Chapter 139: Wesford's Conspiracy

It was hard to tell how much time had passed, but the meal finally came to an end when Westford set down his knife and fork.

He stood up and offered a faint smile to the agents. "Well? How was it?"

Koro smiled awkwardly yet politely, taking the lead to stand up. "It was very good, Mr. Westford."

To be honest, none of it tasted good at all. It had a sharp, sour tang to it, accompanied by an indescribable, bizarre flavor—altogether a taste none of them had ever experienced before.

As soon as Koro finished speaking, Amy stood up as well. His ability to talk nonsense with a straight face far surpassed Koro's.

"Mr. Westford, I wonder where this beef is produced. It has such a wondrous flavor."

Westford chuckled, then shook his head. "I am afraid I cannot tell you. That is a secret."

With that, he gave the two men another enigmatic smile, and all three of them burst into laughter in unison.

Amidst their merry laughter, the table was actually strewn with various human body parts, and fresh blood even dripped onto the floor, drop by drop, yet not a single one of them noticed.

"If there is nothing else, we shall take our leave now." Koro offered an embarrassed smile, gave a bow, and prepared to take his leave.

He truly could not bear to stay here any longer. An inexplicable sense of oppression weighed heavily upon the place, the lighting was dim, and it was far too creepily quiet.

"Ah, there is no rush. It would be best if you stayed," Westford smiled.

"I wonder what Mr. Westford means by that?"

Koro felt an instinctive sense of foreboding, but he dared not offend Westford.

"It means nothing in particular. I simply wish to keep you here as my guests. After all, such a large manor can be rather lonely," Westford said, still smiling.

"Then I am afraid we must offend you. We still have matters to attend to, but we shall surely visit again when we have the time."

Koro took a subtle step backward, a flash of vigilance quickly crossing his eyes.

Naturally, his small movements could not escape the notice of Feng Tianling, who was disguised as Westford.

"Actually, rather than whether you can stay, I am more concerned with whether you can walk out of here at all." Westford looked at them, his gaze chillingly profound.

"Mr. Westford, you are speaking in riddles again. Surely you do not intend to kill us?"

Koro's hand unconsciously moved to his waist, ready to draw his weapon at any moment.

Seeing this, the other three agents likewise placed their hands on their waists, and the atmosphere grew tense in an instant.

In truth, all four of them understood that the Westford family possessed Spirit Controllers. If those three Spirit Controllers made their move, even if they had a hundred lives, they would all be left behind here.

Placing their hands on their waists was merely for a sliver of illusory comfort.

Witnessing their petty actions, Westford laughed out loud.

"Look at you all. What are you doing? If I wanted to kill you, would you still be alive right now? What I said was meant literally: you simply cannot walk out of my house."

"Cannot walk out?" Koro's brow furrowed.

"That's right. You will get lost here," Westford continued, his expression brimming with confidence.

He simply could not comprehend what Westford was talking about.

Although he could not fathom why Westford was acting so bizarrely today and speaking in such incomprehensible riddles, all he wanted now was to get out of this place.

Thus, he waved his hand to the other three. "Let's go!"

No one stopped them, and the four of them smoothly made their way out of the dining room.

"How ridiculous! This castle may be large, but surely it's not enough to make a few professionally trained people get lost?"

As they walked, Koro could not help but vent his grievances.

"Indeed. Who knows what has gotten into Mr. Westford today, acting so strangely," Amy chimed in from the side.

However, as they continued walking, they realized something was amiss.

They were clearly following the correct route, so how was it that they kept ending up in unfamiliar rooms?

"We must have been distracted by our conversation just now. It's no big deal."

Koro's heart gave a violent jolt. He knew that trouble was likely afoot—after all, they were no ordinary people—yet he still forced a smile as he spoke.

He understood that in such a situation, one had to remain as calm as possible, and these words could ease the tension.

The other three understood this as well and chimed in with smiles.

"Yes, yes. How could we have walked without even looking at the path? We were much too careless."

Clinging to a shred of hope, they turned back and retraced their steps. But they hadn't walked two paces before Amy poked Koro in the back.

"Is something wrong?" Koro looked back to see Amy wearing a grave expression.

"Did we just walk up a flight of stairs?" Amy asked a very strange question.

"We've been walking straight down this corridor the whole time. How could we have gone up any stairs?" Koro felt bewildered.

"Then why are we on the second floor?!" Amy pointed down past the railing, his face a mask of shock.

Koro and the other two looked down in the direction he pointed, and to their horror, they discovered they really were on the second floor.

"What the hell! This..." Koro was too shocked to finish his sentence.

"It seems Westford's words weren't meant to scare us after all. He really does have the means to turn this place into a labyrinth we can never escape."

By now, with the strange revival of spirits having gone on for so long, nothing seemed all that surprising to ordinary people with special training anymore.

Furthermore, legend had it that the ancestors of the Westford family were gods themselves; possessing some extraordinary methods therefore seemed quite normal.

"It seems our only choice is to compromise. According to Westford's wishes, let's stay here for a few days. He has no reason to kill us, right?"

Koro had not lost his reason; he knew the wisest course of action now was to compromise.

His idea won the approval of the others, and everyone agreed to follow Westford's arrangements first before considering other options.

"Then we face a new problem: how are we supposed to find Westford?" Koro said with a serious expression.

These words plunged the atmosphere back into silence.

That's right. Stuck as they were within this castle, there was simply no way for them to find their way back to the dining room.

Just then, however, a familiar voice rang out.

"It doesn't matter. I can take you back."

Subconsciously, everyone leaped back, scattering in different directions, and reached for the pistols at their waists.

Realizing that the sudden arrival was none other than Westford, they exchanged glances and slowly lowered their hands.

Koro walked up to Westford and forced a smile.

"Mr. Westford's methods truly exceed the imagination of ordinary people like us. I wonder how you plan to guide us back?"

Westford smiled mysteriously once more and snapped his fingers.

In an instant, the surrounding scenery shifted. Although it was still the same long corridor, several new doors had appeared along its walls.

Only then did Westford say with a smile, "Just like this."

At that moment, all four of them were rendered speechless. With such terrifying capabilities at his disposal, toying with them must have been as easy as child's play.

While they were still reeling from the shock, Westford pointed to four doors lined up side by side.

"These four rooms are yours. You are free to move around as you please within my castle, but once you step outside the grounds, I cannot guarantee what might happen to you."

Deft of any right to refuse, the four agents had no choice but to accept.

When it was time to sleep, the four of them gathered in one room and began discussing countermeasures upon discovering that there was absolutely no cellular signal here.

Yet, no matter how hard they guessed, they could not figure out what Westford's true intentions were.

Left with no other choice, they finally arrived at a bold hypothesis.

"Then there is only one possibility left," Koro said, his face dark.

The three men around him nodded, exchanging wary glances to check each other's expressions. They found that none of them looked well at all.

"Could it be that Westford is plotting a rebellion? Does he want the entire Sunset Empire? By placing us under house arrest, he intends to use us as leverage against the imperial family to achieve his own ambitions!"

As soon as Koro uttered these words, everyone grew tense. They had never imagined they would become entangled in such a historic moment.

"Still, I find it rather unlikely. Just our few lives..."

Before Amy could finish, Koro interrupted him.

"Shut up. Don't underestimate our worth. We hold several royal secrets in our hands." He swept his gaze across the others. "If he truly intends to rebel, he will surely collude with dignitaries from all walks of life to build his faction. We only need to observe whether he is conspiring with any nobles to know if he harbors rebellious intent."