Everyone followed Deng Ming’s gaze.
Xu Xingyuan was hugging Cat-Nian, his face full of innocence and confusion.
Sensing that everyone was looking at him, he silently lifted Cat-Nian to cover his cheek.
He buried his face in Cat-Nian’s back, his long bangs falling down to cover his forehead and eyes.
“What are you saying!”
Seeing his “child” being wronged, Shi Shu couldn’t bear it anymore.
He pulled Xu Xingyuan directly into his arms, pointing at Deng Ming and cursing:
“Our child is just a little gloomy, a little shy, a little quiet, and likes long bangs a little!”
“Even if he’s like an unlikable mushroom growing in the shade, does he deserve to be spoken of like that by you!”
Shi Shu forced Xu Xingyuan to lift his head, his tone extremely protective:
“Come on, Xingyuan! Be fierce at them!”
Xu Xingyuan paused, silent for a few seconds. Then, he tentatively widened his eyes and, using the loudest voice of his life, shouted:
“I-I’m not easy to bully!”
When he said this, he almost bit his tongue and stammered a little.
The words “cool, handsome, wild, domineeringly cool” had absolutely nothing to do with Xu Xingyuan.
Shi Shu wore the expression of a mother hen protecting her chick, patted Xu Xingyuan’s shoulder with gratification, and smiled:
“Xingyuan, you’ve done very well. This is the foundation of success! It’s our first step to becoming fiercer!”
Looking at Xu Xingyuan’s thin arms and legs, Deng Ming couldn’t help but doubt if his judgment was wrong.
“You cold, heartless person! Look at what you questioned just now. How could our Xingyuan be that kind of bad child!”
Shi Shu continued to hug Xu Xingyuan, turning his head to glare at Deng Ming, and said very seriously:
“Our Xingyuan is the kind of person who would voluntarily hand over an S-Rank item to the police if he saw one on the ground!”
Xu Xingyuan: “…”
Shi Shu now looked at Xu Xingyuan with a built-in filter, completely like a doting Chinese parent.
Even if Xu Xingyuan just breathed, he would applaud frantically and give a thumbs up, praising:
“Our Xingyuan breathes so well! Other kids can’t breathe as well as our Xingyuan!”
Not only did Shi Shu have a filter for Xu Xingyuan, but Xu Qing and Lin Feng also felt this kid was purely a weakling.
Mainly because Xu Xingyuan’s appearance was too deceptive.
“Deng Ming, do you have persecution delusions or something? Where did Xu Xingyuan scare you?”
Xu Qing didn’t take Xu Xingyuan seriously at all, treating him purely as a pathfinding stone, a newbie to be sacrificed at any time.
Lin Feng also felt Deng Ming was making a fuss over nothing and said:
“I think you designed and killed Wang Zhen.”
“Still pretending to be an innocent victim, trying to pin the blame on Xu Xingyuan to divert our attention.”
Under everyone’s accusations, Deng Ming couldn’t help but look at Xu Xingyuan a few more times.
No matter how he looked, Xu Xingyuan was just a gloomy, quiet kid.
“Instead of wasting time questioning Xu Xingyuan, why don’t you actively share the information you gathered yesterday?”
Xu Qing tried to take control of the rhythm, asking everyone to share the clues gathered yesterday.
Hearing this, Deng Ming had to put aside the matter of Xu Xingyuan and try to recall yesterday’s events.
“When Wang Zhen and I were exploring, we found several diaries and noticed something strange.”
Xu Qing chimed in, “Was it that on the last page of every diary, it was written that they killed the Madam?”
“How do you know!” Deng Ming exclaimed. “Did you discover it too?”
“Yes. In the diaries we found yesterday, there was such a sentence on the last page.”
Lin Feng turned his head to look at Xu Xingyuan and Shi Shu.
“What about you two?”
Shi Shu nodded. “Seems everyone is the same. Every diary found clearly states that they were the murderer who killed the Madam.”
“Leaving aside the diaries, have you explored the castle’s basement?”
Seeing everyone shake their heads, Xu Qing had an idea, thinking of a better plan.
“Now, only the basement and the sixth floor remain unexplored. I suspect there must be something good hidden in the basement.”
Xu Qing and Lin Feng didn’t dare go down to check themselves, so they threw out a hook directly, waiting for these newbies to bite.
Chu Xiu, who hadn’t spoken, suddenly took out a newspaper and placed it in front of everyone.
“Look here.”
He pointed to a picture in the bottom right corner of the newspaper and spoke slowly:
“Don’t you think this painting looks very similar to some paintings in this castle?”
Hearing this, Xu Xingyuan leaned over to take a look.
It was a landscape painting depicting the banks of the Seine at dusk. A flock of white doves flew from the sunset glow, the river shimmering with golden fragments.
The tone was saturated yet full of melancholy, the scenery harmonious but carrying a very strong personal style.
A very beautiful, perfect painting, indeed similar to some portraits on the castle walls.
In the bottom right corner of the painting, the creator’s name was left—Kira.
From a single painting alone, no important information could be gleaned.
Soon, Chu Xiu took the newspaper back, folded it, and put it away.
Breakfast was not a very pleasant meal.
Because Wang Zhen’s death greatly stimulated Deng Ming’s nerves, he desperately wanted to escape the castle!
Xu Xingyuan wasn’t in a hurry to explore the basement, but Deng Ming was the first to lose patience.
In the afternoon, to increase efficiency and save time, Xu Xingyuan and Shi Shu decided to split up.
Xu Xingyuan saw Deng Ming running out of the basement, scrambling and crawling, while crying and shouting!
Deng Ming’s designer clothes were covered in mud, and his expression was full of horror.
Seeing Xu Xingyuan was like seeing a lifeline; he rushed up violently!
Deng Ming grabbed Xu Xingyuan’s shoulders tightly. His eyes were bloodshot, his face contorted as he roared:
“There are ghosts in the basement! The walls are covered in dense portraits, and there are so many dead birds!”
“I saw a woman painting and smearing on the wall with a brush. She had no eyes!”
Just thinking of the scene he saw in the basement, Deng Ming’s legs went weak, and he almost knelt on the ground.
“Corpses everywhere, walls covered in sticky blood and chunks of meat, countless dense eyes on the ceiling!”
“They were looking at me, monitoring me! I’ve been targeted by them!”
Deng Ming’s mind had received a strong shock. He spoke a bit crazily, his grip on Xu Xingyuan’s shoulders tightening bit by bit.
“Xu Xingyuan, I’m going to die. I’m entangled by them, I’m going to die soon, they want to kill me!”
Deng Ming was too strong; his fingernails almost dug into the flesh of Xu Xingyuan’s shoulders.
Fortunately, Shi Shu arrived in time and pushed the mad-dog-like Deng Ming away!
Deng Ming went to the basement once and went crazy.
He mumbled incessantly, incoherently, saying nothing useful.
He didn’t dare sleep alone at night and ran to beg Xu Qing and Lin Feng.
Xu Qing said snappily, “We’re a couple. If you sleep with us, are you sleeping under the bed?”
To survive, Deng Ming actually nodded and agreed, shamelessly clinging to Xu Qing and Lin Feng.
Finally, Xu Qing agreed, but only let Deng Ming stay for one night.
They thought that staying in the same room with others at night would prevent accidents.
However, the next day.
Xu Qing knocked on Xu Xingyuan’s door early in the morning.
After Xu Xingyuan opened the door, she stood there with a pale face and said word by word:
“Deng Ming is dead.”