After rebirth, she discovered the space golden finger

The twenty-five participants present, including Pei Yun, stood silently in place, watching warily as the middle-aged man pushed the white-haired old man in a wheelchair to the front of the table.

The middle-aged man's voice was hoarse and deep: "Please be seated, guests." As he spoke, his cold gaze swept over everyone present.

The members of the five teams exchanged glances, hesitating. Pei Yun nodded to his four teammates, then calmly walked to the dining table and sat in the first seat below them. Seeing this, Fu Lingchen and the other three also came to sit down next to Pei Yun.

The other four teams followed suit and sat down on either side of the table.

The middle-aged man glanced down at Pei Yun, their eyes meeting. Pei Yun keenly caught a fleeting red glint in the man's eyes. She raised an eyebrow slightly but did not speak.

"Welcome everyone to the manor. I am the manor's steward, and this is the manor's owner, whom you may call—the painter." The middle-aged man pointed to the white-haired old man in front of him.

Upon hearing the word "painter," everyone perked up and turned their gazes to the white-haired old man. However, the old man's eyes were vacant as he stared straight ahead, showing no reaction to their stares.

The middle-aged man clapped his hands, and at that moment, two young maids emerged from the shadows of the corridor again. The maids pushed a food cart to the dining table and served food to everyone.

"Guests, you are welcome to enjoy yourselves to the fullest in this manor. My master, the painter, will complete the paintings you requested as soon as possible..."

The middle-aged man continued, "However, after midnight, no one is allowed to leave the villa until six o'clock the next morning."

Just as he was about to continue, Pei Yun suddenly spoke up: "What would happen if someone left this villa after midnight?"

Upon hearing this, the surroundings suddenly fell silent, the atmosphere instantly froze, and everyone present looked at Pei Yun, especially the other four teams, who hadn't expected this woman to be so bold.

The middle-aged man looked at Pei Yun with a meaningful gaze: "...You can give it a try."

At this moment, the maid had already placed the food in front of everyone. One of the participants looked at a bloody piece of meat on the plate, the contents of which he didn't recognize, and couldn't help but ask loudly, "What is this?"

Not only her plate, but everyone's plate contained a piece of raw, bloody meat, along with red wine in glasses, all reeking of a nauseating, bloody stench.

For a moment, none of the twenty-five participants took a bite. Pei Yun was the first to react, using his divine sense to examine the food in front of him. After a moment, his face darkened and he said, "...It's human flesh."

Everyone else was taken aback by her words; some even cried out in surprise and instinctively got up and moved away from the table.

Qian Zheng looked serious and frowned as he looked at the butler: "What does this mean?" Everyone stared intently at the butler.

The butler remained calm and said directly, "You can choose not to eat... as long as you can manage."

After speaking, he pushed the wheelchair towards the elevator at the other corner. Before entering the elevator, the butler looked at everyone again and said, "The fifth floor is the master's territory; no one is allowed to enter. As for the other floors, you can stay in any room you like..."

"Oh, one last reminder: the room is your shelter."

Leaving behind this strange remark, the butler pushed the white-haired old man into the elevator...

"What does he mean by this?" At this moment, only five teams remained in the main hall, and the maids had also left.

"The owner, the butler, and the maid of this house are all very eccentric..."

"Don't you all find this house eerie and strange? Such a large house, yet there are only four people: the master, the butler, and the maid..."

"And these paintings, the figures in these portraits seem to be looking at us..."

The speaker was a disheveled old man with half-gray hair. From the moment he entered, his gaze had barely left the painting. "There seem to be traces of an array..."

His words immediately drew everyone's attention and sent chills down their spines.

Qian Zheng stepped forward again and spoke up: "Fellow Daoists, why don't we split up and find the key clues to this world's mission as quickly as possible? Only then will we have a chance to complete the trial mission..."

