Yu Deng, wearing a crown, didn't want to look at that annoying thing anymore and walked down the corridor in the opposite direction.
The fitted light-colored dress accentuated Yu Deng's slender waist. As he walked through the dimly lit castle, he was more captivating than the seductive demons or succubi described in legends.
The little bat ball remained still in mid-air, its gaze unwilling to leave Yu Deng.
As for the player disguised as a vampire, he stood in place, watching Yu Deng's slow and disdainful demeanor. His face turned ashen, feeling thoroughly humiliated.
However, given that this vampire young master was so arrogant, he probably really was an NPC. The player's live-stream chat was buzzing.
[Can you do it? Didn't you just boast that you would definitely find an important clue?]
[With all your experience, you can't even deal with a small beauty like this? Such a waste of that good identity.]
[Streamer, hurry up and approach! If you manage to trigger the hidden mission, I'll give you a 50,000 live-stream coin reward.]
The viewers in the live stream were all egging him on, enjoying the drama. The vampire duke, seeing the reward offer in the chat, quickly followed.
"Alright, I'll admit I misunderstood you," the man walked beside Yu Deng. "Tell me, what's going on with the prince? Since you're the heir of the castle, you must know a lot, right?"
Yu Deng's pupils had turned dark red, both beautiful and dangerous. He heard the noisy voice and slowly turned around.
"I'll say it one last time: stay away from me." Yu Deng stood on the steps, his eyelashes gently lowering, looking quietly beautiful, yet carrying an odd kind of indifference.
He softly spoke, "Your blood smells really bad. It makes me want to vomit."
The live stream chat paused for a moment, then exploded with activity.
[Baby!! How do you manage to sound so soft and sweet, yet so cold at the same time!!]
[My wife is so hot… Oh my god, I almost wanted to kneel down when he spoke just now…]
[I went to that streamer's live stream for a bit, it smelled so bad. Had to hurry back to see the beautiful baby clean my eyes.]
[Yu Deng, you're the best little princes!]
After a few seconds of confrontation, the duke broke down again, walking off with his neck stiff.
Yu Deng muttered, "What a bothersome person."
The young master's delicate brows furrowed. The little bat almost wanted to touch Yu Deng, but before it could flap its wings, it realized it wasn't in its own body.
The consciousness within the little bat pondered for a moment, then detached, transforming into a gentle breeze that brushed against Yu Deng's brow.
[Beep——Beep——Detected power fluctuations.]
[Suspected appearance of a fourth special mission target.]
Yu Deng looked around in confusion: "???" Where is it, where is it?
"Tongtong, you said there's a fourth mission target? But I don't see anyone." Yu Deng asked, puzzled.
[Only detected suspected fluctuations, the mission target has most likely not appeared yet.]
I see. Yu Deng gave up on observing his surroundings.
Meanwhile, the little bat raised its paw in confusion, wondering if it was over-exhausted and had sleepwalked into a dream.
It looked at the top of Yu Deng's head and blinked.
This thing on top of the young master's head looked vaguely familiar, it felt like it had seen it in some collection room, but the young master looks so good with it on!
"Young master."
At that moment, Wen Luo came from the direction of the side building, stopping in front of Yu Deng and slightly bowing. His gaze lingered on the crown on his head for a long time.
This crown...
Yu Deng tugged at Wen Luo's sleeve, reproaching the Duke's earlier behavior, while casually reflecting: "I hope what I said wasn't a problem."
Wen Luo snapped back to his senses: "Of course not. You are the young master of the castle, naturally, you are the future heir."
"In fact, that vampire inherited his father's title, but his own abilities are nothing exceptional."
"Oh..."
Yu Deng nodded and then asked, "What about the prince?"
It seemed like the prince had been asleep for a long time. Would he wake up?
The black-haired butler hesitated before replying: "His Royal Highness has been in slumber for a long time. With me here, you don't need to worry about the matters of the castle."
...
With a few hours still left until nightfall, after the midday incident, Yu Deng encountered several non-humans and players who came to chat with him, but fortunately, they were all relatively normal.
Yu Deng also met a pair of vampire brothers and chatted with them for a bit. He listened to them discussing the upcoming banquet and the transactions other families had made over the past couple of days. Hearing this, Yu Deng suddenly felt a bit sad.
He didn't even know if he would still be alive to see his family again in the future.
He hadn't seen his family in a very long time.
Nightfall arrived quickly.
It had been nearly two days since the first player was discovered. The non-humans had become noticeably more irritable, each one more difficult to deal with than the last. It seemed they were about to enter the dungeon's state of indiscriminate attacks.
They were loudly discussing all kinds of bloody and terrifying gameplay, eager to find the humans hiding among them. The players hidden in the crowd listened to these suggestions, feeling increasingly anxious.
[Ding. Tonight is game night.]
Edith, holding the crystal ball, interrupted the discussion.
"Ah, perhaps your suggestions will fall through, because today is the interesting day for communication with visitors from another world."
"Miss Edith, please say something we can understand."
