Mu Rufeng then walked slowly toward the courtyard’s exit.
A mere Level 8 bear-man, he had completely overpowered it.
However, his steps halted abruptly not long after.
Before the invisible protective barrier, monsters appeared one after another.
Scanning them, Mu Rufeng felt a surge of panic.
Most importantly, a giant monster with a terrifying aura loomed in the distance, fleetingly visible.
This beast appeared to be over a hundred meters tall, and with each step it took, the ground seemed to tremble.
The furious blizzard that swept over the giant monster didn’t seem to hinder it in the slightest.
"What in the Mysterious World is this place? A bunch of Level 7 and Level 8 monsters, I could deal with, but a Level 9 Ghost Emperor as well?"
Mu Rufeng silently retreated back towards the entrance of the courtyard.
A smart person would choose a strategic retreat, and Mu Rufeng was that smart person.
Mu Rufeng glanced inside the house and saw the fireplace’s flames burning even more ferociously.
"Can this withstand the Level 9 Ghost Emperor?" Mu Rufeng glanced at the fireplace, pondering for a moment before entering the house.
At the same time, he didn’t forget to drag the female statue inside.
Also, to bind her, he cut several wounds on her body, allowing the bandage to burrow into her flesh and begin drinking her blood.
In no time at all, the bandage completely restricted the statue, its roots sprouting within her.
What of being a Level 8 Ghost King? In such a state, she simply couldn’t break free.
The bandage had followed Mu Rufeng for a long while now, and he had never spared it any blood, especially that of powerful abnormal creatures.
This had led to the bandage reaching Level 6 item status quite some time ago, with powers far surpassing what it had had before.
[Subject No. 15 successfully captured. Please incarcerate the subject back in its original cell.]
Suddenly, a prompt sounded in Mu Rufeng’s mind.
"Hm?" Mu Rufeng was slightly startled, having not expected the prompt.
Was this an additional hidden task? Considering this, a slight smile curled on Mu Rufeng’s lips.
Mu Rufeng then quickly walked to the fireplace and checked the balance. He had initially deposited four million soul banknotes, but now only three million were left.
How could one million soul banknotes burn away in just a few hours, and the current burning rate seemed to be at least ten times faster than before?
If that were the case, did that mean the million soul banknotes in the fireplaces upstairs were about to run out?
Mu Rufeng immediately took out ten million soul banknotes and tossed them into the fireplace.
He then rushed upstairs, opened the butler’s room, and approached the fireplace.
As Mu Rufeng checked the balance, just as he thought, only about sixty thousand soul banknotes remained.
Without hesitation, he also threw in ten million.
After that, he proceeded to the third floor’s fireplace and likewise dropped in another ten million.
When Mu Rufeng returned to the ground floor, looking out from the entrance, the giant monster had already nearly reached the Ancient Castle.
The Level 7 and Level 8 monsters had scattered.
The giant raised its foot and then smashed it down against the protective barrier.
With a "Boom," the ground shook and the Ancient Castle trembled.
On the outer layer of the Ancient Castle, a massive protective barrier slowly emerged, rippling gently.
With just one strike, the previously invisible barrier was fully activated.
Mu Rufeng walked up to the fireplace and checked once more, finding that the kick had only used up five hundred thousand soul banknotes, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.
It was good that it had held up; five hundred thousand soul banknotes was nothing, and even accounting for the other two fireplaces, it would at most be one and a half million soul banknotes.
By this calculation, the soul banknotes he had fed into the fireplaces could last for about another twenty or so hits.
Mu Rufeng then checked his own balance: fifteen trillion soul banknotes, which was an incredibly reassuring sum.
Without any hesitation, Mu Rufeng once again threw a billion soul banknotes into each of the three fireplaces.
As Mu Rufeng came down from the third floor, preparing to return to the ground floor, a door suddenly opened.
"Mr. Butler, what’s going on? There are roars everywhere outside, and such terrifying auras." Maria peeked out and inquired of Mu Rufeng.
"It’s nothing, just some monsters attempting to attack the Ancient Castle," Mu Rufeng replied.
"Could there be danger? Can we go down to have a look?" asked Maria.
"Suit yourselves," Mu Rufeng said curtly before heading downstairs.
Upon hearing his response, Maria paused before discussing with her companion, then decidedly opened the door and headed downward.
According to the Rule, there was no prohibition against leaving their rooms at night, and with Mr. Butler saying they could go down, they were surely not breaking any rules.
Most importantly, they were truly curious about what was happening. Furthermore, they had their Login Bracelets.
When Maria stepped out the door, it seemed to trigger a chain reaction, as door after door opened.
Clearly, these Contractors had not been sleeping; because of the sealed windows, they were unaware of the outside situation and were curious about what was happening outside.
Some who originally didn’t dare to leave their rooms now noticed that others were going down, so the safest place must not be in their rooms anymore but rather downstairs.
Thus, twenty-five Contractors made their way to the ground floor.
When they arrived there, they witnessed a giant foot savagely kicking the protective barrier.
Once again, the Ancient Castle trembled.