The mansion was vast.

  Well, as a mouse, calling it vast was an understatement. The hallway seemed to stretch endlessly, furniture towering like cliffs, doors rising like fortress gates.

  ‘Izzy! Look there! A kitchen!’

  ‘Right.’

  In their first discussion, the two minds had agreed to divide their efforts. Each would control one mouse, one exploring the inside of the mansion, the other venturing outside.

  Naturally, the mature mind, Izzy, took on the task of exploring the mansion, determined to leave no nook or cranny unchecked.

  However, there was one problem she hadn’t accounted for.

  ‘It makes no sense! Why do you get to play around in the mansion!’

  Izzy had decided for herself to take on this tedious job, but immediately received a fierce protest from the young mind, Isa.

  ‘Because I’m smarter. And more cautious than you.’

  ‘Liar! Bully! Cheater!! I do all the work for you! I want to do it too!’

  ‘Hey, this is an important task, and it will affect how we move in the near future.’

  ‘Liiiar! You just want to relax!’

  Izzy sighed so hard she could almost feel her non-existent lungs deflate. So she was a babysitter now, having to deal with her young mind’s tantrum.

  ‘Why are we even arguing? We’re the same mind, you can just switch perspectives if you are bored.’

  ‘Huh? …You’re right!’

  Izzy smirked inwardly. Luckily, she managed to persuade her young mind into her dark scheme. Hehe, don’t blame her for it, it was the experience of an adult! Izzy had suffered so much by now; how could she pass up this chance to relax?

  If Isa wanted to blame someone, she should blame herself for being so naive and childish, not understanding the harsh realities of the grown-up world!

  ‘Then you can control the one outside, right? I can just control the one inside, we are the same in the first place.’

  ‘...’

  Never mind that. Did she just use her own argument against her? Why was this girl so smart when it came to this?

  ‘Izzy… I can hear you, you know? In case you forget, we share the same thoughts.’

  ‘Goddammit!’

  There was no privacy here! Izzy complained again in her heart, knowing well that Isa could also hear it.

  It technically wasn’t a problem, since they wouldn’t judge each other. But still, Izzy grumbled in silence.

  Anyway, back to the main point. From the outside, Isidora finally saw the mansion in its entirety for the first time.

  Hidden deep within the suffocating woods, it was surrounded by lively nature. Enclosed by the high marble walls, their once-white faces were long weathered to a somber gray, veins of ivy coiling up their surface in tangled lines. The walls bore the weight of time yet stood resolute against the encroaching black forest.

  At the front gate, tall and rusty gargoyles stood in solemn silence. Their unblinking eyes were fixed outward as if they were actually alive and were guarding the mansion. Their presence gave no comfort but cold, watchful menace.

  Within the walls stretched a vast, expansive yard. The lush garden bloomed naturally. Green hedges grew thick and twisting, and among them bloomed vibrant flowers, their petals glowing faintly in the new day’s light.

  At the garden’s center stood a cold and elegant marble fountain. Water poured in graceful arcs from the jaws of lion-faced spouts, their mouths seemingly frozen mid-roar, their stony eyes glaring forward as if to await the new prey.

  Through the mouse’s small body, Isidora caught the earthy scent of soaked soil. Yesterday’s rain had softened the ground into mud, and every step made her shiver with distaste.

  Bugs swarmed across the garden, beetles, worms, things with too many legs crawling up from the drenched soil to salute the new day, while winged insects whined past her ears.

  ‘Luckily, I'm not entomophobic.’

  Izzy signed in relieved.

  The mouse ran around the garden's perimeter with calculated eyes, checking for any potential traps or hidden dangers and mapping every corner with care, taking in every key detail.

  ‘Those gargoyles, best not get close to them.’

  Stories of her past life had taught her well. In fictional works, gargoyles often posed a hidden threat, and she wasn’t about to take any chances.

  The same went for the gnome figurines scattered around the garden like silent watchers. They emanated a deeply unsettling feeling, quite different from the ones sitting silently in the corner of her attic.

  She had learned her lesson. In a world of extraordinary, caution was essential for survival. Anything even slightly suspicious warranted a potential threat until proven otherwise.

  ‘There seems to be nothing here.’

  Izzy spoke skeptically, a hint of disappointment in her tone. It made sense that there might be nothing outside to help her out of her dilemma, but she had hoped to find something helpful.

  After all, she had expended so much energy and effort just to send her two puppets out of the attic.

  As for the old man, she couldn’t claim her plan was 100% successful. There were some jagged edges, unknown things that affected her strategy.

  He probably had noticed something, but what exactly, she didn’t know.

  ‘As for this side,’

  Izzy thought, shifting her focus to the mouse puppet inside the mansion. She released her concentration on the one outside, allowing it to operate on a sort of autopilot. The little creature scurried on its own, half-possessed, half-driven by instinct, while she redirected most of her focus inside the mansion.

