintings on the wall. They couldn't help but go over and examine them carefully, one by one.

They hadn't paid attention to the previous paintings, but most of the paintings here were relatively harmonious, mostly portraits and landscapes, such as a noblewoman holding a dog, an endless grassland, and the like; they were not as bloody as they had previously imagined.

They were discussing the details of each painting, completely unaware that the White-haired Girl behind them had sneakily slipped to the wooden door at some point.

With a flip of her palm, the Infinite Card appeared in her hand.

Back when she was on the first floor, Luo Yuejian had thought about using the Infinite Card to blow up the door; if it actually blew open, it would definitely be trouble for them.

Now that she encountered a similar scene, Luo Yuejian chose to take advantage of their distracted attention. Anyway, the card was in her hand, and it would be a waste not to use it. Last time, she had lost many opportunities because of this damn item; this time, she had to use it early to get the cooldown started!

Besides, she just wanted to help her teammates enter the Third Floor quickly; what wrong had she done?

The card was stuck onto the door, but Luo Yuejian didn't linger in front of it.

It wasn't that she didn't want to, but the system was already sounding an alarm.

Forced by pressure, Luo Yuejian had to abandon the idea of letting the card blow her up as well.

3, 2, 1...

"Boom—"