Start with Dragon Maid and start dueling!

Flamme skillfully removed the old window frames and began paving the way for installing new windows.

At the same time, he chatted with Nathalie who was tidying up the wall: "This Western-style building is really big. The area is more than three times larger than our experience hall."

"With just a few of us, even if we work harder, I'm afraid it won't be completed in less than half a month."

"Well, it's a little too big. From the inside and outside of the mansion, it looks like two completely different worlds." Nathalie responded while moving, "It's like magic."

"Magic..." Flame tore off the window frame with his bare hands, which seemed to have been torn by something with a deep claw mark, and looked out the window through the broken glass.

A full moon, emitting a faint yellow glow, shone into this dilapidated room where a few candles were lit.

"By the way, Nathalie, where is the young lady now?"

"With the head maid and Parura, they are in the room on the east side, not far from the corridor leading to the depths. They want to start from there."

Wanlong Hall, the eastern part of the front hall, where Ling is located.

"It's getting late today, so please go back to your room and rest. Leave the rest to us."

Schindler took a box from Ling and told her to go and have a rest.

"I have blocked out the noise around your room, please don't worry."

"I'm not sleepy yet. I'll help you for a while longer." Ling had looked at the clock before. Although it was close to midnight, as a future NEET and the pinnacle of night watch, her energy was at its peak at this time.

Although it would be embarrassing during the day.

"You still have to go to school tomorrow, right? As a maid, I will not feel at ease if I disturb the master's rest."

"We will stop what we are doing, so please take care of your health," the head maid said seriously.

"Okay, okay, I get it," Ling understood her intention and waved her hand, "I'll go to sleep."

"Good night."

"Well, Miss Schindler, don't push yourself too much, or even a dragon will be worn out by the work."

Ling said goodbye to the head maid and set out on the road back to her room.

"Just now, Palula went out to move parts. I haven't seen her since. Where did she go?"

She was curious about where Parula had gone. She hadn't seen her for half an hour, and moving something wouldn't be that slow.

"Are you being lazy?"

As she was thinking, she suddenly stopped when passing a dark corridor.

Normally, she would not come here because it led to the deeper part of the mansion, to the lost "world" that she had never explored after growing up.

"Did you come here by chance?"

She stopped at the entrance of the dark corridor and looked inside with bright eyes.

"Soon this place will be dotted with lights and no longer be dark."

"Along with the things that are no longer remembered..."

"..."

Ling watched for a while and was about to leave, but at this moment, she saw an unexpected figure passing by in the corridor.

"Palula?"

That green shadow in this deserted mansion was undoubtedly the lazy maid - Parula.

"So he was hiding in this place."

After hesitating for a moment, Ling mustered up the courage to walk in.

"Ignore me or I'll catch you red-handed."

The girl in a light black dress turned on the flashlight on her phone and stepped into an area she had not entered in a long time.

A musty smell filled her nose, and just as she saw on the stained walls around her, this was already a deserted world.

"Where are you, Parula?"

As Ling went deeper, she could better understand the feeling of being abandoned when entering this uninhabited area.

Wherever the light shines, there are old scenes everywhere.

Dim murals and rusty iron and bronze objects.

Everything is completely different from the area where Ling lives.

This place is like a dungeon, a dark world filled with mystery and unknown.

“Parula…?”

She called again, but still got no response.

The cold wind touched her bare feet and calves, which were wrapped in sandals. For a moment, she couldn't help but shiver.

Looking back, it was pitch black, just like the dark corridor that stretched out before the girl.

"Even if it's a joke, this is a bit too much..."

Ling was a little angry. She didn't want to go any further and turned around to leave.

Da da

However, the sudden sound of footsteps behind her startled her and she turned around to look.

"Palula?"

There was no response to Ling's call, and there was still nothing in the deep corridor illuminated by the lights.

"Come out quickly, I'm angry, ok?"

Ling simply ignored her and prepared to leave the corridor.

Woo hey hey hey——

Just as the girl turned around again, a white shadow suddenly appeared in front of her, laughing strangely, and pounced towards her face with a "swish"!

