Chapter 503

The mansion’s detection ability was far weaker than I had expected.

Even as I wandered around in the shark onesie, peering into corners and exploring, this massive Gothic building showed no notable response.

It treated me with the indifference it might reserve for a regular human sacrifice.

I had thought there was a possibility I might be caught the moment I entered.

“Well, it’s so large for its caliber that I guess it can’t help it.”

This object was greedy, almost to the point of overindulgence, if it were a human.

Of course, I couldn’t overlook the effect of the shark onesie made by the Yellow Reaper.

The Yellow Reaper’s abilities had been advancing rapidly, and it was always impressive.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be long before they created a doll outfit that emitted foreign-level mental contamination.

I explored the mansion as if I were an adventurer Golden Reaper, my heart lifted.

Despite the narrow vision of the shark onesie, it felt like I was looking at the world through a telescope, and I enjoyed it nonetheless.

The luxurious porcelain items in the lobby were a bit different from what I had expected.

They weren’t the smooth porcelain pieces I had read about, but instead, unique works with lumpy surfaces.

Drawn by curiosity, I kept inspecting them, losing track of time.

I was able to peer past the counter, which had always intrigued me when I was human, and now I was fulfilling that wish.

At first, it was fascinating, but it quickly became boring.

As I wandered through the mansion with a curious step, something caught my eye.

Initially, I thought it was just another ordinary oil painting among the many decorations.

But as I stopped and looked closer, I realized it wasn’t just an ordinary painting.

A massive Tyrannosaurus Rex filled the canvas, alive and breathing.

The rough brushstrokes, the contours of its muscles, the sharp teeth, and its imposing presence—it was as if it could leap off the canvas at any moment.

The artist’s bold strokes made it look somewhat abstract, but to my eyes, it was unmistakably a Tyrannosaurus.

Even if the artist intended it to be another dinosaur, I had decided it was a T-Rex, so from that moment, it was one.

Once I thought of it as a T-Rex, nothing could make it appear as anything else.

The power and majesty of the painting were unmistakably that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

I stood in front of the painting, lost in it, unaware of time passing.

Each brushstroke, the subtle shift of color, the perfect composition—I found new charm with each passing second.

The texture of the scales, delicately rendered in muted tones, was pure art.

Once the mansion was destroyed, I would definitely hang this painting in the isolation room.

Hehe.

At that moment, a sharp sound suddenly cut through the stillness of the lobby.

Slap.

It sounded like someone had slapped a cheek.

It was a sound that felt completely out of place in the eerie atmosphere of the hotel, a very human sound.

I tore my gaze away from the dinosaur painting and turned toward the sound.

And there, I encountered an unexpected presence.

“Human!”

It was unbelievable. There was a human hiding behind a pillar, someone I hadn’t seen when I was surveying the lobby just moments ago.

“I missed a human…?”

Given my ability to detect humans, this was something that should not have happened.

Of course, there was a reason for it.

First of all, the woman was one of those rare humans who occasionally appeared with special abilities.

If described in human terms, she could be considered a “superhuman.”

From my perspective, I’d call her “half an object.”

And it seemed that this woman was quite powerful, perhaps 80% of an object.

The second reason was the shark onesie I was wearing.

The special outfit made by the Yellow Reaper perfectly blocked my aura but also greatly limited my detection ability.

Of course, I could stretch my senses if I wanted, but that would destroy the doll outfit.

So, I had to rely on my limited vision to quickly scan the surroundings.

But to think there was a human hidden outside my field of view…

I realized my detection ability had been far more neutralized than I thought and cautiously extended my antenna.

I needed to scan the entire mansion.

Of course, extending my antenna might alert the mansion to my presence, but it was a necessary choice.

After all, if a human was hidden somewhere I hadn’t detected, and someone got hurt, the Mini Reapers would be sad. I couldn’t allow that.

“By the way, why are the Mini Reapers still so sensitive to human death…?”

It was a part I couldn’t quite understand.

Humans could be revived in Valhalla now, after all.

