"Oh..." Feng Bujue's reaction to Hill's words was surprisingly calm. "I see..." He muttered, "Can I take it as... you're negotiating terms with me?"
"Yes, I am negotiating terms with you." Though Hill was trembling inside, he maintained a tough exterior.
"Hah..." Feng Bujue chuckled. "Aren't you afraid I'll start reciting a bunch of trigger words over the communicator right now and electrocute you to death?"
"Kill me, and you'll never find Van Helsing's diary!" Cold sweat dripped from Hill's temples, but he mustered the courage to retort.
"Hmm... not bad." Feng Bujue mused. "You've got some guts, and you're not entirely stupid."
"Hmph... I don’t need your praise." Sensing a slight softening in Feng Bujue's tone, Hill relaxed a little and snorted. "So... what do you think of the terms?"
Unexpectedly, Feng Bujue's next words were: "Not impressed."
"What?" Hill was shocked. "Don’t you want that diary anymore?"
"Hehe..." Feng Bujue laughed again. "Just because I said you're 'not entirely stupid' doesn’t mean you're smart enough to play on equal footing with me." He paused for two seconds before continuing, "Mr. Hill, I think I should remind you again... right now, the thing you're carrying is a 'tracker'... a tracker! A tracker!!"
As the saying goes, important things must be said three times, so Feng Bujue repeated the word with increasing emphasis and volume at the end of his sentence.
Startled by his outburst, Hill belatedly realized the problem: "You... you know where I’ve been..."
"Very good." Feng Bujue's tone was like a teacher praising a student who got the answer right. After a brief pause, he added, "Where you've been, how long you stayed, what you said, and all the movements around you—I know everything." He concluded, "Simply put... I could kill you right now and still find the diary based on your movements."
"No... this... this..." Hill's eyes glazed over as he slumped to the ground, muttering incoherently.
"Actually, if you hadn’t hidden the diary but kept it on you, using a torch and gasoline to threaten me... that would’ve been trickier for me." Feng Bujue continued. "Even if I electrocuted you into submission, I couldn’t guarantee the diary's safety." He sighed. "But the way things turned out... couldn’t be better. You’ve stashed the diary in a 'safe place' even you can’t reach."
At this point, Feng Bujue's tone turned sinister: "I suppose you’ve realized by now... why I didn’t stop you with the communicator while you were hiding the diary, despite monitoring you the whole time."
"Give... give me another chance!" At this point, Hill could only grovel again. "Don’t kill me... I’ll go get the diary now... there’s still time!"
"Ha!" Feng Bujue laughed loudly. "At this point... do you really think I’d let you near that book again?"
The moment he said this, Hill began frantically tearing at his suit, trying to remove the tracker.
"Enough, don’t waste your energy."
As Feng Bujue spoke, sharp pain shot through Hill's back. An electric shock sent him convulsing on the ground for several seconds.
"How... how is this possible?" Hill gasped in shock when he could finally breathe again.
"You must be wondering why you got shocked even though I didn’t say any 'trigger words,' right?" Feng Bujue chuckled. "Hehe... it’s simple—there were never any trigger words to begin with."
"What?" Hill was stunned once more.
"Even my assistant (that is, Musashi Kogane)..." Feng Bujue continued, "couldn’t possibly create a chip embedded in a human body that can receive and recognize specific external audio signals in such a short time."
"Then..." Hill still didn’t get it. "Why did I get shocked every time you said those specific words?"
"Didn’t you notice... that every time I said those words, I’d put one hand in my pocket or behind my back?" Feng Bujue replied.
Hill froze. In that moment, fragments of memory flashed before his eyes.
"Get it now?" Feng Bujue paused for a few seconds before adding, "I was pressing a remote."
"You!" Hill felt utterly fooled. Overcome with rage, he couldn’t help but curse: "You bastard! You’re a devil!"
"Seems like you’ve finally figured it out." Feng Bujue was unfazed by Hill’s insults—if anything, he seemed pleased. "There were never any 'trigger words,' let alone 'delayed trigger words.' I just made it up as I went along. Whenever I felt like shocking you, I’d press the button..." He cleared his throat. "So... let me give you some advice: drop any plan of 'removing the tracker and retrieving the diary to threaten me.' Even if the communicator cuts out, I can still electrocute you to death... with just a flick of my finger."
