After listening to the report from his subordinate, Ivan, the bald man, asked, “How strong are those puppet people?”

“Not very strong. They use cold weapons, and their bodies can easily be destroyed by firearms…”

Marcus, obviously still frightened, swallowed and continued, “But there are too many puppets, and we can’t kill them! Even if they are blasted by firearms and only have a severed arm left, they can still chase and attack people. And the puppets are everywhere in the house, they can appear in any corner, in the cabinets, behind the doors, in the basement…”

“They can be destroyed by firearms? I see…”

After carefully listening to his subordinate’s description, Ivan also gained some confidence.

He analyzed, “It seems that the ability of the ‘ghost breed’ is to control the puppets and kill people. It should only be a first-order strangeness. Otherwise, if it had second-order strength, it wouldn’t be so troublesome to kill you all… The previous estimation of the curse space was overrated, at most it’s a B-level.”

“…”

Su’en, who was on the side, heard the bald man’s analysis and didn’t quite agree with it.

According to his experience of watching over a thousand horror movies, the actions of the “ghost breed” gave him the feeling of “Hey, I won’t kill you, I’m just playing with you.”

Killing people seemed more like a game.

…

Obviously, there were only two choices in front of the bald man now.

Either leave the creepy mansion immediately, or continue to search for “Sir Isaac’s relic.”

But no matter which choice, they would most likely directly face the strangeness of the “ghost breed” in the house.

If the strange ability of the “ghost breed” is only to control puppets, it wouldn’t pose much threat to Ivan.

At least, in his eyes, those puppets of that level were not deadly.

The best outcome would be to obtain the treasure and eliminate the strangeness.

But if the ability of the “ghost breed” goes beyond that, even if they didn’t search for the treasure and just tried to escape, they would still have to face it.

As the leader of a hunting squad who had been through countless life-and-death situations, Ivan had almost no hesitation and said directly, “Let’s go! Let’s see what’s strange about this mansion!”

And as the “living map,” Su’en naturally had to go with them. The bald man turned his head to look at his subordinate and said, “Marcus, keep an eye on this kid. If he makes any suspicious moves, kill him immediately!”

Marcus glanced at Su’en beside him and replied, “Yes, leader!”

…

Su’en wasn’t surprised by the bald man’s decision to continue forcefully, he would have done the same if he were in his shoes.

But what surprised him was that before they left, the bald man unexpectedly displayed another extraordinary ability that was unimaginable.

Su’en originally thought that the bald man possessing a steam-powered mechanical arm was already quite astonishing, but at this moment, the bald man shouted, “Seal Implantation – Release!”

He then made several hand gestures at a rapid pace and chanted several indistinct incantations.

This strange and bizarre action caused a miraculous transformation.

As soon as the incantation ended, the room suddenly emitted a bright golden light.

Upon closer inspection, a hexagram magic array with a brilliant golden glow appeared under the bald man’s feet. The patterns on the array were mysterious and complex, as if possessing a magical power that made people feel as if they were looking into the depths of an endless void, exuding a strong sense of mystery.

“Magic?”

Su’en blinked his eyes in astonishment at this scene.

But the even more bizarre thing happened afterwards!

After the light from the magic array disappeared, the bald man’s exposed skin, which Su’en originally thought was a tattoo, slowly solidified into a tangible substance.

Upon closer inspection, it had turned into a layer of shining metallic scales!

After the ritual, the entire body was covered in the metallic scales, and the bald man’s whole demeanor suddenly changed, becoming a majestic armored giant.

Marcus, who was beside him, seemed to gain some confidence and spoke with a hint of flattery, “No matter how many times I see it, the leader’s alchemical implantation, ‘Adamantite Scales,’ is still so awe-inspiring…”

“Hmm.”

The bald man nodded without saying much, and said in a deep voice, “Follow me!”

With that, he opened the door and walked out fearlessly.

Seeing this scene in front of him, Su’en’s interest grew stronger.

He observed carefully, and it seemed that after the appearance of the magic array, the metallic scales on the bald man’s body solidified from the tattoos.

Obviously, this was another extraordinary power that Su’en couldn’t comprehend.

Without much time to think, the pulling of the rope made him stumble forward, almost falling.

In the instant before he stepped out of the door, Su’en suddenly thought of something.

Instead of avoiding it, he turned his head and looked directly at the “Nutcracker Puppet” in the corner, then smiled at it.

The meaning was: I’ve found you.

Since it was discovered, let’s “trigger” it.

