Anna's Mental World

There are still quite a few empty rooms inside the huge castle.

While the people in the castle were still recovering and they had no time to pay attention to Anna and Catherine, Bai Zhi and his two companions found a room on the Third Floor and hid there.

They had hoped to use Princess Anna as a breakthrough point, but unexpectedly someone else beat them to it. To be frank, their current situation is not exactly good.

"... So that's roughly the situation at present."

After giving a general overview of all his discoveries so far, Bai Zhi looked up at the silent Young Girl in front of him.

When I was explaining these things, only the other person would listen silently from beginning to end. If it were anyone else, they would at least ask a few questions along the way.

"The core of the Rose Manor is Anna. Whether it's Dollmaker Anna or Princess Anna, their importance is equal. Because Anna seems to possess some Special Trait, her Anna's Parents want to achieve some unknown purpose through Anna, which is currently speculated to be related to the [Mutation Curse]. After all, while almost everyone in the entire manor has been mutated, Anna and Catherine, who is by her side, have not been affected at all."

"So if Anna's Parents achieve their goal, Princess Anna will become the Dollmaker Anna?"

Before the Dead Zero could speak, Fireworks of Romance nodded thoughtfully.

"You mentioned before that when Anna took you to visit her parents in the castle, she took you directly to that secret Torture Chamber. They didn't turn into dolls, but into two mummified corpses... So, did Anna's Parents' plan succeed or fail?"

"Are there any traces of the [Mutation Curse] inside the castle outside?"

Raising an eyebrow, Bai Zhi asked the other person a question in return.

"Uh... so Anna won?"

"Then how did the [Doll Curse] come about later?"

"Hmm... Anna's Parents won?"

"Where did the [Mutation Curse] go?"

"That's Anna... what are you doing with this nesting doll!?"

Sensing something was amiss, Fireworks of Romance rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Please, can we skip the riddles and just tell the story step by step? Or do you smart people just like to keep things in suspense? Do you really think we common are like you, able to connect a dozen unrelated clues? I can't even solve a simple math problem..."

"Okay, then I'll keep it a little simple."

Bai Zhi took a sip of Mineral Water and shrugged slightly.

"Do you know the structure of the [Rose Manor] Anomaly? The quest hints say that if we can kill Anna, we can completely end this Anomaly. Which Anna do you think the quest hints are asking us to kill?"

"The Anna outside can resurrect infinitely, but the Anna inside can't be killed. I think neither of these is good..."

"The Third Anna."

Before the words about Fireworks of Romance could be finished, the Dead Zero suddenly spoke up.

"The Anna we really need to kill is in the Core Area."

"That's right. In fact, based on my deduction, we should be in Anna's Mental World right now."

Slightly surprised, Bai Zhi glanced at the Dead Zero and snapped his fingers.

"To put it simply, whether we're in the Rose Manor or inside, we've always been within Anna's Mental World. If we truly want to end this Anomaly by killing Anna, we must enter the true Core Zone."

"The Mental World... what's the reason then?"

Seemingly completely unprepared for Bai Zhi to raise such a hypothesis, Fireworks of Romance couldn't help but frown slightly.

"You said we're all in Anna's Mental World, and these things are just yours..."

"The electric lights that appeared in the castle outside due to the principle of Equivalent Exchange, Dollmaker Anna's ability to create things at will, and her own ability to resurrect infinitely."

Once again interrupting their conversation about Fireworks of Romance, the Dead Zero spoke calmly.

Fireworks of Romance: "..."

Her eye twitched slightly. She glanced at the calm-looking Young Girl beside her and suddenly felt like she was being targeted.

However, when her gaze fell upon the long sword that had somehow appeared hanging at the other person's waist, for the sake of her own life, Fireworks of Romance decisively decided not to provoke the other person further.

"That's right. Actually, after seeing those records in the Notebook, I already had this suspicion. One of the bases for my suspicion was the light bulbs in the castle that appeared according to the principle of Equivalent Exchange, without any buttons or wires. I've examined them carefully, and there are no wires or button switches at all; they're just empty shells. But automatic sensor-activated, no electricity, no wires, no buttons... These kinds of Item are usually hard to understand, but if Anna created them in her Mental World based on other people's descriptions, something she's never seen before, then it makes sense. After all, as long as the appearance and function are the same, who would bother to investigate the underlying principles?"

Bai Zhi glanced at the Young Girl in front of him with considerable surprise, then nodded.

"At the same time, it's not just that. Anna also exhibits a rather unique ability to create things with her mind, such as conjuring a cup of black tea or an umbrella out of thin air... In her own Mental World, she is naturally impossible to kill, and she will be resurrected every time she is killed."

"Hmm... what about the castle inside?"

After asking the question, Fireworks of Romance immediately turned their wary gaze toward the Young Girl beside them.

"Why isn't there a core in here either...?"

"Please, everything that happened in this castle is just a replay of the Illusion of the Past. Do you really think we've traveled back in time?"

This time Dead Zero didn't interrupt her, because Bai Zhi had interrupted her.

"The fact that we can step into that past fantasy and participate in events that happened in the past is incredible in itself, but it's a reenactment of that past fantasy, like a VR Game. Because we are in Anna's Mental World, it all makes perfect sense. This river? It makes perfect sense."

Fireworks of Romance: "..."

... She suddenly wanted to ask someone to calculate the extent of the psychological Shadow she was experiencing.