Chapter 1 The Relic

Suren's words stirred up a storm in the bald man's heart.

He immediately retorted, "Are there really relics left by 'Sir Isaac' in this manor?"

Suren spat out another mouthful of blood in detail before replying, "Yes. At least that's what the treasure map I got says."

"..."

Hearing the confirmation again, the bald, burly man's eyes darted around, as if he were pondering something.

Excitement, anticipation, entanglement, mixed with a hint of apprehension.

He looked at Suren, a flicker of suspicion flashed in his eyes, but he truly suppressed his killing intent.

If he didn't know the secret of this manor, he would have killed him without a second thought.

But now that he knew there was such a great treasure in this manor, how could he give up so easily?

As a veteran wasteland hunter captain in "Old Lingdun" city, how could he not know the value of "Sir Isaac's relics"?

That legendary great alchemist, rumored to have taken ancient alchemy to the extreme, and hailed as a "demigod." He had researched countless new alchemical formulas, countless strange potions, and invented countless patents in his lifetime. Each of his alchemical manuscripts could be sold for a sky-high price in Lingdun's black market.

The bald man had personally witnessed someone pay a sky-high price of three hundred gold crowns at an inner city auction for a page of useless daily notes, simply because it was a handwritten note left by Sir Isaac.

But he knew that the "dh-031 Fine Modified Version" mechanical arm he was equipped with only cost a few dozen gold crowns in materials and modification fees.

Although the bald man knew that Suren might be hiding something, as long as it involved that person, it was worth risking his life to gamble!

If he really found any relics left by Sir Isaac, he would definitely become rich overnight. Would he still need to risk his life as a wasteland hunter for the rest of his life?

...

Thinking of this, the bald man narrowed his eyes and asked coldly, "Boy, who exactly are you?"

"I don't know either."

Suren pretended to be at a loss for a moment, then added, "My memory has been erased."

The information on his retina said that the original owner had his "memory wiped," so there was nothing wrong with answering like this.

"..."

Hearing this, the bald man pondered for a moment.

He didn't seem to doubt it, nor did he ask any further questions.

Being exiled from the inner city and having a bounty placed on his head meant his identity was definitely not simple, and the explanation of memory erasure was plausible.

He didn't delve into the question of Suren's identity, but instead asked, "How did you get the treasure map you mentioned?"

Suren replied, "I don't know who left it for me."

After a pause, he added, "I once saw it by chance in an old book, and then I burned it."

"..."

The bald man frowned, but didn't speak.

They had already searched him during the interrogation and hadn't found anything that could be a treasure map.

So, he couldn't kill him now even more.

He also guessed that Suren was definitely holding back. He wouldn't be stupid enough to reveal everything all at once when it came to things that could save his life.

The iron pliers-like hand on his neck loosened, and Suren knew that he had temporarily saved his life.

Although he looked a little embarrassed, he remained calm in his heart.

If he really wanted to survive, he had to think of other ways.

The bald man was also obviously wary of him, constantly asking about the details of the "treasure map." But at this moment, a desperate cry like a ghost wailing suddenly came from outside the door.

"Captain, Captain, where are you... Help!"

The sudden wail made the atmosphere in the room suddenly become very strange.

The bald man's expression immediately became solemn when he heard it.

He then realized that they were still in a cursed space with a suspected "Level A" danger level!

This manor was still hiding unknown dangers.

Suren didn't know what terrifying things that guy outside had experienced, but judging from his desperate tone, he guessed that something very terrifying was happening outside the door.

The bald man frowned, held Suren's neck as a shield, and walked over to open the door.

"Click." The door opened.

At this moment, a guy covered in blood rushed in with a look of panic.

The bald man obviously recognized the guy in the leather armor assassin outfit and frowned as he called out his name, "Marcus?"

The guy looked at the bald man, his pale face suddenly turned rosy, and he said with ecstasy, "Captain Ivan!"

After a pause, the horror on his face turned into relief after surviving a disaster, and he said with a gasp, "Oh, God... Captain, I finally found you!"