Based on his experience of playing horror games for many years, triggering certain specific conditions might lead to unexpected plot developments, although most of the time, such behavior would be considered “suicidal.” But…

Anyway, the situation couldn’t get any worse now, right?

In an instant, Su’en and the other two had already walked out of the door.

At this moment, no one saw that the lower jaw of the “Nutcracker Puppet” in the corner actually trembled, making a creepy “click-clack” sound, as if it was laughing happily…

…

“Kid, you go in front!”

Compared to the caution of the bald man, Marcus’s footsteps were much lighter, and Su’en appeared much calmer.

He was also self-aware that although his combat and marksmanship were decent in his previous life, in this fantasy world where the body could withstand bullets, he was just a “trash” level.

To survive, using his brain was definitely more practical than using force.

He was tied with a rope and served as a shield, walking at the front.

But this was also good, Su’en could carefully observe everything in the corridor.

As he had anticipated, it was a luxurious mansion.

The corridor was brightly lit, but not with electric lights or gas lamps. Instead, there were gemstones glowing inside glass lampshades. There were many closed doors on both sides of the corridor, soft cashmere carpets covered the floor, and there were exquisite oil paintings on the walls at intervals…

But the corridor seemed a bit too long.

After walking for a while without seeing the end, Marcus asked with a trembling voice, “Leader, where are we going? We… seem to be trapped.”

After a moment of contemplation, Ivan seemed to have also noticed the abnormality of the mansion and asked, “Kid, where is the room you mentioned?”

Su’en looked around and said directly, “I haven’t been here before either. But if we want to find the room on the treasure map, we must first find the banquet hall…”

In fact, he had already noticed that even in a large mansion, this corridor was unusually long.

But before he could say more, a creepy laughter of an old lady echoed in their ears, “Hehe… According to the rules of the game, if you are found, you will be killed…”

This didn’t sound like a voice that could be produced by a human, it was a low and demonic whisper that made the soul tremble.

Upon hearing this, Marcus turned pale with fear, as if he had received a great shock, and anxiously said, “It’s coming… It’s coming!”

Every time they heard this voice, one of their companions would be killed. At this moment, Marcus was on the verge of collapse, trembling all over.

Su’en scanned everything in the corridor with his eyes, quietly leaning against the wall, becoming extra cautious.

Ivan, on the other hand, snorted disdainfully, “Humph, playing tricks!”

Just at this moment, several figures suddenly floated in from the distance.

Upon closer inspection, they were several eerie puppets floating in the air. Their appearance was simple, like sections of lotus roots pieced together. However, each one held a slender and sharp knife, and their jaws were rapidly clenching and unclenching, making a dense “click-clack” sound that sent shivers down one’s spine.

“So these are the killer puppets in the mansion that that guy mentioned? And they can fly too?”

Su’en looked at these puppets that were surging towards them from both sides of the corridor, and his eyelids twitched.

But just at this moment, a loud bang resounded from a distance.

Without needing to look, just by hearing the airwaves that almost knocked people off their feet, they knew that Ivan had fired a shot.

The shot directly hit the group of puppets dozens of meters away, causing them to be blown into pieces.

However, this did not stop the puppets from continuing their onslaught like a tide.

Those puppets with severed limbs still carried a pile of “parts” and continued to charge.

“Hmph!”

Ivan snorted, fearless, and charged into the group of puppets.

His metallic scales played a huge role at this moment. When the puppets’ knives and swords struck, they produced a burst of sparks, but they couldn’t harm him at all.

“This bald man is indeed strong… But those puppets can’t be killed. If we don’t break the situation, we will eventually be worn down here.”

Su’en, with his hands tied, had little room to move. Under the attack of the puppet tide, his chances of survival were very low.

However, he didn’t plan to give up without a fight.

At this moment, Marcus had been frightened to the point where his hands holding the gun were trembling, and he had already let go of the rope that bound Su’en.

And most of the puppets were being restrained by Ivan, the opportunity couldn’t be missed.

“Now!”

Su’en looked around at the environment and without hesitation, kicked off with one leg and forcefully crashed into the glass window on one side of the corridor.

He had observed earlier that there was fog outside the window. Although he didn’t know which floor the corridor was on, judging from the structure, it definitely wasn’t a high floor.

The probability of falling to death was low.

But…

Just as he jumped, something went wrong again!

…

With a loud crash, Su’en easily shattered the glass window and flew out, landing on the thick fog.

He thought he would fall into a garden or something, and prepared for the impact of a high-altitude fall.

But unexpectedly, as soon as he landed, he stepped on a soft carpet again.

Looking around at the familiar surroundings, Su’en was stunned.

“F*ck… I’m back again?”