At this moment—
Inside one of the castle rooms, Lin Yu opened the wardrobe.
Once the wardrobe door swung open, he realized there wasn't a single piece of clothing inside.
Instead, there was only a bottle filled with blue liquid.
[Congratulations, player. You have discovered an item!]
The instant Lin Yu touched the bottle, a system notification appeared before his eyes.
[Invisibility Potion (Consumable Item)]
[Quality: White]
[Can it be taken out of the instance: No]
[Effect: After drinking the invisibility potion, the player enters an invisible state for 5 minutes. During the effect duration, normal movement is possible.]
[Note: I strongly advise you not to have any "other ideas." Otherwise, you will die a very miserable death! The last person who had "ideas" has grass growing on his grave by now.]
...
"'Other ideas'? There's no way some idiot actually drank an invisibility potion and ran off to seek death, right?"
Seeing the note attached to the [Invisibility Potion], the corner of Lin Yu's mouth twitched as he complained silently to himself.
After all—
What kind of normal person would have strange thoughts like that?
After reading through the item's effects, Lin Yu placed the invisibility potion into his system inventory, planning to take it out only when needed.
After all, he couldn't just keep holding it while searching for other items.
If the bottle quality were poor and he accidentally broke it, that would be a massive loss.
Once the item was safely stored, Lin Yu's confidence rose sharply.
He immediately began a carpet-style search of the room.
If not for his fear that knocking sounds might alert the Blood Clan Queen, he would have loved to tap every inch of the room to see if there were any hidden compartments.
After finishing the search—
Lin Yu pressed his body against the door, listening carefully to the sounds outside.
Only after confirming there was no movement outside did he cautiously open the door a crack and peek out.
A few seconds later, he finally opened the door and tiptoed out of the room.
Without hesitation, he followed the route he had already planned and slipped into the adjacent room, preparing to continue searching.
However—
What Lin Yu didn't notice was that on the ceiling of the corridor, a bat was flapping its wings quietly, hovering above the doorway of the room he had just entered.
...
[Wow! This newbie's luck is insane! He found an item this fast!]
[Finding just one item doesn't count as good luck. Vampire Castle naturally has a lot of items.]
[That's true. Newbie players usually get some hidden protection anyway—he just got lucky this time.]
[By the way, I'm really curious—what exactly does that invisibility potion's note mean?]
[You don't know? Some fearless newbie used it to go tease the Blood Clan Queen. He got detected within two meters and died instantly. Grass on his grave is probably three meters tall by now.]
...
After Lin Yu found his first item, a wave of bullet comments scrolled through the livestream once more.
At the same time—
Deep inside the castle's underground chamber.
"There are four little rats in total…"
The Blood Clan Queen, who had just risen from the coffin, muttered to herself, her voice filled with annoyance and disgust.
The "rats" she referred to were naturally the four players in this instance—
Lin Yu, Wang Gang, Li Hai, and Wang Shan.
"…Three of them actually have the scent of blood on them."
A few seconds later, her voice rang out again, this time laced with surprise.
"In that case… I'll start with the one who doesn't smell like blood."
As her words fell—
Her figure instantly dissolved into countless bats, which flew out through the room's doorway.
...
"Damn it… so biting your tongue really hurts this much…"
Inside a room in the Vampire Castle, Wang Gang muttered to himself while searching.
"I wonder which idiot—Li Hai or Wang Shan—ended up stepping on it…"
Thinking of his earlier actions, a smug smile crept onto Wang Gang's face.
The reason he had left the room first wasn't to search more efficiently.
It was to set a trap.
The moment he exited the room, he bit through his tongue without hesitation, letting blood drip onto one side of the corridor outside the doorway.
He understood this instance well—
As long as blood wasn't exposed directly to the air, it wouldn't attract the Blood Clan Queen.
But once exposed, it would become a powerful lure.
By biting his tongue and leaving blood on the corridor floor, then keeping his mouth closed afterward, he achieved two things:
First, he avoided drawing the Queen's attention to himself.
Second, he muddled her search pattern.
And if Li Hai or Wang Shan chose the same corridor path—
They would inevitably step on the blood he left behind.
"Two idiots. Even if I clear this instance, there's no way I'm giving your Horror Coins back…"
Wang Gang cursed inwardly.
The promise to return the coins had merely been to appease them, preventing the two from joining forces against him.
"What a shame… we didn't manage to trick that newbie…"
Wang Gang couldn't help but think of Lin Yu.
If his plan had succeeded, Lin Yu would have been forced to stick with them.
Then, the moment danger appeared, Lin Yu would have become the Blood Clan Queen's first target.
Unfortunately—
What Wang Gang never expected was that Lin Yu, a newbie, had seen through their temporary scheme and chosen to act alone.
This made Wang Gang feel deeply irritated.
[Wang Gang really is a scheming bastard—he used the same method as Lin Yu.]
[Li Hai's luck is absolute trash. First he stepped on Lin Yu's blood, now he's stepping on Wang Gang's too.]
[When do you think Wang Gang will realize his own shoes are stained with blood as well?]
[Hard to say. But one thing's certain—Li Hai is definitely going to be the first one found.]
[Damn, you even needed to say that? Everyone watching already knows.]
...
Inside Wang Gang's livestream room, bullet comments continued to flood in.
At this moment, the viewers were all curious about one thing—
When would Wang Gang realize that his own shoe soles were already stained with blood?
...
"Looks like I was just lucky earlier."
After finding the [Invisibility Potion], Lin Yu had felt a surge of excitement.
He'd briefly wondered if his so-called "cheat" was something like absurdly high luck.
Reality quickly proved him wrong.
He searched another room and found nothing.
Still—
With the invisibility potion in hand, Lin Yu had no intention of resting.
According to his judgment, items in the Vampire Castle were limited.
Once one was found, there would be one less remaining.
If he was just one item short of clearing the instance later, that would be tragic.
Lin Yu moved to the door, pressed his ear against it, and only slowly opened it after confirming there were no sounds outside.
After checking the corridor, he stepped out and quickly moved to another room, pushing the door open.
And shortly after entering—
He discovered a small teddy bear inside the wardrobe.
[Teddy Bear (Instance Item)]
[Quality: White]
[Can it be taken out of the instance: No]
[Note: One of the Blood Clan Queen's favorite toys. Please protect it carefully. If it is damaged, you will bear the Blood Clan Queen's wrath.]
...
[Congratulations, player Lin Yu. You have triggered a side quest!]
[Current Side Quest: Find the other dolls scattered throughout the Vampire Castle!]
[Current Progress: 1/3]
The moment Lin Yu picked up the teddy bear—
The system's side-quest notification rang beside his ear.
...