The door was slightly open, and Si Nan’s faint shouts could be heard outside. Yu Sen lay on the bed, smiling, rolling into the spot Si Xuanyang had just occupied, and sighed involuntarily: Even though the person had been gone for only two minutes, the residual warmth was much warmer than his own body heat.

This is so infuriating!

Although he wanted to stay wrapped in the blanket and never get up, Yu Sen remembered where he was. If he really used the time to sleep, he might never get up again.

As the intense dizziness from waking up slowly subsided, he pushed his hair back, sat up, and shouted towards the door: “Yang Yang, let them in.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a monkey-like figure rushed in, crashing into him, hugging him tightly and crying and shouting.

“Yu Ge, save me! Si Xuanyang has gone crazy! He wants to kill me! He’s committing murder—! He’ll be struck by lightning!”

Yu Sen was knocked on the chest by Si Nan, the impact almost knocking the breath out of him, causing him to cough.

“Cough, cough, cough—! If you don’t let go, he probably won’t leave you intact either, cough, cough…”

Si Nan, with a pale face, let go, standing up in a flustered manner, staring blankly at Si Xuanyang, who was walking towards him with a gloomy face. For the first time, Si Nan felt an intense fear towards his brother, something he had never felt before.

Even though Si Nan didn’t understand why he was angry, his instinctive desire to survive was very strong: “I was wrong! I was wrong in every way!”

Luo Yu walked in with a helpless expression: “You really can’t stay quiet for even a morning…”

Yu Sen rubbed his throat with one hand and pushed away Si Xuanyang’s hand, which was reaching out to touch his forehead: “Don’t bother. There’s no medicine here, and it won’t help. Just wait a while and it’ll pass.”

Si Xuanyang’s hand, suspended in the air, paused, then withdrew expressionlessly. He looked at Yu Sen for a few seconds and said slowly: “Aren’t you always the one to play the suffering card? Why don’t you want me to know this time?”

Yu Sen met his gaze, momentarily stunned, his eyes flickering, then he suddenly smiled: “Because I don’t want you to feel too distressed.”

Seeing the dark gaze of Si Xuanyang, his smile gradually faded. He reached out, took Si Xuanyang’s hand, and gently squeezed it.

Si Nan stood aside, biting his lower lip, exchanging countless glances with Luo Yu. Alarm bells rang in his heart. Based on his limited experience with love, there was definitely something going on with these two!

Friends don’t act so ambiguously!

He cleared his throat, deciding to interrupt the lovey-dovey atmosphere with his own tragic experiences. As the saying goes, “If I don’t go to hell, who will?”

“Hey, why aren’t you asking how I got these shocking dark circles under my eyes?”

Yu Sen lazily put on his clothes and glanced at him: “Aren’t they the same as usual?”

“…How could it be the same! I barely slept all night! How could it be the same!” Si Nan jumped up in agitation. “There was a female ghost clawing at our ceiling last night, staring at us for a full five hours! I was on the verge of a mental breakdown!”

Yu Sen was stunned. “She came to find you guys too? Didn’t we leave the cross for you? Why didn’t you use it?”

“But I only dared to use it to deter her, I didn’t dare to throw it. What if I missed and it fell to the ground? How would I pick it up?”

“So she was up there, watching you two all night?” Yu Sen found it hard to believe. “Is the ghost so… idle?”

Luo Yu drooped his eyelids and helplessly nodded. “Even though the cross was nearby, having a ghost staring at you like that, it was impossible to relax and sleep. It was really killing me…”

“Quite impressive,” Si Xuanyang sneered. “Staring contest all night. Now Si Nan will have a special feeling when watching horror movies, and won’t have to shout in my ears anymore.”

“…Heh, just wait! I’ll still shout if necessary.”

---

After breakfast, two women came to chat with Yu Sen and the others. They were sisters, the elder named Tian Tian and the younger named Tian Jing.

They mentioned that they had found a staircase leading to the basement in the old castle and wanted to invite Yu Sen and the others to explore it with them.

“Why do you need us?” Yu Sen propped his head on his hand and smiled lazily.