"Eh?!"

She was so frightened that she took a few steps back and almost fell down.

Not only that, there were even stranger sounds coming from the direction of the corridor exit.

Gollum-

Honey Honey——

Chirp——

Click click click——

"Alas!"

Ling lost all intention to go to the exit as the strange sound gradually approached. In panic, she turned and ran towards the depths where it seemed safe.

Holding the cell phone with flashing lights, she went deeper and deeper into the "inner world" of the Wanlong Palace.

Then, she got lost.

Just like in Pegasus's castle, she lost the sense of direction she needed to leave the "maze".

"Where is this...?"

"Hu...Hu..." Ling panted. She looked at the dark environment that was only slightly visible under the light, and felt at a loss as to what to do.

In the silence, strange sounds can still be heard clearly.

The bird lost its way as it was chased by them.

“Is it something to brag about to be able to get lost in your own home?”

“I really don’t want to use it in a place like this…” The girl raised her hand and made a gesture, but just as she was about to let the proof of traveling across dimensions penetrate this strange darkness, she suddenly stopped.

"..."

Ling was stunned because she saw something familiar.

Before she knew it, she had reached the end of the T-shaped corridor, and had opened up new paths on both sides of that end.

Something familiar to the girl was right in front of her: an antique clock located at the intersection of three directions.

The lampshade broke into pieces, and a bright red ribbon was tied to the pointer, trembling with the wind flowing through the corridor.

She walked forward, but ultimately did not touch the ribbon.

She felt the source of the wind, guiding her in this dark world.

I have to keep moving forward.

The lights flickered frequently, becoming somewhat eerie, illuminating the still deserted scenes ahead.

As Ling moved forward, her heart was like a sealed box, with a pair of scissors gradually...slowly...cutting a bigger and bigger gap in it.

Familiar, so familiar.

I don’t know when it started, but the scene in front of Ling’s eyes no longer became unfamiliar.

Instead, they gradually reveal the impression they should have in the girl's mind.

The wind blew past her smooth ankles, and Ling walked to a door.

It came from the bottom crack of this door.

8 The Ghost Girl in the Mansion

creak-

A harsh friction sound rang in my ears.

The dusty door blew out gusts of cold wind. The visiting girl used her delicate palm to press the rusty door handle and pushed it open little by little with difficulty.

The barrier receded, and the darkness with it.

The slightly blinding light of dusk filled the entire secret room that no one had ever set foot in.

Inside the room, a huge, empty floor-to-ceiling window appeared in Ling's eyes.

It has been shattered by the erosion of time, and only scattered, jagged pieces of glass remain, rooted in the window frame like wolf teeth.

The blue and emerald moonlight shone through the empty window holes and fell quietly on the cold stone floor.

The room was shrouded in a layer of illusion, desolate and lonely, as if it had been waiting for an unknown amount of time for someone willing to set foot in.

Ling walked to the window and looked out.

The full moon outside almost filled the entire window. The dazzling moonlight fell on the girl, casting a long shadow on the floor behind her.

Ling had never seen such a huge and strange moon.

The wind was blowing in from the broken window, embracing the girl, like a magic potion, directly seeping into her confused heart.

The room was empty, but not empty.

There is a statue standing by the wall.

A statue of an angel.

She was as tall as three people, like a real angel, with wings half-opened behind her as if about to stretch out.

Wearing a grey robe and a gauze crown, holding a longbow, there is no expression on the exquisitely carved face of the goddess of beauty.

She closed her eyes and just stayed quietly on the pedestal. Even if there were visitors who disturbed the magical tranquility of the full moon, she would still not move.

Ling was in a daze, facing the dreamy moonlight, step by step, approaching the broken French window, looking up at the huge, cold and lonely magical full moon in front of her that swallowed her entire figure.

"..."

She opened her mouth, and when the words came to her lips, the girl only made a faint, unclear whimper in her throat, and then fell silent.

Through this broken window, Ling can contact the maids in other places and ask them to lead her out of the depths of this inescapable mansion.

But she didn't do that.