It seemed like an old habit, but the Mini Reapers still valued human life.

Of course, if I ever said something like that to them, I’d probably get a “tch” in response, so I had never asked them directly.

I didn’t want to be called a “bad mom.”

While I was thinking about the Mini Reapers, I extended my antenna and scanned the entire mansion.

What I discovered were numerous objects, humans, and myself.

Fortunately, there had only been one human swallowed by this mansion.

It was a simple enough situation, and that was a relief.

I quickly completed the scan and approached the human, staring up at her.

I had to look up a lot because she was shorter, but as I did, I couldn’t help but think.

“What should I do with this human…?”

Just as I stood there, staring and thinking, a sudden shriek split the quiet mansion.

“AAHH!”

The woman screamed, her face pale as if she had seen a ghost.

“?”

I was confused. In my current state, I should appear harmless and normal due to the mental contamination.

So why was she reacting like this?

I couldn’t understand the situation.

Then, a sudden realization struck me.

“!”

Could it be that this woman actually saw my true form?

No, that didn’t make sense.

If she saw my true form, she wouldn’t react like this.

After all, even the Golden Reapers, traveling around the world, and I, the Gray Reaper, were treated as saviors of humanity.

She must have only guessed I was an object.

I watched the trembling woman with amusement, feeling strange joy.

It had been a long time since I had seen such a genuine expression of fear.

Lately, with the propaganda from the James Research Institute and the mental contamination from the Mini Reapers, both me and the Mini Reapers had become more familiar figures.

It was nostalgic to face such pure fear again, like the old days when I used to play “shark.”

Now that I thought about it, I was wearing a shark outfit.

It felt strangely like those old times.

Hehe.

Suddenly, a playful impulse surged within me.

I sharpened the wood inside me like shark teeth—sharp and menacing.

It looked like it could slice through anything, with the red blood almost visible.

Then, I carefully carved the wood into shark teeth, biting them and slowly turning toward the woman.

Grinning widely to show the teeth.

The monster’s teeth!

The woman’s face turned as pale as white porcelain.

Her eyes expanded in fear, and a piece of paper with the rules written on it fluttered from her trembling fingers.

Without looking back, she dashed down the hallway.

As her footsteps grew distant, I stood there, staring at the fallen paper.

“This is bad. She dropped the important rulebook.”

In a situation swept up by an object with a manual ghost story format, losing the rulebook was a fatal mistake.

It was a mistake that no human living in an era of objects should ever make.

Hmph.

Now, what should I do about that woman?

Since she figured out I was an object, it seemed difficult to trick her into thinking I was just another civilian swept up in this.

Suddenly, a fun idea popped into my head.

“I’ll use this human as bait.”

I could enjoy the mansion my way, and if the woman got into danger, I’d save her—doubling the fun!

It looked like the unexpected amusement from her would add a surprising twist to my plans.

Hehe.

The amusement park object in the middle of Siberia had completely turned into chaos.

The Golden Reapers had knocked over the Ferris wheel, and the giant Black Reaper trampled the carousel.

The Purple Reaper’s slash split the roller coaster in half.

The hybrid of the strangely detested Anglerfish Reaper and White Reaper spun rapidly, destroying the rides.

The Pudding Reaper was bouncing around, cheering on the Mini Reapers.

Though countless Mini Reapers were destroying the amusement park, it still seemed far from fully annihilating it due to its massive size.

In the midst of this park, a thread of will reached the Mini Reapers.

“Wait!”

It was a small, quiet will that was hard for the excited Mini Reapers to hear, but it seemed oddly clear.

“?”

The Mini Reapers, floating question marks above their heads, turned toward where the will was coming from. There, sitting atop the White Reaper, was the Orange Crown Reaper.

Crossing its legs, the Orange Crown Reaper began to send its will as the Mini Reapers’ attention focused on it.

“You shouldn’t destroy this object like this.”

“?”

The Mini Reapers, confused by the unclear will, raised question marks above their heads.