The castle was overrun with vines, and scattered all around were countless soldiers who had fallen into a death-like slumber. This discovery left everyone baffled and deeply unsettled.

Especially since one of their own companions had already fallen asleep and couldn’t be woken.

Curly Hair didn’t dare sit down again, afraid he’d doze off once more. He paced back and forth, picking up his iron sword and swinging it forcefully, trying to keep himself alert.

The others were all on edge too, each worried they might succumb to drowsiness.

Hat Man took charge as usual, reassuring everyone: “Don’t be too tense. As long as we find the king’s sword, we can all leave this place.”

“But where is the king’s sword?”

“This place is so big—where do we even start looking?”

“Right, and we don’t even know what the sword looks like…”

Everyone chattered at once. Hat Man raised his hand to signal for quiet. “We’ve only searched the outer area. We haven’t gone inside yet. The sword the mission requires us to find is very likely hidden in there, and it’s bound to be distinguishable from ordinary swords.”

“All the paths inside are blocked by vines.”

“Then hack them open!”

“There are so many of us—no matter how fast the vines regenerate, they can’t keep up with how fast we’re cutting, right?”

“Actually, we could also climb up. I noticed a lot of the vines stretch directly into the second and third floor windows.”

Everyone threw out ideas, talking over one another.

Hat Man said, “Climbing up risks getting stabbed by thorns. Let’s be safe about this—try clearing a path first.”

In just those few moments of discussion, Curly Hair started dozing off again. He’d been standing, but had slowly slumped into a lean, his head bobbing up and down, the sword in his hand looking ready to slip from his grip at any moment.

Tan Xiao gave him a curious poke. “Hey, you’re falling asleep again?”

Curly Hair snapped awake with a jolt, realized it was Tan Xiao beside him, and immediately shot him a vicious glare. “I’m not sleepy! Stay away from me!”

“You clearly were!” Tan Xiao pointed at him. “I just saw your eyelids fighting each other!”

Hat Man glanced over with concern. “Everyone keep an eye on the teammates beside you—if someone starts dozing off, alert them immediately.”

Someone pointed at Tan Xiao and asked, “What do we do about that kid? He’s been following us around.”

Hat Man frowned. “Ignore him. He can’t do much anyway.”

The group wasted no more time. They found the entrance and all began hacking at the vines together!

First they shaved off the thorns until they were bare, then chopped through them section by section.

The vines grew quickly, but couldn’t keep up with the group’s concentrated assault. Soon they had carved out a gap wide enough to duck through.

Inside was a corridor laid with a darkly patterned carpet.

Several beams of light slanted in through tall, narrow windows, making the layers of cobwebs gleam. Beyond that, the interior was, surprisingly, quite clean.

No thorns or vines—not even a withered blade of grass.

It seemed the vines had only sealed off the outside; the interior of the building was entirely intact.

Everyone let out a sigh of relief. As long as they weren’t at risk of being stabbed by thorns, they could move without constantly fearing for their lives.

Hat Man led the way inside, guiding his 8 teammates deeper into the castle.

Tan Xiao followed at the back, curiously taking in his surroundings. They hadn’t gone far before they hit a fork in the path. He heard a muffled cry of alarm from somewhere ahead and immediately pushed through the crowd to get a look. “What happened? What happened?”

At the fork ahead lay two maids, their bodies blanketed in a thick layer of dust.

Looking further, more people lay on the ground—servants, attendants, noblewomen, dukes, ministers, knights… all manner of dress, all manner of sleeping positions, stretching all the way to the royal banquet hall ahead.

“Good lord…” Tan Xiao stared wide-eyed in shock.

He quickened his pace and burst into the banquet hall, casually hauling upright a minister who’d been slumped face-down on a table, and was even more astonished. “How are all the people here… asleep?”

Tan Xiao waved to Hat Man and the others. “Get over here! All these people are sleeping!”

—