The two women’s eyes flickered as they hesitated to explain that more people would be helpful and they considered them reliable.

But Yu Sen understood what they were thinking. He had been the main focus of Lance last night, and he was likely to be the next person in danger. If there was any danger in the basement, he would be the most likely to get injured, and in a vampire’s old castle, injury and blood loss meant being halfway to death.

It was like sending a piece of candy into a beehive, letting the candy take the hits, which increased his chances of survival.

Yu Sen thought their thinking was reasonable.

Si Xuanyang’s face darkened, and he waved his hand with the palm facing inward, coldly saying, “Thank you for the information. There’s no need for us to go together. We’ll go down at our own time.”

His tone and gesture were very blunt, making the sisters smile awkwardly and quickly leave.

As for the basement, they definitely intended to go. Yu Sen tapped his temple. It had to be done while he still had strength. Every time he woke up in the old castle, he felt much weaker. His heart often ached, his appetite was dwindling, and he couldn’t focus.

All the signs were ringing alarm bells in his mind. Time might wait for others, but it wouldn’t wait for him.

---

In the afternoon, they found the entrance to the basement in a small door next to the garbage cleaning room.

The wooden ladder was narrow, the walls on either side were damp, and a faint smell of blood permeated, but it wasn’t overpowering.

The light inside was dim. Yu Sen and the others took two candle lamps and walked down the ladder.

Si Xuanyang wanted Yu Sen to rest in the room, but Yu Sen countered, “The room isn’t the safest. If something happens to me alone, you might come back and find me as a corpse after being gnawed on by Lance.”

But now Yu Sen was regretting it a bit. The air in the basement was poor, and the faint smell of blood was making him nauseous.

In the dim light, Si Xuanyang reached out a hand, holding him slowly and steadily, and said softly, “Don’t rush, go slowly.”

Yu Sen didn’t react much, but Si Nan found it increasingly strange, especially after suspecting something between them. To him, whatever interaction they had seemed wrapped in a hazy pink veil.

It was nerve-wracking for him as an older brother!

---

After descending the stairs, the basement was much brighter due to the ventilation window at the top allowing some sunlight from outside the castle.

But with clearer visibility, the scene was hard to take in.

The most shocking was the blood pool in the center of the basement. The smell of blood was very strong here. The blood in the pool seemed not diluted with water but was pure fresh blood, kept from coagulating through a special method.

The pool was neither too large nor too small, enough for three or four people to bathe in it together.

Blood was splattered around, with dark red stains on the floor and walls.

One wall was covered with various knives and spikes. The knife tips were sharp, and it was obvious that a light cut would produce the same kind of wounds as on the female ghost from last night.

If it weren’t for the carved murals on the other walls, the room would look more like a cruel execution chamber.

Si Nan frowned and said, “This vampire is really perverted, not satisfied with drinking blood, and even bathes in it! Too extravagant!”

“So those female ghosts must have died in this room,” Luo Yu said.

“How pitiful. They died from blood loss but became like vampires, craving blood even after death,” Yu Sen walked to Si Xuanyang’s side. “What are you looking at?”

“These murals,” Si Xuanyang pointed to the wall. “Most of them depict how to avoid major artery cuts to ensure the person is still alive when the blood is let out.”

The murals were abstract, but the faces were vividly portrayed, making one’s heart chill.

Following the process depicted in the murals, Yu Sen found something familiar on another wall.

“Come over and look, isn’t this the pink cloak that fell from the clock?”

“Eh? It really is!” Si Nan exclaimed, bringing his face closer in surprise.

The wall mural mostly featured dark red, bright red, orange-yellow, and black tones. Although the light pink cloak was not detailed in the painting, it was easy to associate it with the piece of clothing whose purpose was still unknown.

“What’s this about? It seems like the vampire is sucking the blood of the person in the pink cloak,” Si Nan said.

Yu Sen glanced at the full moon at the top of the mural and the vampire gradually entering the coffin beside it. He hesitated and said, “Maybe… He becomes much weaker during the full moon. This pink cloak might be part of a ritual to kill him at that time.”