This time, no one raised any objections. Qian Zheng said, "Let's get to know each other first. I am Qian Zheng, a disciple of the Dao God Temple, and these four are my teammates..."

"I am Xu Wei, the captain of our team, a disciple of the Array God Palace. These four are..."

"My name is Zhou Hui, the captain of our team, a disciple of the Dao God Palace. Beside me..."

"My name is Wu Ziwei, the captain of our team, a disciple of the Dao God Palace. In the last round of the 'Gate' competition, our team cooperated with Fellow Daoist Qian's team..."

"I am Pei Yun, a disciple of the Dao God Palace. These four are members of my team: Fu Lingchen, a disciple of the Weapon God Palace, and Minglu..."

After the five teams introduced themselves, Qian Zheng spoke earnestly: "Everyone, I know we are currently participating in the Five Temples Joint Competition. The competition naturally aims to determine winners and losers, to gain the attention of the temple masters and elders. However, we have only just entered the 'gate' and haven't figured anything out yet. I think everyone here is intelligent; it's not the time for competition yet. Why not cooperate first? Moreover, I believe the temple masters and elders would be more pleased to see us cooperate and achieve mutual benefit than to engage in internal strife..."

Upon hearing this, everyone present nodded in agreement. Pei Yun also glanced at the other party with slight surprise. This person's shrewdness and strategy were more than one level higher than Cai Dongcheng in the previous round of "gate".

Seeing this, Qian Zheng's face was full of confidence: "Let's start looking for clues now and figure out what the trial mission of this world is. Only by knowing the purpose of the mission can we act with a clear objective..."

“I think we should start by examining the paintings in this house; they’re very strange…”

"I agree." The people present started discussing it, each offering their own opinion.

Pei Yun didn't speak at first, but waited until everyone had finished talking before saying, "Since you're all searching inside this villa, my team and I will go check outside. Maybe we'll find some clues..."

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at her. Pei Yun said, "...You all heard that the housekeeper said we can't leave the villa between midnight and 6 a.m. I want to know why we can't leave..."

The other four teams might not recognize Arabic numerals, so Pei Yun pointed to the grandfather clock not far away and explained it to everyone.

Just then, the grandfather clock rang out with a "clang" in everyone's ears. Pei Yun looked at the grandfather clock and said, "It's one o'clock in the afternoon. There are still eleven hours until midnight."

"Since Fellow Daoist Pei is willing to investigate outside the house, we naturally have no objection. However, we must return to the main hall before noon to gather and share the clues we find..."

"can."

"……agree."

After everyone finished discussing the matter, Pei Yun led the other four members of his team out of the villa...

Outside the villa was a large lawn. Pei Yun used her divine sense to investigate, but she couldn't find an exit from the manor. Her divine soul was powerful, and even though it was suppressed by 90%, her divine sense still reached the ends of the earth, where there was only a fog.

Besides the villa behind him, there are other buildings in the entire estate.

"Let's go south first. There's a big garden and a fountain there, and a gardener tending to the flowers and plants. Let's go ask him..." Pei Yun pointed out the direction, and the five of them quickly walked over together.

The craftsman was a short, stout old man with a big nose. He was watering the roses, and in front of him was a large patch of blood-red roses. The roses were in full bloom, their fragrance filling the air, and in the center of this rose garden was a small fountain...

"Grandpa, are you the gardener here?" Pei Yun asked as he walked up to the gardener.

The gardener seemed not to see Pei Yun at all, ignoring her and continuing to water the flowers with a blank expression.

“Pei Yun…” Fu Lingchen and the other three followed Pei Yun.

“The people in this manor are all so strange, they don’t seem to have any life in them at all…” As soon as Minglu said this, Pei Yun and the other three were stunned. They immediately realized something and exchanged glances.

Zhou Feng frowned and voiced everyone's suspicions: "Do you think the master, the housekeeper, the maid, and this gardener we've encountered... could all be vengeful spirits?!"