We waited until just before dawn before the monsters finally stopped pounding on the door.
They had retreated.
Probably afraid of sunlight.
The sunlight might hurt them.
But before that, they had gone completely berserk—
BANG! BANG! BANG-BANG!
The pounding came down like a storm of hammers, making the entire metal door tremble.
The door hinge made a teeth-grinding creaking sound, the iron sheet had begun to deform, and even a little bloody mucus oozed out through the doorframe.
We pressed against the barricade of junk, hearing the growls outside and claws scratching at the iron sheet outside the door, which was sharp and piercing, making us feel heartbroken.
In that moment, I truly believed the door would burst open and we'd all die in this room.
But in the end, the attacks stopped.
The sun had risen.
No one rushed to open the door.
We waited another full minute, confirming the eerie silence outside—no footsteps, no snarls.
Only then did Qin Yan cautiously remove the iron rod and gently push the door open.
What lay outside was no longer the same dark, suffocating hallway from last night.
To our shock—
The entire layout of the castle had changed.
The stone walls were charred, half the ceiling had collapsed, and the air reeked of smoke and dust.
The corridor looked like it had been burned, with peeling walls, cracked floors, and layers of ashes.
Once-pristine walls held paintings now burned beyond recognition, their frames askew as if knocked during someone's dying struggle.
What sent shivers down our spines—
The corners of the ceiling were thick with spiderwebs—dense, layered, as though no one had cleaned them for years.
Dust clung to every surface and statue; once-grand figures were now faceless, like the past had been erased.
It felt like the castle had slept for decades, only to be awakened by flames the night before.
"What… is this place?" Liu Zehao murmured.
"It's still the castle, but not the one from last night," Qin Yan frowned. "It's like… another version."
None of us knew if this meant it was safer or more dangerous.
But one thing was clear:
We were running out of time.
We had to find clues.
We had to find a way out.
"Split up," Qin Yan said. "Meet in the main hall in thirty minutes."
"Isn't it too dangerous to go alone?" I asked.
"Not as dangerous as waiting here to die," he looked back at me. "And besides, don't you have something to find?"
I froze for a second.
Yes—I suddenly remembered.
Butler Adrian had said something.
"The answer has always been in your hand."
At the time, I didn't understand what it meant.
But now, everything connected.
In my hand.
It's my own clue.
I remembered when I first woke up, there was something in my room I had overlooked.
At the start, I was only focused on surviving and I hadn't checked the corners.
Maybe that was the answer Butler Adrian meant.
Right there—in my room.
Without hesitation, I turned and sprinted toward my old room.
Ash rose with every step I took through the scorched corridor.
Webs clung to my sleeves, and invisible dust choked my throat with every breath.
My heart pounded wildly as that phrase echoed in my head:
The answer is in your hand.