  Isa seemed to be in high spirits, she was practically humming with delight. It made sense, unlike the outside, where Izzy had to navigate through mud and dirt, constantly exposed to the wet and cold weather, the inside of the mansion felt warm and cozy.

  Her mouse padded along the hallway. Unlike the staircase leading to the attic, these lamps here were all turned off. This confirmed one thing: the lamps connected to her attic were purely for security. The rest were turned off to save power and money.

  The hall stretched long and stately, lined with polished floorboards, well-maintained decorations and carved patterns that emanated a sense of dignity.

  Light seeped through the large windows, filtered light stretching across the passage in stripes. Potted plants with glossy leaves stood along the walls, housed in expensive pots etched with delicate patterns.

  The floor was lined with elegant, well-appointed rooms, each exuding the grandeur of nobility. Why were there so many rooms? Each remained locked, and it was rare to find an open one.

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  Of course, Isa wasn’t foolish enough to venture inside, or else she would be scolded by her mature mind. She would remain by the door and peek in first, just in case.

  She soon found an open area within the mansion, the main foyer. The grand foyer was tranquil, with detailed tapestries spread across it. Beneath them, a sweeping staircase curved downward to the third and second floors, its banister carved from dark mahogany, an exquisite piece of wood, polished to a luster.

  Overhead, a massive chandelier hung within an iron cradle, its glass droplets catching the dim light and casting faint, fractured rainbows along the high, arched ceiling.

  The walls were covered with aged wallpaper, its original pattern discolored by the slow creep of time, yet still maintaining an air of elegance.

  In the alcoves at the end of each hallway stood statues of armored knights, each wrought in full and imposing gray steel. Their gauntlets rested upon the pommels of greatswords that pointed downward, the blades' tips resting on the cold stone beneath them. They almost felt alive, so Isidora didn’t dare approach them carelessly.

  Isa ventured around the mansion with a carefree attitude, as if she were a guest and nothing in the world could bother her. This attitude irritated Izzy, but she refrained from commenting. The mature mind did have a habit of correcting others, but what was the point of correcting oneself?

  Along the way, they found living rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, studies, lounges, ballrooms, staff quarters...almost every room that one would expect of a noble estate. This posed a question in Izzy’s mind.

  ‘Why is there such a huge mansion deep inside the forest?’

  It was such a strange and random location. There was no clear answer, but she guessed that the former owner was a peculiar one who loved solitude. Heck, he might have been an introverted hermit for all she knew.

  She did not account for the fact that the old man was an introverted hermit himself. He was too conspicuous for that. A noble doing these sorts of things would surely receive backlash if it were the case.

  ‘Hey, be careful there,’

  After searching for half a day, she decided to temporarily “borrow” some objects from the kitchen. Mainly sharp and dangerous small items like knives, needles, and scissors, anything that could potentially serve as a weapon. Of course, she could only take one or two at a time, as taking too many would be too conspicuous.

  Her Psychokinesis allowed her to carry at least five objects at once, depending on their weight and her mental strength, so managing them wasn’t an issue. Her mental strength wouldn’t be as strained as it had been during previous attempts.

  Speaking of which, Izzy thought back to yesterday's performance. With the success of her plan, she had finally figured out how the warning system worked.

  But that wasn’t the only reason she decided to take the risk. The important point was that the old man hadn’t noticed her. She had deliberately staged the experiment so she could observe his reaction.

  The key difference lay in location. During her first attempt, he had come charging up from downstairs the instant the lamps flickered. But this time, Isidora had waited for him to show up in the attic first before she attempted to leap down, just to see how he would behave when the warning went off within his reach.

  At that time, she didn’t know if he could notice the warning by himself or through special means. By observing him directly, she hoped to discern what his "special means" were and potentially retreat if she noticed any suspicious movement from him.

  Judging from his lack of response, it was clear he relied on something else to notify him whenever the warning went off.

  Fortunately, there were several ways to exploit this discovery. It meant the safest time to move around and bypass the lamp's alarm system was when the old man stayed in the attic.

  While Izzy was deep in thought, Isa had already made her way back directly under the staircase, carrying a whole bunch of items with her Psychokinesis. She didn’t climb the stairs but instead threw the objects directly upstairs.

  This was another thing Izzy had figured out. The lamp’s light only recognized the movement of the "living". Inanimate objects that didn’t breathe or have a heartbeat weren’t detected.

  The experiment was actually inspired by the green mist that she absorbed each time she killed something. Izzy initially thought that maybe these lamps also use the same type of energy as her to operate, so she was just testing it.

  Technically, the mouse she controlled could be counted as a "living" creature. It still breathed, its heart was still beating, and its blood was still flowing, even though its mind was suppressed.

