“Brother Jue… this… this… is…” Wang Tanzhi was stuttering again from fright.

“If I didn’t interrupt you, were you planning to just keep [bleep]ing like that?” Feng Bujue said.

Long Aomin turned his head. “Brother Feng, why can you say the censored word?”

“It’s obvious that when I said that swear word, I didn’t have any insulting intent in my mind, so the system didn’t directly stop the behavior, but the word itself is not very elegant, so it was censored,” Feng Bujue explained. “Speaking of which, isn’t it the wrong time to be concerned about this?”

Ping ping ping… crash…

The sound of light bulbs exploding and shards of glass falling to the ground was incessant. All the wall lamps around the dining room exploded at this moment, and the room was plunged into darkness.

Almost before these sounds had settled, Feng Bujue had already taken a flashlight from his bag, turned it on, and shone it upwards, illuminating his face. "Was it necessary… couldn't you just turn them off? Why the theatrics?" As he spoke, he put on the [Eyes of Hatred].

In the darkness, Little Tan and Brother Long saw the upward-spreading light and turned their backs to Feng Bujue, slowly retreating to his side. At the same time, they took out their flashlights from their bags and turned them on, each illuminating a fan-shaped area in front of them.

On the other side, Si Yu Ruo Li and Bei Ling Xiao Gu naturally had their own lighting methods. Si Yu Ruo Li took out an old-fashioned lantern. Although it looked old, the attributes of this item were not bad:

[Name: Constant Glimmer Lantern]

[Type: Tool]

[Quality: Dilapidated]

[Function: Illumination]

[Effect: Never Extinguished]

[Note: This lantern was once a powerful magical item, but it was never repaired after being severely damaged. It can only illuminate an area of about five meters around it. Twisting the switch cannot control its brightness, nor can it be turned off. Fortunately, it still retains the characteristic of unlimited fuel.]

She placed the lantern directly on the long table. As the item description stated, the light was always on, illuminating a spherical area with a radius of five meters.

Bei Ling Xiao Gu took out a yellow miner's hat, turned on the round lamp in front of the hat, and held it in her hand. Perhaps because she felt uncomfortable or ugly wearing it, she did not put it on her head.

Everyone lowered their breathing, listening for any threats approaching in the quiet darkness.

Suddenly, a few light sounds of tinkling came from above. Everyone looked up, only to see the large glass chandelier directly above the dining table being pulled and tilted by some force, aiming at… Feng Bujue.

In the blink of an eye, the steel cable above the chandelier suddenly snapped. The object, the size of half a washing machine, flew straight towards Feng Bujue. His first reaction was to dive under the table.

But someone’s reaction and action were faster than Feng Bujue's, and by more than one step.

Si Yu Ruo Li lightly tapped her feet, stepped on a chair, and gracefully leaped into the air. Her movements were agile, but her figure retained a woman’s unique softness. The sword’s edge was cold, and so was her gaze. The sword came out, as fast as a startled swan and as powerful as thunder. She cleanly cut the flying chandelier in two. After the metal frame of the lamp body was split in half, the object fell vertically as if it had lost its power, and large pieces of glass shattered all over the floor.

Si Yu Ruo Li landed lightly, using one hand to sweep away a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her forehead, while the other hand held the sword. Even her breathing did not accelerate at all. She was truly awe-inspiring and heroic.

Little Tan and Brother Long were shocked at the time. The scene of Feng Bujue smashing the Blue Corpse’s head like crazy yesterday instantly seemed extremely low-end in their minds… This merciless head-chopping heroine in front of them felt like she was ten streets ahead of him in terms of technical content and brutality… Comparing the two people's combat scenes was like comparing Qin Jia Xian to Feng Zhi Hen; there was really no comparison.

“You’re welcome,” Si Yu said directly when she saw Feng Bujue open his mouth to speak.

Feng Bujue swallowed the words of gratitude that he felt like saying, thinking: It’s a good thing I didn’t say it. That line is reserved for the cannon fodder characters in wuxia movies. He cleared his throat and said, “Um… Si Yu, can your lantern be turned up a bit more?”

“No,” Si Yu replied directly.

“Um… can I take a look at it?” Feng Bujue asked.

“Why?” Si Yu asked.

“I have a skill that can repair broken machinery and tools in a short amount of time,” Feng Bujue said. “If your lantern is below the ordinary quality…”

Before he could finish speaking, Si Yu Ruo Li used her sword to gently lift the lantern from the table and instantly brought it to him. "Dilapidated."

She liked to be concise, and he naturally understood. Taking the equipment, he used [Sloppy Repair], but the system prompted him: [Skill Use Failed]. Feng Bujue didn't care too much, because failure was normal. His Machinery Specialization was currently F-level, and the skill success rate was 20%. The situation where he succeeded at once when casting it on the flashlight last time was obviously good luck.

