Chapter 42: Haunted House Phantom

Actually, after discovering that this world seemed to harbor supernatural creatures, what Levi worried about the most was not fighting vampires, maniacs, or werewolves.

What truly troubled him were curses, ghosts……… things that were simply too difficult to even figure out what they were, let alone how to deal with them.

At the very least, they were not things that could be destroyed with ordinary weapons.

Levi touched the magazine in his pocket.

This time, he had prepared silver bullets and incendiary rounds, but he had not brought mercury bullets.

His plan was simple: if he really could not handle it, then he would simply burn this haunted place down.

As for the silver bullets ——— he could only pray that maybe, perhaps, possibly, they might prove useful.

Even Levi’s system could not help him much in this regard.

The only thing Levi could rely on now was the fact that he had seen a few thousand more horror movies, novels, and games, both Eastern and Western, than the people of this world.

The experience from those works, maybe, perhaps, possibly, should be able to provide some help for his current investigation.

Otherwise, what else could he do? Hold the All-Seeing Eye and shout “Holy Lord bless me”?

That was something that nun lady might very well actually do.

As for what Katie would do, Levi had no idea.

The others……… well, leave it to fate.

“Welcome, guest.”

Suddenly, a voice rang by Levi’s ear.

He almost instantly spun around, raised his gun, and aimed in the direction the sound came from.

Then, Levi saw a maid standing quietly by the door, watching him.

“The banquet has already begun.”

“Banquet?”

Levi frowned slightly.

He glanced toward the nearby room door.

Sure enough, he could hear music, conversation, and the clinking of cutlery from inside.

However, these sounds were like the noisy background ambience in a game.

He could only make out the overlapping murmurs of conversation, but could not clearly distinguish any words.

“The host of the banquet is……….”

Levi withdrew his gaze and looked back toward the maid.

But now, he saw that standing before him was only a puppet dressed in a maid’s outfit.

“………………………”

Good thing I’m a veteran of many battles.

I’ve seen plenty.

Levi’s cheek twitched slightly, but quickly returned to normal.

Thanks to the convenience of the information age, every possible form of fear that humanity could imagine had already been thoroughly depicted in movies, games, and novels.

So Levi was actually quite calm at this moment.

If it were Katie, she might very well have screamed and punched straight at it.

Retracting his gaze once more, Levi looked at the large door before him.

After hesitating for a moment, he reached out and pushed it open.

The noise instantly disappeared.

Only a phonograph was still playing music.

As Levi stepped into the room, he saw several puppets dressed as guests sitting in chairs at a long dining table.

Some held knives and forks, some held wine glasses.

Yet at this moment, every puppet had turned its head toward the doorway, staring as though they were not puppets but living people, gazing at this uninvited guest.

“If this were made into an escape room, it’d actually be pretty fun.”

Levi quipped, calming himself once again.

Yes, to him, it was as though he had stepped into a real-life escape room.

At least so far, he had not been attacked by any monsters ——— but to be honest, Levi would rather something come at him to deal with, instead of playing this creepy staring contest with wooden dummies.

“Pardon the interruption.”

Levi removed his hat and nodded to the puppets.

When he raised his head again, the puppets at the dining table, who had just been staring at him, had now turned their heads back, once again facing the food before them.

Ah, I know this one.

If it were someone else, they would probably already be terrified out of their wits.

But Levi was not so afraid.

He had long grown tired of such scenes in horror films.

It was always the same: when you looked away, the puppets would start moving; when you looked at them again, they stopped.

Just like playing “Red Light, Green Light.”

So, would they actually try to kill him?

Levi wasn’t sure.

So he turned his head and began observing his surroundings.

The entire room looked very clean and tidy, not like an abandoned house at all.

Quite a few oil paintings hung on the walls.

Levi knew that in such places, they were usually portraits of the most important family members — the heads of the family over generations.

Of course, with the advent of the steam era and the appearance of the camera, black-and-white photographs gradually replaced oil paintings as the new way of keeping records.

But this family seemed to still follow the old tradition.

Both sides of the hall were decorated with oil portraits of each generation’s head of the household.

Levi walked as he compared what he saw here with the intel he had obtained before.

It was obvious this was not the original family, but more likely the last one that had gone missing……………

“—————！”

Suddenly, Levi felt his wrist being grabbed.

He turned his head and saw that a boy puppet sitting on a nearby chair had turned to stare at him, while somehow its hand had grabbed his wrist.

All part of the script.

Stay calm, stay calm.

Levi let out a silent sigh, pulling his hand free from the puppet’s grip.

At the same time, a thought flashed through his mind.

If this were a horror game, this would be the point where a cutscene gets triggered.

Could it mean there was a clue nearby?

With that thought, Levi stopped and carefully examined his surroundings.

Then, his eyes narrowed.

Once he focused his attention, Levi quickly discovered something.

It was an oil painting.

From its placement, the subject was clearly the current family head.

A stern-looking man Levi had never seen before.

That didn’t matter, though.

What mattered was that Levi immediately noticed what he was looking for in the painting.

The man in the painting had his right hand placed on his chest, and on his right index finger was a ring.

A vivid crimson ring.

But whether it was intentional on the artist’s part or not, the ring did not have the solid texture of a gemstone.

Instead, it seemed to flow, as if it were congealed, yet moving blood!

And Levi had seen this ring before!

At that very moment, the system prompt finally appeared before his eyes.

【Activate Special Mission: Haunted House Phantom】

【Mission Objective: Find the source of evil in this house】

【Mission Reward: Lifespan +80, ownership permit of Crimson Temptation, random reward】

“This can even be linked?”

