Comfortable room, the flames in the fireplace had already died out, but the remaining warmth in the hearth still carried a reassuring coziness.
Adeline sat at the head of the bed, leaning back against two stacked pillows, holding a card in her hand.
The soft glow of the oil lamp illuminated her contemplative expression, her amber eyes reflecting the fine text on the card’s face.
This afternoon’s stroll had drained the meager energy her body had managed to accumulate.
After finishing dinner, a powerful drowsiness had washed over her.
She had fallen into a rare deep sleep, and when she opened her eyes again, the sky outside the window had darkened completely.
Only the faint red glow of the last few embers in the fireplace remained in the room.
She instinctively looked at the bedside table.
In the dim light of the oil lamp, she noticed that the hand-drawn map on the table had changed.
Or rather, Lein’s position had changed.
Naturally, the map, which had been centered around him, had shifted accordingly.
The card representing him now lay quietly in a completely unfamiliar area on the map.
A brand new neighborhood scene had reconstructed itself around him on the table.
‘Where is this place?’
Adeline furrowed her brow.
She was certain she hadn’t performed any manipulation before falling asleep; the card had been resting quietly by the pillow.
The only explanation for Lein’s movement was that the card had acted on its own without her control.
What was this called?
Does a game character have a life of its own?
Adeline shook her head.
She turned her gaze back to the map, trying to identify Lein’s current location.
That area was densely packed with buildings, arranged in a way completely different from the chaotic slums of Ash Lane.
It looked more like some kind of organized public facility.
She had no idea what that place was.
But the matter itself was serious enough to warrant her attention.
It meant she couldn’t assume the character would stay put when she wasn’t controlling him.
If she wasn’t careful, the next time she opened the map, Lein might have already run off to some completely unexpected place.
Adeline pondered for a moment.
She grew more curious about whether this was simply a game.
But with the current information, she couldn’t determine that at all.
A name like “Ash Lane” didn’t sound like an official designation at all.
Using that name to confirm whether such a place actually existed in the world was still too difficult.
As for a name like “Sharp Hook Gang,” it was even more meaningless.
Gangs with that name could be found everywhere—if you looked, you’d find at least ten or eight.
In any case, she needed more information.
And the most direct way to get information was exploration.
Lost in thought, Adeline moved the position of the card.
A countdown timer appeared on the card’s face.
Adeline stared as the countdown finished, but unexpectedly, the Card Box remained quiet on the table, no new cards popping out.
Adeline raised an eyebrow slightly and moved to another position.
But this time, nothing happened either.
Adeline refused to believe it.
She moved Lein’s card to every suspicious spot on the map she could think of: the edges of Ash Lane, areas marked with dense buildings, intersections where several roads that looked like main thoroughfares met.
She tried them all, one by one, but in the end, she got nothing.
After more than a dozen attempts, Adeline picked up the card, leaned back into the pillow, and let out a long sigh.
‘What’s going on here?’
Adeline couldn’t figure it out.
She decided to try one last time.
She moved the card to a blank area—a spot with nothing marked, standing out conspicuously on the map crowded with buildings.
But just as the card finished its countdown, ink began to trace lines across that blank area.
The outline of a building emerged from the ink.
It was a dilapidated old mansion.
Before Adeline could take a closer look, the Card Box let out a soft click.
A card popped out.
Adeline reached out, picked up the card, and flipped it to the front.
On the top half of the card was an image, a simple outline of a building’s silhouette, identical to the old mansion that had just appeared on the map.
Below the image was a line of text:
[House of Trembling]
Adeline flipped the card over.
The words on the back made her instinctively hold her breath.
The script on the back of the card was blood-red.
It was a hue so vivid it stung the eyes, like blood that had just gushed from a wound and hadn’t yet coagulated.
Those scarlet strokes shimmered faintly in the lamplight, forming a passage that sent a chill down her spine:
‘It’s hard to imagine what I’ve just seen. What is it? Why is it here? Just looking at it fills me with an unprecedented terror. Yet at the same time, an impulse tells me I should go in. This house is calling to me… No! I can’t! My iron-cold reason warns me that what awaits inside isn’t opportunity, only death. Stop right here!’
Adeline stared at the blood-red lines of text, her gaze unmoving for a long time.
Was this striking red meant to indicate the level of danger?
Her eyes wandered back and forth over the card’s description.
For a moment, she was almost tempted to attach this card to Lein’s card, but in the end, she held back.
Adeline told herself not to rush.
Lein’s card already showed signs of fatigue.
It would be better to wait until tomorrow daytime.
After she recovered her strength, it would be best to bring some weapons…
With that thought, Adeline set the card aside and retrieved Lein’s card.
The ink on the map slowly faded as if absorbed by a sponge, and the tabletop returned to its original state.
She stacked the two cards together, placed them beside the box by the pillow, and then blew out the oil lamp.
The room plunged into darkness.
She pulled the covers over herself and closed her eyes.
The last bit of ember in the fireplace died out during this process, and the warmth was gradually seeping out of the room.
But Adeline could no longer care about that.
The drowsiness came quickly and forcefully, dragging her into sleep almost the moment her eyelids shut.
And at the same time, deep in Ash Lane.
Lein stood in front of the old mansion, his entire body frozen stiff.
Suddenly, the feeling of restraint vanished in an instant.
It was as if an invisible hand had released the strings holding him.
The strange sensation of being controlled by an external force receded completely from his limbs and torso.
Lein’s body swayed, nearly pitching forward from the momentum.
He flexed his stiff fingers and took a deep breath of the freezing air.
Free?
Without a second thought, Lein turned and walked away.
He quickly retraced his steps back the way he came, not wanting to spend another second in this damn place.
After taking a dozen steps, he only then subconsciously glanced back.
The end of the alley was empty.
There was nothing but a bare brick wall and a pile of trash at its base, no different from the end of any ordinary alley in Ash Lane.
As if the building had never existed.