Old Deng, I'm Coming

Zhu Yan was completely unaware of this.

He focused his attention once again to read through the pages related to the Man-Eating House.

After firmly memorizing all the details, Zhu Yan leaned back against the seat and adjusted into a comfortable posture.

He gently focused his consciousness on his breathing, ensuring he could enter the dungeon in a relatively relaxed state of mind.

Ten minutes later.

The taxi drove into a pitch-black villa district, slowly decelerated, and stopped in front of a narrow path.

"The house is right on your right," the driver turned back to say to Zhu Yan, pointing at the path.

"Just follow this all the way to the end, and that's it. The car can't drive in there."

Zhu Yan looked over along his finger.

A few sparse streetlamps cast disjointed light and shadows on the road, and the villas by the roadside were pitch-black, like man-eating behemoths.

The driver asked again uncertainly.

"You do want to come here, right?"

It was no wonder the driver asked; this place was truly a bit too deserted, and even the vegetation looked desolate.

Most of the trees were bare saplings that had just been transplanted, turning into thin, clawing silhouettes in the night.

"This is it," Zhu Yan confirmed.

He grabbed his book, items, and fruit tea, got out of the car, and watched the taxi quickly turn a corner and disappear from view.

The surroundings grew even quieter.

Zhu Yan lightened his breathing, turned onto the path with very soft footsteps, and walked toward the villa at the very end.

Gradually, Zhu Yan saw a bit of light—

The light was shining from the villa on the right-hand side.

Zhu Yan turned around and cautiously stood still in front of the iron gate of Villa 12's yard.

This house was very different from the other villas.

From the outside, it was noticeably smaller, its walls slightly slanted, and its outlines sharper.

That bit of light shone through the carved glass window of the top-floor attic, colorful and contrasting sharply with the dense darkness below.

Through the glass, Zhu Yan could see a clear, hunched silhouette.

It seemed this was the landlord.

Zhu Yan thought for a moment, casually hid the book in his hand into the flowerbed outside the garden, and placed the fruit tea, of which only the bottom remained, under the flowerbed.

Then, Zhu Yan cleared his throat and rang the doorbell at the main gate of the garden.

The figure in the attic stood up straight, looking tall and bizarre.

He, or it—went downstairs with unusual agility.

Zhu Yan soon heard the creaking sound of a door opening, and someone shuffling through the garden in heavy shoes.

A few seconds later, the large iron gate creaked open backwards.

Even though he was fully mentally prepared, a feeling of tension still washed over him.

Zhu Yan subconsciously tensed every muscle, then forced himself to relax.

"Who is it?" a somewhat hoarse voice asked.

The tone of this voice was a bit strange.

The other party didn't seem to know how to speak in questions; the ending syllable was unnaturally raised.

By the faint light of the streetlamp, Zhu Yan sized up the landlord in front of him, vigilantly gripping the small knife in his pocket.

This was a terrifyingly old man, the skin on his face oxidized and shriveled, hanging loosely.

His skin tone was so pale it turned bluish, like grayish wall paint.

The man's emaciated body was wrapped in a long red bathrobe, and he was smiling at Zhu Yan.

"It's so late, do you need a place to stay?"

Zhu Yan stared at the rotting gums in its mouth and felt a bit nauseous.

This way of asking was quite strange.

The other party seemed unable to tell whether the Zhu Yan in front of it was a player or an ordinary person.

To it, was there any difference between the two?

Zhu Yan's mind raced.

To be conservative, he just answered the question methodically.

"Yes. May I come in? Are you the owner here?"

The man's mouth stretched wider, his murky blue eyes fixed tightly on the prey in front of him.

"Of course," it said. "I am the landlord here. Well, normally, staying here requires a fee."

"Excuse me," the landlord's tone suddenly rose and tightened, becoming hurried and nervous.

"Excuse me, do you have gold coins? Are you a player?"

In a state of high mental concentration, Zhu Yan immediately detected the clues in these questions.

Gold coins.

Player.

The horrifying creature in front of him linked the two together, and the change in tone was abrupt and very unnatural.

Zhu Yan looked into its murky blue eyes, and his body, which had slightly contracted due to tension, suddenly relaxed.

Oh.

This was not an opponent worth tensing up for; its emotional fluctuations were too large and too obvious.

Zhu Yan had observed humans, including his aunt, brother, and online classmates.

For humans, obvious emotions mean instability.

Instability means exposing flaws, making them easy to manipulate.

Gold coins.

Player.

Zhu Yan pondered over the two keywords once again.

He calmly looked at the landlord in front of him, and in an instant, an interesting conjecture arose.

The book Coexisting with Taboo Objects stated that the landlord needed to pay an extremely low rent every month to hold the Man-Eating House.

The landlord coveted the player's gold coins so urgently; could it be that it had no money to pay the rent?

"Gold coins?" Zhu Yan threw back a rhetorical question. "What gold coins?"

For humans, such a way of asking could guide them to express more details.

He had to try, because this horrifying creature was very stupid, and baiting information should be very easy.

"Just about the size of half a palm." The landlord's sagging eyelids suddenly propped up, and it reached out its grayish-white, shriveled hands to gesture.

"Bone gold coins! The bone gold coins of the Carnival Paradise! Do you have them on you?"

As the landlord spoke, Zhu Yan thought of the doll's hint in the Mourning Hall—

If your card is accidentally lost, please bring your left hand.

If the other party chopped off his left hand and took it to the Mourning Hall, it could probably get his property.

With a thought, Zhu Yan hid the player mark on the palm of his left hand.

He remained silent, pretending to look at the landlord with a face full of confusion, his brows furrowed and eyes slightly narrowed.

The landlord was still chattering: "Three bone gold coins, give me three bone gold coins!"

"I know you are a player. Give me the bone gold coins, and I'll tell you how to clear the level..."

Bone gold coins, but only three?

Zhu Yan immediately caught the blind spot.

Even if he was ignorant, three bone gold coins couldn't possibly be a large sum.

This was obviously a sign of being completely broke.

Could it really afford the rent?

Zhu Yan had an idea in his mind. He shook his head and took two steps back.

"Um, are you okay?"

"I don't know anything about players or gold coins. I just want to stay for the night."

"If that's the case, I'd better go find another place..."

First use an excuse to leave, then disguise himself as a high-level horrifying creature and return, verifying and exploiting the landlord's possible flaws.

If everything went smoothly, this dungeon wouldn't be too difficult!

The landlord's face suddenly darkened, and its eyelids collapsed again.

Its murky blue eyes locked coldly onto Zhu Yan, and it stiffly tilted its neck.

It had seen plenty of cunning players before.

Some players just pretended to be innocent, trying to keep their money!

"Let's not talk about the fee for now."

"Don't leave yet, don't move."

"Let me see your left hand, child."

Zhu Yan slowly extended his left palm, putting on a look of polite confusion.

He watched the landlord pull a handkerchief from his pocket and rub it against his palm, unable to suppress a sense of amusement.

Guan En had already tried this exact trick a long time ago.