The ancient stone walls seemed to absorb the faint light from the mountaintop.

Many corners of this old castle were shrouded in shadow, with unknown secrets possibly hidden behind every door.

The cold stone walls and dim corridors, under the influence of murderous intent, seemed to exude an even more chilling aura.

The group walked through the castle hallways, maintaining a subtle distance.

Looking out the window, one could only see the misty forest and the looming outlines of the valley, all hazy and mysterious.

Because the two betrayers, as Familiars of the Blood Clan, could only borrow the Blood Lord's authority when he was awake, and because the Blood Clan's habits were generally to find a safe place during the day to seal themselves off from the light and fall into slumber, only to awaken at night.

Therefore, the betrayers only had one chance each night to use the unknown and terrifying power of the Earl.

At the start of the five-day killing game, the challengers who had not yet been killed were at their peak. The two betrayers, unable to use the Blood Lord's authority, dared not directly start a two-on-ten fight.

Instead, they wisely disguised themselves as normal challengers.

The daytime exploration strategy naturally became one where everyone stayed together, not allowed to leave each other's sight.

This forced the betrayers to follow the group, unable to commit crimes or complete their own mission objectives during the day.

Likewise, it greatly delayed the betrayers' progress.

Ascending the stone steps from the Holy Hall, they entered the second-floor loft-style landing through winding corridors. From there, they could still clearly see the hall on the ground floor. Walking further in, besides three locked giant bedrooms and several washrooms and storage rooms, the most conspicuous was a two-story library, extending from the second to the third floor of the castle.

The library was made of dark mahogany. Tall, ornate carved bookshelves stretched along the walls to the ceiling, filled with various ancient books from the Honing Empire, including old manuscripts and precious maps. In the center was a writing desk, with a quill and an ink bottle, clearly indicating that this was once the reading and working place of the castle's owner, Duke Caligula.

However, Frey did not ask everyone to spend a lot of time in the library searching for clues. He simply led the group up to the third floor of the castle via the spiral staircase inside the library.

From the third to the fifth floor, besides the three fixed bedrooms on each floor, there was also Duke Caligula's private bedroom, the castle's conference room, iron foundry, armory, textile room, painting room, pharmacy, tower, and so on.

Many of the castle rooms they passed seemed to hold potential clues.

However, the detective had no such thoughts.

He seemed to see through the distractions, acting in a straight line towards the most efficient plan he had already confirmed in his mind.

After a three-hour-long complete internal exploration of the castle, the challengers finally confirmed that the five-story castle's structure was covered with strong magic formulas that could withstand extremely powerful attacks, especially in the bedrooms, which had individually strengthened enchantments.

There were three rooms on each of the second to fifth floors, making a total of twelve safe bedrooms. Each challenger already had a magic key in their pocket that would open the corresponding room's doors and windows.

At this point, the mechanics of this Shadow World became clearer.

When the Blood Lord awakened at night and the betrayers could use their authority, everyone gathering together would most likely be wiped out by the two betrayers in one fell swoop.

Therefore, the obvious strategy for the night was for everyone to separate and hide in the safe bedrooms.

Even if the Blood Clan's authority included attack or dispel spells that could break through the bedroom's defenses, due to the limitation of being able to borrow the authority only once a day, and considering the absolute rationality that the Shadow World had always maintained, at most one or two safe bedrooms could be broken into in one night.

The more concentrated the residents, the greater the probability of multiple challengers being killed in one night. The more scattered the residents, the fewer deaths there would likely be that night.

If the betrayers could not be caught as soon as possible, the five days might be enough for the two betrayers to kill all the other challengers.

The residents of each bedroom were public knowledge before the Shadow World began. Challengers with important identities were especially dangerous, especially the detective.

The only way to avoid danger was to go and live with a trusted challenger.

The challenger might even sacrifice themselves to protect the detective, so it was necessary to prevent the betrayers from directly killing the detective on the first night.

The earlier the detective died, the more this Shadow World would tilt towards the betrayers' victory!

Correspondingly, if the betrayers could be reasonably misled, or if a perfect psychological game could be played, it was possible for the betrayers to come up empty all night!

At this moment, after investigating the internal structure of the castle, the group, led by Frey, went downstairs and returned to the ground floor.

Frey went to the kitchen and food storage to find some portable food, which he put into the cross-body leather bag he had found upstairs. Then he went to the wine cellar and took a few bottles of sweet white wine.

It was almost nine in the morning.

In front of the double doors, light surged freely between the window frames, passing through the colorful glass on the dome, highlighting the originally slightly dark interior of the building in alternating light and shadow.

Frey pushed open the huge doors. The group followed behind him, stepping out of the historic castle for the first time from the ground floor, and immediately the strong sunlight gave them a sense of impact they had never experienced before.

They finally saw the full view of the cloud castle.

Stepping out of the gate, looking back, the detailed decorations on the ancient castle's exterior walls were particularly clear under the morning light. The limestone walls formed a sharp contrast with the surrounding lush forest, and the top-floor suspended platform and spired tower looked particularly magnificent in the misty surroundings.

Now, Frey instructed everyone to go to the cliff together to confirm whether the information from the Geographer and the Lawyer was correct.

If the information was true.

The credibility of two people would become higher.

The castle was surrounded by mountains and trees, lush everywhere, and the bleak autumn was even more gloomy.

Twelve figures walked through the forest, the atmosphere becoming more and more tense.

The trees in the mist were like eerie shadows, and the shallow stream became a mysterious passage disappearing into the fog.

They knew that the real importance of this trip was to confirm the condition of the bridge.

In just five minutes, the group arrived at the location of the cliff, following the direction accurately described by the Geographer.

The scene before them was terrifying. The road to the city-state was blocked by a huge cliff.

Even before their eyes had touched the edge, the 800-meter-high and 100-meter-wide cliff had already brought a strong visual shock.

Just as Lanchi had predicted, the hundred-meter-long bridge had indeed been destroyed.

It was as if someone had deliberately wanted to trap everyone in this ancient castle.

It must have been the betrayers' actions using the Blood Clan's authority before the Shadow World began.

The height of more than 800 meters and the distance of more than 100 meters to the opposite bank, as well as the air defense magic effect of the defense barrier, seemed to isolate them from the rest of the world, making them prisoners of this rocky island.

In this bleak morning.

Everything was in a stage of clueless mystery.

Just as everyone's mood was about to fall into extreme depression because of the broken bridge.

Frey, like a detective who was about to approach the moment of solving the case, walked towards the cliff alone!

(End of chapter)