Suren silently watched this scene from the side and finally learned the names of the two.

Captain?

Sounds like some kind of organization.

Suren looked at the wounds and bloodstains on the man named Marcus, and then looked at the smoking musket in his hand, feeling a little strange in his heart: "Sharp weapon lacerations... A guy who uses a gun was actually cut with a knife?"

Perhaps, not by a person?

Obviously, things didn't seem that simple.

At this time, the bald man looked at Marcus alone, and then poked his head out to look outside the door, but found nothing unusual.

After closing the door, he solemnly asked, "Where's Vice Captain Mark, where's Daniel, and where are the others?"

"Captain... they're dead, they're all dead!"

Marcus's eyes were full of fear, as if he was recalling something, and he said with a sob, "Just now... just now we entered this cursed space and got lost while walking. Then we found that there were many terrifying puppets in this house! There seems to be a 'Specter Kindred' manipulating those puppets in this house. It seems to be everywhere, it wants us to play games with them... hide-and-seek... if we're found, we'll be killed..."

"Specter Kindred?"

The bald man Ivan's face was full of solemnity after listening to his subordinate's stammering account.

...

Specter Kindred?

Weird?

Suren captured a few words that he could understand, but that were beyond his original understanding.

However, after seeing the extraordinary abilities of this world, it was also easy for him to understand that this word should refer to some kind of "supernatural creature."

"It" had just killed more than a dozen of this bald man's crew members.

Before the transmigration, Suren was an up-and-coming streamer who did horror game and paranormal movie commentary. Therefore, although the story told by this guy named Marcus was bizarre, it was not too unbelievable for him.

He didn't feel much horror in his heart, but instead felt a strange sense of familiarity: "Horror plot? This seems to be the correct way to play out."

Vaguely, he could also infer some of the "Specter Kindred's" quirks from the process, such as: liking to torture and kill humans, liking to play childish games...

Now it seemed that the deadly threat was not only this bald man, but also the addition of a "Specter Kindred."

...

The bald man was still carefully inquiring about his subordinate's condition, but at this moment, Suren, whose thoughts were racing, seemed to have suddenly discovered something, and raised his eyebrows.

"Huh..."

His gaze shifted away from Marcus and suddenly fell on the red, black, and green three-colored toy soldier puppet in the corner of the study that looked like a "Nutcracker."

Before, he thought this was just a pure ornament in the study.

But he didn't know if it was an illusion, but Suren had just seen the toy's eyes seem to tremble.

At this time, the pitch-black eyeballs on this puppet's face were staring at the three people in the room.

After a slight recollection, Suren discovered an anomaly and thought to himself, "I thought I misremembered it just now, but it really moved..."

He remembered very clearly that when he was pinned against the opposite wall by the bald man before, the puppet's gaze was facing left, staring at them exactly.

And now, their position had moved to the doorway on the right, but the puppet's eyes were still staring at them.

It was like this →_→!

So, the people's position moved, the puppet didn't move, but the direction of its eyes did.

This was a habit he had developed from playing horror escape room games in the past. In a confined environment, his gaze would always instinctively collect all the "clues" around him to break the situation.

That's how he noticed the difference in the Nutcracker puppet.

"So, we're being monitored by 'someone'..."

Suren discovered the anomaly, but a look of realization flashed in his eyes.

He originally thought he had seen it wrong, but now that he heard that there were murderous puppets in this house, Suren immediately confirmed that everything in the room had been monitored by someone in the dark.

Perhaps, it was that so-called "Specter Kindred."

However, even if he discovered this, Suren didn't show any abnormality on his face.

For him, although he was not sure what the concept of "weird" in this room was, judging from the expressions of the bald man and the other guy, it must be some kind of dangerous existence.

But this didn't mean that the "weird" would be more deadly to Suren than these two bald men.

It was even good news.

If he wanted to survive in the bald man's hands, this "weird" might also be one of the conditions that could be used.