【Water Spirit’s Discarded Egg — Striking a target causes significant pain, with a 20% chance of triggering a thunderclap effect.】

The bead Zhu Shu had thrown struck like a thunderbolt, blasting half of Bluebeard’s face into a bloody ruin!

“AAAAAH MY FACE!!!” The human-shaped beast bellowed in a hoarse, savage roar, spinning around. “You wretched woman — how dare you!——”

Howling, he scooped a broken sword from the ground and hurled it savagely at Zhu Shu!

Su Man yanked Zhu Shu’s hand and they threw themselves backward, stumbling on the stairs as they retreated — the sharp blade grazed Zhu Shu’s upper arm as they tumbled and fell! The remaining beads scattered across the floor!

Zhu Shu didn’t bother getting up, kneeling on the spot to frantically gather the beads, shouting to Su Man: “Don’t let him take Zhao Lanfen away! Even if we can’t save her, we have to kill the Duke! Otherwise he’ll just keep killing every night!”

“He’s moving!” Yu Yaqing wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, snatched up a sword, and took off up the stairs again.

Bluebeard was faster!

Despite his enormous frame, he moved without any clumsiness — he hauled Zhao Lanfen up the spiral staircase at speed, all the way to the third floor!

Yu Yaqing, Su Man, and Hu Ya pursued relentlessly from below, but by the time they made it to the third floor, both corridors were empty. Bluebeard was nowhere to be seen.

*Bang!*

The sound of a door slamming shut echoed through the corridor.

The three women gasped for breath, scanning left and right, trying to determine which room he’d gone into, when a piercing, agonized scream rang out again!

“AAAAAH!!!”

Whatever torment was being inflicted, Zhao Lanfen’s cries were soul-shredding!

The sound echoed through the entire building — it seemed to come from the right, then from the left, and when they listened harder, it seemed to come from everywhere: the vaulted ceiling, the spiraling staircase, the walls papered in vintage floral prints. Every surface carried her voice!

It was chilling to the bone.

“Zhao Lanfen!” Yu Yaqing shouted, throwing open room after room, then running to the next — yet she could not find Zhao Lanfen no matter where she looked.

The screaming didn’t stop.

It cried until it grew hoarse, cried until the pitch wavered, cried until there was no breath left — and then, at its highest pitch, it cut off sharply!

…Silence.

The whole building went still.

Yu Yaqing clenched her jaw and slammed her fist into the wall.

She knew. Zhao Lanfen was dead.

—

Silence. How long it lasted, no one could say — perhaps only a few seconds, perhaps several minutes already…

Yu Yaqing took a deep breath, stepped forward, and began checking rooms one by one.

Su Man and Hu Ya joined in.

Because Bai Youwei had asked about the room count, Su Man kept a quiet mental tally as she searched.

But they opened all 128 doors and found nothing.

Still the same rooms overflowing with gold and jewels — no Bluebeard, no Zhao Lanfen. It was as though they had simply vanished into thin air.

The three women returned to the spiral staircase, temporarily at a loss.

Hu Ya stared at Yu Yaqing with a dazed expression and asked hesitantly, “Team leader… do we… keep looking?”

Yu Yaqing closed her eyes for a moment, then said in a low, flat voice, “Go downstairs first.”

—

Zhu Shu was downstairs, anxiously picking up beads.

The props were too round, too smooth — once dropped, they could roll into any corner, and after a thorough search she had only recovered six.

She’d been given 10 beads in the dollhouse. She’d used two just now, so there should be eight left.

Two were missing, no matter how hard she looked.

She raised her head, meaning to ask Cheng Qian to move aside a little, but before she could speak, Cheng Qian flinched as if her tail had been stepped on, and snapped in a shrill voice:

“Why are you looking at me?! I didn’t take your beads!!!”

Zhu Shu said, “I didn’t mean—”

“Stay away from me!” Cheng Qian’s mental state was clearly fraying, her gaze taut and fixed on Zhu Shu. “Get away! Don’t come near me!”

Zhu Shu frowned, watched her for a moment, then said nothing more. She walked in silence to Bai Youwei’s side.

Bai Youwei asked, “What’s wrong with her?”

Zhu Shu glanced at Cheng Qian once more. “…It’s nothing.”

—