Qin Feichang walked along the vine-covered corridor and pressed his abdomen.
She was hungry and thirsty. Although she could still endure it for now, she guessed that the food and water in this place were problematic. Even if she could avoid all dangers, she would eventually starve to death and die of thirst.
She must find a way to leave here before reaching the limit. If she fails to find a way to leave before she can no longer hold on, she can only make one last attempt - try to kill Egbert.
If she guessed correctly, he was the key to this world. But she didn't want to trigger this option unless it was absolutely necessary.
She left the hall to get away from Egbert's gaze, and also because she wanted to go to the bell tower to have a look. This castle, where day and night change, is opened by the sound of the bell, so perhaps there must be something special about the bell tower.
The bell tower was very high, and one could see the huge dials on the four sides of the spire. On the way to the bell tower, Qin Feichang saw the lush plants and flowers in the courtyard. She briefly considered whether these things could be eaten, but eventually gave up.
The beautiful roses blooming by the roadside swayed in the breeze, lightly brushing against her fingers. After Qin Feichang walked over, an eyeball suddenly popped out from the pistil.
Thousands of roses, like sunflowers chasing the sun, all turned in the same direction, revealing their eyes in the stamens, staring at the receding back of Qin Feichang.
The vines that Qin Feichang had stepped on began to shake their leaves after she left, as if they wanted to catch up with her and drag her into the vines to devour her, but they also seemed to be afraid of some kind of aura on her and hesitated to move forward. The rustling sound of the leaves rubbing against each other was like people whispering.
On the way, they passed by a fountain statue. There was a large shell-shaped white pool and a naked goddess statue standing on the shell. The statue was holding a water bottle and pouring it out. The clear water gathered in the shell. Qin Feichang licked his lips and walked over. He casually scooped up the clear water. After thinking for a long time, he gave up drinking the water to quench his thirst.
When she walked away, the water in the pool suddenly surged, forming a spherical eye, which swirled and watched Qin Feichang leave, and finally fell back into the water. The water that originally flowed naturally lost its deceptive appearance and became a strange shape - the water flowed back from the pool to the half-empty water bottle.
Qin Feichang walked slowly, and when he was about to approach the clock tower, he met a group of five people. They all looked listless and came from the direction of the clock tower.
Relying on his excellent memory, Qin Feichang remembered that he first saw them in the hall, but before dark, these people did not return to the hall, and they must have spent the night in other places.
Seeing her, they were all surprised and happy.
"Great, we met other people. Where did you come from?"
You? Qin paused, followed the gazes of the others and looked behind him. He was caught off guard by Egbert's smiling face. He was still wearing a long dark red cloth, which was neither fish nor fowl, but pleasing to the eye.
She didn't even notice when he started following her.
"Wow, he's so handsome." A girl among the five people exclaimed softly.
Only those who had never seen him go crazy would care about whether his face was pretty or not. But this could also be inferred that they probably didn't encounter anything too scary last night, otherwise they probably wouldn't be in the mood to think about it now.
"Did you see any ghosts last night? It was so scary!" The two girls still felt cold when they thought of the human-shaped shadow in the darkness last night.
Egbert walked up to Qin Feichang, and he showed a curious look, "Really? There are ghosts here? I have never seen one."
"It was my first time encountering a ghost, too. It was a person's black shadow that disappeared in a flash." The girl looked into Egbert's eyes and spoke in a low voice, somewhat embarrassedly.
Qin Feichang: “…” He probably can’t understand your fear, this little girl who is fascinated by beauty.
"I'll go over there and take a look." She said and was about to leave.
A man in the team was not happy and stepped forward to stop her. "Why are you so arrogant? We all came to this place for no reason. We can only get out by helping each other. I see that you are not afraid at all. I guess you didn't encounter any scary ghosts last night. Where are you hiding in a safe place?"
"Yes, if there is a safe place, then take us there. You might encounter danger if you go alone." Another girl said implicitly.
The biggest danger is the boy standing next to you with an innocent smile on his face.
Qin Feihong sighed secretly. She really didn't have the energy and spirit to communicate and reason with these children. She pointed to the banquet hall where they came from and said, "We were all over there last night, the banquet hall that just appeared here. You can go over and take a look."
"This place is too big and we don't remember the way. You lead us there." A good-looking boy gave the order as a matter of course. From his tone, it seemed that he was a young master who was used to being served by servants.
Although the place is large, it is not difficult to find a high point and walk around to understand the layout and find the direction, but they seem unwilling to use their brains. Qin Feichang used to deal with smart kids who value efficiency in all work, and he really can't stand young people who wait for everything to be delivered to them.
"I have no obligation to lead you." She warned, "It's dangerous here, you'd better be careful."
"It's broad daylight now and no ghosts will appear. What are you afraid of? Women are just timid." The man who stopped her sneered.
Egbert watched them quarreling, shaking his seaweed-like hair, and the smile on his face became weird.
Suddenly, the vines hanging around the group of people swayed like green snakes and pounced on them.