The witch shrugged: "Tonight, we happen to be playing with it."
The non-humans, who had been eagerly discussing, suddenly lost some of their enthusiasm.
"How boring, we're playing with that dog again."
"Last time, that dog bit off one of my arms just because I said it drooled. It took me half a year to recover."
"Don't say that. Its nose is sometimes more effective than ours. What if it helps us find the sacrifice, and even lets us have it?"
The players heard these non-humans' complaints, and instead of feeling relieved, they became even more worried.
Yu Deng was also puzzled and chose to ask his ever-reliable butler: "Wen Luo, who are we going to play with? They said something about a dog?"
Wen Luo replied, "Cerberus. It has helped us before, so in return, when it arrives, we need to play its favorite game."
"Cerberus?" Yu Deng repeated, feeling like the name sounded familiar.
[Ding, trigger side quest: Cerberus' Seeking Game.
Please hide yourself within three hours without being detected by Cerberus. You have fifteen minutes to choose a hiding spot.
Hiding range: all public areas of the castle, your own guest room, and all unlocked # rooms.]
[Reminder: Cerberus has an exceptionally keen sense of smell and is skilled at detecting humans.]
Yu Deng quickly studied the new task and then raised his head to look at the banquet hall.
He had roughly counted over the past two days, and there were about 25 people attending the banquet, including both NPCs and players. The rest were blood servant NPCs from the castle.
Did they really need so many people to accompany Cerberus?
Seemingly guessing his confusion, the witch's crystal ball lit up again, displaying the number of participants and their identities.
Only twelve people would be participating in the game.
According to the dungeon rules, players must participate in a game every two days. Last night was a safe night, so tonight's game must involve everyone, meaning seven players and five NPCs.
The NPCs weren't sure how many players remained, so they couldn't directly confirm the number of players. The number of participants and the outcome could only narrow their guesses.
But the players clearly knew how many others remained in the dungeon, and confirming the number was quite easy.
Yu Deng didn't want to dwell too much on what might happen if they stayed in the dungeon a few more days.
Claudia picked up where the witch left off, explaining with concern: "Its sense of smell is extremely sharp, so don't worry about there being too many participants. And don't worry about a lot of people not being found, which could complicate determining the winner. Tonight's winner will be the last one found."
[The familiar deadlock has arrived. The Cerberus is more attracted to players, meaning players will be found faster than NPCs and will become the primary targets for suspicion.]
[Non-humans will likely be the last ones caught and will earn the right to hunt.]
[Players must hide better than the non-humans. If you want to avoid being eliminated, it's best for the players to become the hunters, but this contradicts the main rules.]
Yu Deng hadn't yet analyzed all the nuances like the other onlookers, so he glanced down at the small glowing spot on his hand.
All participants had this mark. Yu Deng looked around him and saw that neither Wen Luo nor Anders was participating, but Qin Jun had the same mark.
"Little Master, if you don't want to participate, I can have Miss Edith draw a new list of participants," Wen Luo said, his face a bit grim as he glanced at his own empty hand.
If the list were redrawn, he'd surely be on it, too… Yu Deng shook his head. "No, I'll try this game."
"…Understood. If you encounter any problems, you can call me or call Little Bat."
"Hey! I'm here too!" Anders piped up, squeezing in beside Yu Deng and eagerly offering, "Baby, I'm here for you!"
Yu Deng looked at these two outside saviors and felt a little reassured.
In the center of the banquet hall, a dark purple-black vortex began to appear, slowly tearing the space transparent. Inside, the figure of a massive creature slowly emerged.
Through the thin barrier, Yu Deng saw it clearly—a massive black creature, its fur slightly shifting as if something moved within it. It had three heads, and its sharp, long fangs dripped with terrifying slime.
Yu Deng finally remembered why the name sounded familiar. It was the name of the Hellhound—the Cerberus.
[Ding, side quest officially begins.]
Yu Deng wasn't as fast as the other players and was almost the last to leave the banquet hall.
The Cerberus had already reached the barrier, waiting for the time to pass and break through the spatial boundary to enter the castle.
Through the membrane, Cerberus sniffed intensely, its eyes turning toward the unfamiliar young blood servant.
As for the other non-humans who weren't participating in the game, they remained in the banquet hall, waiting for the players to be found.
Yu Deng walked out of the banquet hall with his butler. Afterward, the butler was temporarily blocked by an invisible barrier in the hall.
The butler's expression grew a little more solemn.
Was there such a barrier when playing the game with that dog before?
Yu Deng didn't notice the details. To bolster his courage, he raised his voice to Wen Luo: "I'm going to play the game!"
"The Little Master will surely be the best," Wen Luo responded with the same gentle encouragement, not showing any negative emotions.
…
Aside from yesterday when he'd been excitedly flying around the castle searching for dessert, Yu Deng had never dared to act alone at night. Either he took the little bat ball or had Wen Luo accompany him.
This was Yu Deng's first time acting alone at night.
The castle was even darker than it was during the day. The decorations in the hallway occasionally jingled, and the sculptures on the doors and walls were vividly lifelike, their animal eyes following Yu Deng's movement.