  However, the definition of "living" was still elusive to her. Did her possession still count as “living”? What about controlling the corpse through possession?

  She could kill the mouse directly and control its corpse to test the theory, but she didn’t dare, not until the old man was visible in the attic.

  From downstairs, Isa began tossing items upward, forcing Izzy to hastily possess a nearby object in order to catch them before they clattered to the floor.

  For the most part, Izzy caught them absentmindedly, keeping her focus on more pressing matters. However, midway through this little exchange, Izzy noticed some peculiar objects among them.

  ‘Hey, what are these things?’

  ‘Hehe.’

  Izzy drew the odd objects in front of the portrait to examine them more closely.

  One was composed of two oddly bent steel wires twisted and entangled together in such a way that it seemed impossible to separate them at first glance.

  The other was a smooth, light-colored wooden base with a tall rectangular wooden post at its center, featuring a vertical cutout forming an arch-like hole.

  At the bottom of the post, a metallic golden ring sat in the base, trapped by a white braided cord that looped through the hole. Each side of the cord had a dark blue bead threaded onto it, with a flat circular wooden disk at its end.

  ‘Why are you bringing these back?’

  ‘It looks interesting, so I wanna try it out!’

  Izzy furrowed her imaginary brows. Here she was, calculating their plans and analyzing every move, Isa seemed more concerned with entertainment, did she only think of scavenging toys for amusement?

  It dawned on her, not for the first time, that even though they were technically one mind and could focus on each other at times, she couldn’t monitor her young mind constantly.

  This prompted a strange question about the nature of her mind and how it functioned in the first place.

  But she didn’t dwell on it too much. This wasn’t the right time to consider such philosophical questions.

  ‘But I did finish my mission! Look, all the stuff you mentioned is here!’ Isa pointed out, full of smug pride.

  Izzy glanced at the pile, reluctantly conceding that Isa had indeed brought back every item she’d asked for earlier. Her first instinct was to scold the girl for wasting time with unnecessary things, but after a long pause she suppressed the urge. There was no point in shouting at herself, was there?

  Instead, she focused on the objects themselves. The more she studied them, the more familiar they became.

  ‘Aren’t these... disentanglement puzzles?’

  Disentanglement puzzles? Why were they here? How did this era have them already? Izzy began to wonder if this time period was not as backwater as she had originally thought.

  She looked at one of the puzzles, the wire puzzle, which had been publicized at least half a millennium ago in her former world.

  The same went for the other one, known as the wit’s end puzzle, which became publicly famous after the wire puzzle.

  This was a pleasant surprise for Isidora. At least now, she had a better understanding of this time period.

  The existence of such puzzles meant the society here had at least reached a cultural and technological stage resembling her world’s Steam Era, when steam power and industrial progress reshaped human life.

  Of course, the comparison could only go so far. This world had already revealed its reliance on supernatural abilities, and that factor alone would drastically alter the trajectory of technological development.

  In her world, supernatural abilities and paranormal-infected events had only begun to surface in recent years, so she couldn’t use her world as a base for comparison.

  Which meant her own knowledge of history and progress might not apply at all.

  Well, it’s not like it matters right now, Izzy thought. Since Isa had brought the puzzles back, Izzy's curiosity naturally piqued.

  ‘If I remember correctly, to solve this…’

  ‘Wait, don’t think about it! Lemme solve it myself!’

  Before Izzy could bring up the memory and knowledge of her old times in another world, Isa’s voice burst out in a hurry, as if she had nearly spoiled the ending of some treasured story.

  ‘?’

  Strange. Wasn’t Isa technically her, or at least a part of her mind? How could she not know how to solve this?

  ‘I’m your young self, and I’ve only been around for a short while. I don’t recall everything unless you bring it up first!’

  ‘That… makes sense, I suppose.’

  Izzy gave a small nod of agreement. Well, even if they weren’t one and the same, she didn’t really care much. It’s not like Isa could do any harm to her anyway.

  ‘Besides, it’s more fun this way! Solving it blind, without knowing the answer ahead of time!’

  Isa added with a bright, almost mischievous laugh.

  ‘Sure, sure. Suit yourself.’

  Izzy replied dryly. She decided to leave her young mind alone in her own little entertainment world. These puzzles were quite challenging, even for Izzy. She couldn’t solve them without researching the answers first.

  There was a silver lining, though. At least Isa wouldn’t be bothering her while she was engrossed in the puzzle.

  And let’s see if her young mind could solve it herself. Izzy could already imagine Isa growling in frustration, and the thought nearly made her laugh.

  ‘Hmm?’

  Izzy’s mind lit up with sudden interest. While she was chatting with the young mind, it seemed that the mouse outside, which she had unintentionally put into autopilot mode, had spotted something that required her full attention.

  ‘A basement?’