Staring at the ring in the painting, Levi’s expression grew serious and grave.

Back when he had investigated the vampire, he had gone to that jewelry store and had also seen that ring.

According to the diary and what the shop assistant had said, that vampire had clearly been very interested in this ring.

Levi also remembered that when he examined the ring back then, he had seen some kind of illusion.

Wait, no, something’s off!

Looking at the mission prompt again, Levi suddenly realized the problem.

Because the mission reward was actually ownership of that ring?

What did this mean? Just a mere ring, yet its ownership was actually set as a mission reward?

Could he not simply go and buy the ring himself? If the mission difficulty was measured by the lifespan reward, then this task was far more difficult than even the vampire! He would risk life and death for this mission, only to gain ownership of a ring ——— hmm?

Wait……… if that was the case………

Recalling carefully everything that had happened before, Levi noticed a problem.

Back in that jewelry shop, after carefully examining the ring, what had he done?

He had put the ring back into its box!

Why had he done that? Thinking about it now, since Betty had been interested in the ring, and since he himself had seen an illusion through it, why had he not bought it for further study, but instead returned it to the box?

And Betty as well……… If she truly liked the ring, even if she had no money, with her abilities as a vampire, could she not have stolen it?

But the fact was that, as far as it seemed now, neither Levi nor Betty had ever had the thought of actually taking the ring away.

Why was that?

Could it be, just as the mission stated, that only with ownership permission could the ring be taken?

Then what about these portraits?

Levi turned his head again toward the dining table, but this time, behind him, it was completely empty.

As if while he was admiring the painting, the guests had finished their meal and directly left.

“If it’s just a puzzle game, then I can accept that.”

Levi didn’t like horror escape games, but puzzle games he could play.

He once again searched the entire dining hall, making sure there was nothing else strange.

Then he walked to the door.

At the same time, he heard the sound of children laughing and playing outside, accompanied by the footsteps of little ones running about.

Hearing this, Levi paused again, then reached out to push the door open.

This time, the corridor before Levi was somewhat different from before.

It now looked a little worn down.

In the corridor, a boy and a girl were playing.

The boy ran, the girl chased, while a maid by the side tried to steady the girl, to prevent her from falling.

The boy then stood at the stairway leading up to the second floor, making a funny face at the girl.

Naturally, they were all puppets.

Levi stood silent for a moment, then walked toward the stairway.

He had a feeling that these puppets appearing before him were more like a kind of “guidance,” and very likely all of this was still connected to that ring………

Walking up the stairs, Levi soon saw another row of oil paintings hanging there.

And clearly, the figures depicted were not the same as those in the dining hall before.

The reason was simple — the family crests were different.

Levi stared at the portraits, moving step by step, until he stopped before a painting at the top of the second-floor staircase.

“Dong dong dong dong.”

Hurried footsteps sounded behind Levi, rushing past him and into the second-floor corridor.

Then he heard the banging of a door, along with screams and quarrels.

They seemed to be acting out a scene.

Levi now more or less understood.

These puppets seemed to represent the people who once lived in this house, reenacting their daily lives here.

Hmm, just like before in the dining hall, the quarrelling now sounded like some sort of background noise.

Levi could hear the man’s roar and the woman’s scream, but he could not make out what they were arguing about.

But he would soon find out.

Levi pushed open the door and entered.

The quarrel stopped abruptly.

The bedroom was in chaos.

A man held a dagger, pressing a woman down on the bed, the blade raised high.

The woman’s hands gripped his wrist, struggling against his restraint.

On the floor, two children lay in pools of blood.

Levi glanced around the room, then looked to the wall by the bedside.

There hung an oil painting of a loving couple.

Yet what caught Levi’s attention was not the couple themselves, but the man’s right hand wrapped around his wife ——— on his index finger was also a crimson ring.

Exactly the same as before.

Levi looked again toward the pair on the bed.

The man’s movements had already changed; the blade was swinging down.

Yet on the hand that gripped the blade, there was no ring.

The woman, meanwhile, seemed to sense the impending danger.

Her eyes bulged, filled with terror and despair, as though she were truly alive……… hmm?

Levi froze for a moment at the sight of the woman, then his eyes suddenly narrowed, a flash of gray flickering within them.

At the same time, Levi swiftly raised his gun!

“Bang!”

The gunshot rang out, and the male puppet, which had been frozen in its stabbing motion, suddenly vanished.

Levi’s gaze instantly shifted ——— it was now clinging to the ceiling like a spider, its limbs inverted!

It stared at Levi, mouth open, the dark void inside like the barrel of a gun aimed at him.

“Da—————!”

The puppet thrust out its hand, hurling the dagger at Levi.

In that instant, Levi’s figure blurred, vanishing from where he stood, reappearing in the shadowed corner of the opposite wall.

At the same time, the barrel of his gun was once again aimed at the target!

Shadow Movement!

“Bang!!”

This time, Levi did not miss.

The puppet’s head instantly exploded into fragments, and the headless puppet fell from the ceiling, crashing onto the floor.

As the puppet hit the ground, the female puppet lying on the bed suddenly emitted a burst of light.

From within that glow, Katie rolled out violently, crashing headfirst into the nearby wall.

Fortunately, the young lady’s skull was hard enough that she did not end up with a huge lump.

But even so, she still clutched her head, whimpering in pain.

Only when the girl raised her head and saw Levi did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“Th-that was too terrifying, Detective! I thought I was going to die!”

“That really was dangerous.”

Levi cast a wary glance at the puppet whose head he had just shattered.

It still lay on the ground, and from the broken wooden gap where its head had been, blood was seeping out………

Then, Levi looked back at Katie.

“What exactly happened?”

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