This time, he wasn't so lucky. He used it twice in a row before finally succeeding. The skill that consumed 100 Stamina actually cost him 300 to use. After the lantern was restored to ordinary quality, it suddenly lit up, illuminating the entire dining room.

The area of this dining room was quite large. It could be said to be the largest of all the rooms that everyone had passed through. At this moment, in the corner farthest from them, everyone saw a figure, or rather… a ghost.

It was a middle-aged man in a black classical suit, with pale skin and sunken eye sockets. His features were distinct, his forehead was broad, and his jaw was square, making him unforgettable at a glance.

According to some more popular legends, the appearance of ghosts, such as their clothing and attire, is often the way they looked at the moment of their death, or the appearance they most often maintained during their lifetime. Judging from this person’s appearance and demeanor, it was probably Roderick Usher without a doubt.

Originally, this ghost was hiding in a remote corner that even the flashlight’s light could not reach, hidden in the shadows of the darkness, but at this moment, the suddenly lit lantern left him with nowhere to hide.

Roderick seemed to be afraid of the light. He shielded his eyes with his hands, curled up, and let out a sharp roar.

Feng Bujue carried the lantern, unafraid, and approached the ghost with steady steps. His tone sounded confident. "Mr. Usher, please tell us, how can we leave here?"

“Don’t come over…” Roderick said. “Otherwise you will…” The first half of what he said sounded gentle, even making people feel that he was weak, but when he said the last few words, he took his hands away from his face, revealing a twisted face, roaring like a hysterical beast. “…pay the price!”

Feng Bujue stood one meter in front of him, without the slightest reaction. The people behind him were startled to varying degrees by Roderick’s sudden change.

“What do you want to do? Control a chair to smash the back of my head?” Feng Bujue knew that this guy was just an intangible ghost and could only control the things in this room to attack him.

No sooner said than done, a chair floated up and flew quickly towards Feng Bujue’s back.

This time, Long Aomin was closer. He took a big step forward, and with a stretch of his arm, he used [Ultron’s Fragment] to block the blow for Feng Bujue.

“There are five people here, but you seem particularly interested in me…” Feng Bujue’s tone pressed hard against the ghost. "Where is Madeline's body? Is it with your own?"

“Ah—” Roderick roared, and plates, knives, forks, candlesticks, and other scattered objects on the dining table also floated up in unison.

Without saying a word, Feng Bujue took out the [Slow Sand] from his bag and quickly threw the bottle to the ground.

This item could only slow down the “monster” within a radius of 100 meters by ten times. It could not physically slow down the movement speed of “objects.” However, Roderick, who had been slowed down, seemed to have his unknown power to maintain the floating objects affected, causing the floating objects to fall directly.

To make an analogy… these ghosts’ “telekinesis” was like riding a bicycle. If the movement was slowed down by ten times, it would not be deceleration, but a fall.

Feng Bujue held the lantern forward and pointed the flashlight at Roderick. Facing this intangible ghost, he had no way to attack, so he had to try to use the light that the other party feared to exert some influence.

Roderick uttered low and lengthy sounds in his mouth, turned around very slowly, seemingly wanting to shield the light with his hands and escape, but his movements were too slow and completely useless.

“The difficulty of this script is very average… As long as you have strong lighting equipment, stay alert to the traps in the house, and don’t be confused by illusions or something, there’s no need to worry about your survival value at all,” Feng Bujue said. “It should be considered a script that mainly tests courage rather than combat ability.” He simply passed the hand holding the lantern through Roderick’s body. The light made the ghost more and more transparent, but it could not eliminate him.

A minute passed quickly. Roderick retreated into the wall. Feng Bujue shrugged his shoulders in disappointment, returned to the long table, and put down the lantern.

“Let’s sort out our thoughts,” Feng Bujue said, picking up a wooden chair and sitting down. “The plot item that was transferred after that Invincible Brother died should be nearby. We have to find it first…”

Bei Ling directly took out the letter and said, “It’s this, but the information it provides is very limited. What can be inferred is… the owner of the house who wrote the letter is mentally unstable, afflicted with illness, and invited a friend to visit him.”

“Can I take a look?” Feng Bujue asked.

“Of course.” Bei Ling handed the letter to him and added, “If you’re looking for hidden information like a string of initial letters or Roman pinyin, it’s not in this letter.” She had only glanced at it and already confirmed this.

Feng Bujue looked at the intermittent letter for a minute and said, “Players who have read the novel may be able to guess from the contents of this letter that this is the Usher mansion. Players who haven’t read it can use this to understand some basic plot settings.” He returned the letter to Bei Ling. “This item also cannot be taken out of the script. It seems to be just an ordinary main storyline annotation item. It basically cannot promote the game’s progress.”

Bei Ling said, “Then please explain the current situation in detail. You seem to know a lot about this story, and… the ghost was obviously staring at you to attack. I have the plot item, but I’m fine. There must be some reason for this, right?”