Qin Feichang reacted the fastest and dodged. The man who was blocking Qin Feichang was not slow either, and pulled the two girls beside him to dodge. Only a young man with a casual attitude had his back to the vines, so he failed to react and was dragged away.
He was hanging in the air, his upper body covered by vines, his feet hanging on the corridor, swaying. For the first few seconds, he could still be heard shouting, and then there was only some kind of gurgling swallowing sound.
Before the others could react and rescue him, they saw that he was motionless, with blood dripping down his feet.
The man who was holding the two girls took the courage to take a look and was immediately stimulated. He yelled, left the others behind and ran away, causing the others to follow him.
They wanted to stay away from these man-eating vines, and Qin Feichang was of course the same.
It was also the first time she discovered that the vines here could kill people, and she quickly thought of other plants. If they were all the same as this vine, then...
"Where are you going?" Egbert asked her with a smile, ignoring the young people who ran away.
When Qin Feichang saw him chasing after her, she knew that he was probably interested in her. She couldn't blame anyone else, because she had thought the boy was strange at first and had taken the initiative to test him, thus arousing his interest.
She adjusted her glasses and said calmly, "I want to go to the clock tower and take a look."
"Then I'll go with you." Egbert walked beside her in a good mood, stepped on the vines on the ground, and picked a branch to play with in his hand.
Qin Feichang, who was keeping a distance from him, was looking ahead. Suddenly, he felt a vine reaching out to him and he immediately dodged to the side.
“Hahahaha!” Egbert laughed at her while holding the vine. “Are you scared? It’s just a vine.”
Qin Feichang: "Shouldn't we be afraid of vines that like to eat people?"
Egbert: "They don't like to eat people. They are dead things. How can dead things like this?" After saying that, he threw the vine away. In his hand, there was still light red plant juice.
He looked at the vine juice on his hand with disgust and stretched it in front of Qin Feichang, "My hands are all dirty."
Looking at him, Qin Feichang raised his hand to wipe off the two spots of vine juice on his hand, and put it to his nose to sniff.
There was a faint fishy smell mixed with the smell of plants, which was a bit disgusting.
In the empty corridor, Qin Feichang's leather shoes made a light tapping sound, while Egbert's footsteps were silent, except for the rustling sound of the dark red cloth dragging on the ground, like a snake walking.
The bell tower arrived soon, and Qin Feichang stood at the bottom and looked up. In the ruins, the bell tower was not damaged much, and the spire on top was basically intact, only the numerous pillars in the middle and below were broken.
What was even more strange was that the big clock on top was actually still moving. She walked around the clock tower and checked the time on all four clocks. The time on each clock was different, which was full of confusion.
This is a chaotic time and a chaotic space. Qin Feichu guessed.
Not far from the bell tower is a small church. Qin Feichang came here mainly for the bell tower, but now she has become interested in the church because it is the best-preserved building in the castle she has ever seen and is particularly special.
So she observed Egbert's expression calmly and tried to walk over there.
Egbert followed her, with a creepy smile in his dark eyes. He was not afraid of the church.
After standing at the church door for a while, Qin Feichang reached out and pushed open the church door.
The tall dome is visible, and the thin and long glass windows on both sides project sunlight in, creating bright beams of light. The huge circular flower painted window in the front projects colorful patterns in the center of the church.
This is a church with an ingenious and exquisite shape. Anyone who walks in here should be able to feel the solemn and holy atmosphere. However, the moment he stepped into the church, Qin Feichang only felt a chill.
There were hundreds of skeletons sitting on the wooden chairs in the church. Their peace was disturbed and they turned their heads around.
Qin Fei secretly said that it was not good, and felt a little regretful. But the door was closed, and it was obvious that these things did not want her to go out, or rather, Egbert beside her did not want to let her go.
"You wanted to come to church, didn't you? Why do you want to leave right after you came in?"
He put his arm around her shoulders and whispered in her ear. Beneath his innocent smile was a sinister malice.
"Hey! Over here, you two come here quickly!" A boy's voice came from the round doorway on the side. His voice was very soft, but it still attracted attention in such an empty and echoing place. He was startled himself and quickly closed his mouth, only showing his head and waving at them.
Egbert's attention was drawn again. He put his hand on Qin Feichang's shoulder, rested his forehead on her shoulder, and turned his eyes to the boy over there, "Ah, there is also someone hiding here."
He took Qin Feichang's arm and pulled her over in a somewhat intimate manner.
The boy had been hiding here alone for a day and a night. He had been unable to get out since he accidentally entered here and had been living in the same room with a group of skeletons. He was very excited when he finally saw other living people appear.
"My name is Andy, you..." He saw Qin Feichang's appearance clearly, was stunned for a moment, and immediately became more excited, "You are Luo Lan? Lang Suo's sister, right! I am your brother's friend!"
Qin Feichang also remembered that she had seen him chatting with a man named Andy on Lang Suo's computer.