Yu Deng tried to find a hidden place to hide, his mind wandering.
What kind of game was this—hide and seek? Oh no, it was hide the dog.
He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but he felt as if he could vaguely hear labored breathing.
[Host, the fifteen minutes are almost up.] System 01 reminded.
"Oh..."
Yu Deng, unknowingly, had arrived at the highest floor of the main building. In front of him were three large rooms, all with closed doors. One of them seemed to be the room the little bat refused to go into.
Hmm, how did he end up here?
Yu Deng pushed the large door, and as expected, he found that it wouldn't open. Well, it was better to go back to his own room and hide.
At that moment, the door to the room on the side suddenly made a clicking sound and slowly opened.
[Ding. Fifteen minutes have ended, the three-headed dog has started searching.]
Fifteen minutes had passed so quickly. Yu Deng didn't have time to think about it; he quickly dashed into the room.
The room was completely dark. Yu Deng could only rely on his excellent vision to discern that it was a very large study, with bookshelves lining the walls. Not far from him was a desk.
Being in such an unfamiliar room made Yu Deng feel uneasy. He shuddered and found a small hidden corner between a bookshelf and the wall to crouch down.
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The surroundings were very quiet, and Yu Deng could hear the sound of a clock ticking.
His small wings were tense, and he hugged his knees, sitting in the dark corner.
He couldn't see, but a small fragment of consciousness floated out from the neighboring room.
The game had been going on for almost half an hour.
Yu Deng had been sitting in the same position for so long that his neck started to ache. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked up.
Suddenly, a massive creature appeared in front of him, its mouth wide open, saliva excitedly dripping down, as if it had been watching him for a while.
The enormous three-headed dog was much taller than Yu Deng, completely blocking him inside.
Yu Deng: "!!?"
His vision went black, and he let out a short startled cry, nearly shedding a tear.
［Damn, watching the baby's first-person livestream almost sent me away.］
［I know, when I looked up, there were three super big dog heads right there, I almost fell off my chair.］
［Does anyone know what level NPC this three-headed dog is?］
［Not sure, the castle dungeon has only been open a few times, and I've never seen a three-headed dog, but its damage is probably not low.］
The three-headed dog, seeing that Yu Deng had finally noticed it, stopped suppressing its breath, panting heavily, its head leaning forward.
Yu Deng's lips turned pale, his legs felt weak, and he couldn't move.
The three heads came together, their mouths wide open, tongues sticking out, trying to get close to Yu Deng's face.
"All of you, all of you, I'm done for, boohoo."
Yu Deng's eyes reddened, and in a weak voice, he shouted, "N-no, don't come closer!"
[Host, you have many items.]
Oh, right! There were items! Yu Deng frantically rummaged through his inventory and grabbed a repelling item, throwing it toward the three-headed dog.
The small item hit the three-headed dog, but it didn't even break its fur; it only made the dog bark in confusion.
Yu Deng gasped, shocked by the three-headed dog's defense.
The three-headed dog growled lowly and moved closer again.
Yu Deng shivered, pressing himself against the bookshelf, and accidentally grabbed a round decoration, throwing it toward the three-headed dog.
Yu Deng's aim wasn't very good, and the decoration flew past the dog and out of the room. But to his surprise, the three-headed dog stopped, turned around, and ran out.
Yu Deng's wings fluttered quickly, preparing to flee the area.
The ranking of the side mission no longer mattered to him. He was now more afraid that the three-headed dog would simply eat him up with one bite.
But before Yu Deng could start flying, the three-headed dog had already returned.
"Wen Luo...Anders..." Yu Deng shouted randomly, sniffing as he cursed, "You big bad guys, you didn't even come..."
The three-headed dog dropped something from its mouth and let out an excited bark. The three pairs of big, bell-like eyes stared at Yu Deng, sitting motionless in front of him, with no sign of aggression.
Yu Deng: "…?" Huh?
He and the three-headed dog stared at each other for a few seconds. Hesitantly, Yu Deng picked up the decoration and threw it forward again.
The three-headed dog immediately ran after it, picked it up, and placed it in front of Yu Deng.
Yu Deng was confused: "??"
So, this fetch game was what the three-headed dog liked? Turns out, the three-headed dog was a retriever.
After several rounds, Yu Deng's arm got sore from throwing, and his legs were a little numb from crouching, so he decided to sit in a chair and continue playing fetch.
The three-headed dog was having a blast. The three heads even argued with each other, two of them scolding the middle head for being shameless, having picked up the ball three times in a row.
The sound of barking filled the air.
Yu Deng had no idea how things had ended up like this, sitting in the chair, watching the three big dog heads argue. His expression was one of complete confusion.
That invisible fragment of consciousness had been watching Yu Deng for a while, and finally couldn't resist descending.
"…Eh?"
Yu Deng suddenly felt something itchy on his ankle, like something was touching him. He warily looked down, but saw nothing.
How strange, why did it feel like something had just touched him?