NPC data representation doesn't differentiate between natural beings and monsters. There's no information on fighting styles, weaknesses, or anything like that. After all, the system still encourages players to prioritize peaceful negotiation and avoid trying to fight NPCs at all costs.

Having learned that the other party couldn't be fought, Feng Bujue felt relieved, sheathed his weapons, and walked toward the dark figure.

When he approached within two meters of the figure, it suddenly raised an arm, palm upright, in a gesture to stop.

Seeing this, Feng Bujue stood still, waiting for the other party's next reaction.

The music, seemingly from nowhere, rang in Feng Bujue's ears again. Sure enough, the dark figure launched into the zombie dance from "Thriller." He wondered if this was an implication of some kind...

After dancing for a minute or two, the dark figure did a seven-hundred-and-twenty-degree spin and reached out to push the iron gate behind it. On the surface of the door, another invisible magic array failed, emitting the sound of shattering glass.

Then, Shadow of Dance let out a shriek in his peculiar voice and brushed past Feng Bujue in a dancing step. As he walked further and further away, the surrounding darkness grew increasingly intense.

Feng Bujue understood now that one of Shadow of Dance's characteristics was probably control over darkness. Because he had arrived on the ground floor, the two floors above had become brighter, but as Shadow of Dance left, the surrounding darkness would revert to an unorganized, diffuse state.

"Alright... this is the only way." Taking advantage of the fact that his surroundings had not been completely swallowed by blackness, Feng Bujue stepped forward, grabbed the two doorknobs of the large iron gate, and pushed it open.

The instant he stepped into this final hidden room, Feng Bujue was certain that he had found the source of the disgusting odor. Compared to the putrid stench within this door, the smell in the rest of the house was insignificant.

To describe it, it was as if someone had farted in this room, and then no one could be seen.

Feng Bujue had only taken a few steps inside when the door behind him closed on its own, with a bang.

The light in this room was chaotic and dim. Looking around through his gas mask, Feng Bujue first saw the synthetic man he had seen before on one side of the wall... the one with the lower body covered in knuckles. At this moment, it had been nailed to the wall with many thick iron spikes. The wound in its chest, pierced by bone spurs, had stopped bleeding, and the floor directly beneath it was covered in blood.

The synthetic man with bone spurs growing out of his wrist was leaning against a recess in the wall. There were two iron frames outside the wall that he could use to rest his "hands" on, and the middle section of the recess was covered in strange, moss-like plants, seemingly food for those tongues.

Feng Bujue's gaze moved slowly. He discovered that the area of this room was astonishingly large, and the height of the ceiling was inconsistent with the structure of the house. Clearly, the space within this door did not exist within the house outside the door.

He took a rough look around and found that the walls of this room were embedded with at least twenty synthetic men. They came in various shapes and forms, each more grotesque than the last, making one's skin crawl just from their appearance.

"Andrew, is that you?" A woman's voice came from the chaos directly ahead.

Following the sound, Feng Bujue walked forward and soon saw a corpse-like woman lying in a certain recess. She had only one eyeball, her skin was dry and ulcerated, she had no hair, her teeth were all black and rotten, and she exuded a stench that was enough to lower one's Survival Value.

The instant Candice entered his vision, another CG appeared.

...

"Andrew, my child, don't you recognize me?" Candice asked softly.

Andrew looked at the monster in front of him in horror. He finally understood why Arthur never let him come to this room: "Mom... Mom... no, impossible, you're already..."

"I didn't die." Candice's voice was full of resentment. "I was conscious until the moment I was buried. It was all Arthur's doing, it was him! He poisoned me to cause my illness, he faked my death! The day after the funeral, he dug me up and used alchemy to turn me into what I am now!"

"But... but why would brother..."

"He's not your brother! He's a member of the Xing Clan! He's the embodiment of a demon!" Candice interrupted. "Look at these synthetic monsters in this room, he's already started killing innocent people, isn't he?"

"No... those people..." Andrew wanted to explain.

Candice immediately said again, "Don't be fooled by him, Andrew! He's just using you. Look at what he did to Mom! He'll kill you sooner or later!"

"Then... I... what should I do..."

"You have to be patient, Andrew, you can't kill him now. You have to wait for an opportunity..." Candice lowered her voice. "You have to keep today's events a secret. Don't reveal anything in front of him, understand?"

"I..." Andrew was a little at a loss.

"Come here, listen to me, Mom will tell you what to do..."

...

The image flashed back and ended. Feng Bujue came back to his senses and found himself standing in front of Candice.

"Andrew, what happened to you?" Candice looked at Feng Bujue and asked, "Wait... you... could you be Arthur?"

Hearing these words, Feng Bujue immediately understood many things. "No, it's me, Andrew," Feng Bujue said, imitating Andrew's tone.

Candice took another deep look at him, "What's wrong with you? Did Arthur do something to you?"

"The soul exchange failed." As Feng Bujue spoke, he took out the *Advanced Alchemy*, and flipped to the second chapter. At this moment, the content of this chapter was no longer blurred. The system had already translated it, and the second chapter recorded a complete alchemy example.

"Failed... what does that mean... where's Arthur?" Candice asked.

"I killed him, and he turned me into this." Feng Bujue's gaze remained on the book. As he finished speaking, he squatted down and casually dipped some unknown liquid from a nearby stain, and began to draw the alchemic array according to the drawing.

"What are you doing?" Candice looked at her son's strange behavior and asked suspiciously.

"I'm saving you, Mom," Feng Bujue replied. "With this alchemic array, I can turn you back into a normal person from a synthetic human."

"Is... is that so..." Candice continued.

"Arthur is dead, Mom, you don't have to stay here anymore, we can go back to our original lives," Feng Bujue added.

"Yes... yes... hahahaha..." Candice couldn't help but laugh, "Arthur is dead, Andrew, you truly are Mom's good son... you really killed that Xing Clan demon, hahaha..." She was overjoyed, "I can finally leave this place..."

Feng Bujue quickly finished drawing the alchemic array, moved Candice out of the wall, placed her in the array, and then took out the six items from his pocket one by one and placed them around her.

Candice couldn't wait to say, "Quick, Andrew, quickly activate the alchemic array."

"Why be in such a hurry, Mom?" Feng Bujue said in a bizarre tone, "Are you so eager to gain my power?"

"You... what are you saying..." Candice's expression changed drastically, but she immediately covered it up and asked, feigning ignorance, "An... Andrew, what are you saying? Mom doesn't understand..."

"Just now, I realized something... I finally understand what Arthur meant by 'my silly little brother'," Feng Bujue sneered, "Actually, I'm not your son either."