Forest Cat followed Li Ang out of the corridor, watching him yell at the top of his lungs toward the end of the hallway, "Hello, is anyone there? Hello, is anyone there? Anyone there? There? There..."

?! What's this move, creating an artificial echo?

Forest Cat's eyes widened, not knowing what expression to wear, and she could only say in a low voice, "Uh... What are you doing?"

"Calling for teammates."

Li Ang calmly said, "Judging from the limbs I found and the lungs you encountered, these anomalous organs might not be that difficult to deal with. Especially now that there are two of us, we can watch out for each other."

"So it would be best if our teammates could hear us. If not, we could also try to actively trigger an anomaly."

Forest Cat nodded, indicating she understood. "But the sound transmission in this corridor is so terrible. Yelling that loudly doesn't even seem very loud."

"Hmm."

Li Ang said thoughtfully, "The room structure of this mansion is winding and complex, making it extremely unfavorable for sound propagation. Yelling for teammates isn't very effective. And these wooden materials covering the walls, floor, and ceiling are also strange..."

He grabbed the stone arm and tapped the wooden floor lightly, hearing a muffled thump.

"Walking on it doesn't even make creaking noises. These timbers are not only strong, secure, and durable but also have a noise-absorbing effect."

As he spoke, Li Ang kept striking the hard wooden boards with the stone arm, then wedged his fingernails into the cracks between the boards, prying up a few boards and holding them up in front of him for a closer look.

Li Ang muttered, "This wood looks a bit like those odd pines I've seen in the forest."

Forest Cat asked curiously, "Is there a problem?"

"No."

Li Ang dropped the wooden planks and motioned for Forest Cat to keep up with him. The two quickly walked through the corridor, smashing open the doors of rooms along the way, glancing inside to confirm no one was there, and then moving on to the next room.

The spatial structure of this mansion was quite peculiar, with some corridors even slanting upwards or downwards. Some areas could only be reached by ladders, slides, or elevators, making the concept of "floors" inadequate.

Ordinary people, even with a map, would easily lose their way, trapped in a complex, labyrinthine maze of corridors, struggling for hours to find an exit.

Forest Cat, using something like chalk, quickly drew straight lines with arrows on the walls at corners. This served as a reminder of which places she had visited and which she had not. It would not only prevent her from getting lost but also guide teammates, signaling them to follow the arrows.

Besides, she took out her Divination Polaroid camera, and at each corner, she would raise her flashlight to take a picture of the hallway.

The two continued onward. To find their teammates more quickly, Li Ang also took out a modified sound system, using it to play various brainwashing audio clips on repeat,

like "Recycling! Old fridges, old TVs, old fans, washing machines!"

"Steamed cornmeal buns, one yuan for four, hehe!"

"If I could do it all over again, would you love me? Love brings joy, but also brings torment."

"So cold! I'm in Dongbei playing in the mud!"

"Jianjiang, Wenzhou! Jianjiang, Wenzhou! The Jianglan Leather Factory, the largest leather factory, has gone bankrupt! The boss, Huang He, squandered everything on wining, dining, whoring, and gambling, racking up a debt of 350 million, and ran off with his sister-in-law!"

These brainwashing audio clips looped ceaselessly, sweeping away the shadowy, gloomy, and terrifying atmosphere of the mansion.

Facing Forest Cat's suspicion, Li Ang explained that it was to lower their teammates' guard—if he just simply called out their names, teammates might think it was a System-generated monster imitating players and wouldn't dare to show themselves.

But if they played this kind of inexplicable audio that only existed on Modern Earth, then the teammates would understand it was the call of a comrade.

Forest Cat replied, "I'm convinced. Lesson learned."

It had to be said that this method was quite useful. Stonemason, who had been in the specimen display room, came out hesitantly after hearing the brainwashing audio. From a distance, he showed his player ID and confirmed his identity with Li Ang and Forest Cat.

"Brother Li, you really have some creative ideas; your methods are quite unconventional," Stonemason complimented Li Ang, then asked Li Ang to lower the volume of the sound system. He shared his own experiences in the specimen display room, as well as the hallucinations he saw.

After exchanging information, Stonemason said with a gloomy expression,

"The Lesley family that owns this mansion is definitely not simple. They are most likely a family of Magicians with knowledge of mysticism, using this manor, originally belonging to the deceased William, to achieve some kind of plan."

"Mm," Li Ang nodded. "It's obvious that something went wrong with the plan, resulting in the mansion being empty. It's just unclear how those monsters outside are related to the mansion."

"We have now dealt with three anomalous organs, leaving us with the intestines, kidneys, torso, head, and embryo. These organs, put together, can form a human being. The Lesley family might be trying to revive something using some sort of ritual,"

Forest Cat added, "Also, after the three of us were teleported here, we directly encountered an anomalous organ in the room. We can assume that Ur Wunnian and Dong Fengpo encountered the same situation. It's just that we haven't heard a System notification yet..."

Forest Cat didn't finish her sentence. The other two teammates were most likely in great danger.

"Let's not talk about that now."

Li Ang waved his hand, asking Stonemason to hand over the heart. He placed it on the ground with the lungs and limbs and had Forest Cat take a photo with the Divination Polaroid.

Unfortunately, there was nothing abnormal in the photo.

Li Ang packed up all the organs, turned up the volume of the sound system again, and continued to search the mansion with his two teammates.

Hopefully, the other two teammates can hold on a little longer...

「————」

"Ha... ha..."

The handsome young man dressed in a red suit, Ur Wunnian, was currently clutching a vertical rope with both hands. His eyes were bloodshot, and his handsome features were twisted into a fierce expression.

He was in a pitch-black cargo shaft, devoid of daylight.

This kind of cargo shaft was set within stone walls, with a pulley system at the top through which a rope passed. Manor servants used the cargo shaft to transport clothes, water jugs, tableware, food, and other sundries, avoiding the need to run up and down stairs, thus saving time.

In the narrow, enclosed, pitch-black space, the flashlight Ur Wunnian clenched in his teeth was the only source of light.

He lifted his head to look toward the top of the shaft and climbed upward with all his might, trying his best not to look at the surrounding walls.

After being teleported, he had been climbing up this shaft for over ten minutes. Although the pulley system and wooden door above were clearly visible, the distance between them never seemed to decrease.

The shaft walls, which should have been made of thick stone bricks, were now continuously seeping blood and oozing flesh. As time passed, the entire interior of the shaft was covered with a layer of dark red flesh, dotted with white sinew and black spots the size of human heads.

GURGLE. GURGLE.

The shaft writhed, contracted, and shook like... an intestine.