At this point, Hill... finally despaired. He realized that the "Mr. F," who looked like a child, was far more terrifying than he’d imagined. If there was any "game" between them, Mr. F was always five steps ahead... no matter what Hill did or thought, it was all futile.
"Fine..." Hill collapsed on the ground, surrendering. "Just kill me then..."
"If I wanted you dead, I could’ve done it while you were on your way back after hiding the diary." Feng Bujue replied. "Why waste all this time talking?"
Hill was taken aback: "Then... what do you want?"
"Keeping you alive means there’s still use for you." Feng Bujue answered. "Now, if you don’t want to die or spend the rest of your life with that chip inside you, get to the castle immediately. Once you’re inside, stay put... a werewolf will come for you."
"Okay!" The moment Hill heard there was still a way out, he perked up and scrambled to his feet. "I’ll head to the castle right... wait... did you just say 'werewolf'?"
…………
Unlike Hill, who was "invited" into the castle, the three members of Blade received far worse treatment...
Shortly after entering the [Underground Waterway], they realized the path was blocked.
Well... strictly speaking, it wasn’t that the path was blocked, but that they lacked the ability to proceed... After killing seven or eight bats and a giant "killer fish," they faced another fork. One path led upward, but the platform above was too high to reach from the water’s surface. The other path required diving into dark, unknown waters with no clue how long it would take to resurface...
After some deliberation, they decided to turn back and take the other route outside the red door...
Five minutes later, they retraced their steps, crossed the white corridor again, and arrived back at the pool area.
Having already gotten soaked in the underground waterway, they didn’t mind getting wet again and headed straight for the other side of the pool... where a group of earthy-colored fishmen monsters awaited them.
Fortunately, these monsters were also weak—most could be killed with a single shield bash from Brother Long.
Soon, they swam across the pool and reached the opposite shore. The terrain here mirrored their entry path. After hopping across two staggered platforms, they entered the next space.
To their surprise... this space had a mini-boss...
Though "mini," it was imposing in size and presence. Its appearance... was that of a giant green crawling skeleton with only its upper half.
Since its right hand held a massive bone club (possibly its own femur), it could only crawl using its left hand, moving quite slowly. However, its enormous size made up for its lack of mobility... In the confined indoor space, avoiding its bone club was nearly impossible.
Luckily, the three Blade members were seasoned monster-slayers. After observing the mini-boss’s patterns, they ganged up on it during its attack intervals, reducing it to a pile of bones.
In other games, defeating such a monster would typically yield loot or at least restore some health.
But this was Thrill Park... where beating a tough monster might only reward technique points and nothing else.
After a quick inspection of the skeleton’s remains confirmed no loot, they moved on...
The following rooms gradually featured richer decor: broken metal staircases, colorful floor-to-ceiling windows, beige stone walls and carvings, and brighter candelabras.
Alongside the upgraded decor came more varied and powerful monsters...
Fully armored zombies, flying eyeball monsters, blue biting crows, flaming wheels with lion faces, bone-throwing skeletons, armored skeletons, archer skeletons, unmanned suits of armor throwing axes, unmanned suits of armor hurling boulders... in short, a chaotic mix of enemies, both airborne and ground-based.
Brother Long and his team felt like they were playing a side-scrolling action game—the deeper they went, the stronger the enemies became, with improvements not just in HP but in "attack, defense, speed, skills, and intelligence."
But... having come this far, turning back empty-handed was unthinkable... They had no choice but to press on.
[Chapel]
Finally, after overcoming countless obstacles, wading through water, leaping across platforms, and slaying dozens of monsters... they passed through another white corridor sealed by two red doors and heard the system prompt.
By now, nearly an hour had passed since they first entered the castle, and their stamina had dropped by about a third.
"What now? Is that the leader of the Nine Specters?" Long Aotian panted, staring at the giant flaming skull floating toward them.