Alice's Hell (8) - Dinner

This request surprised Yi Qing slightly. He asked, "Oh? Why?"

Yu Xing handed over the small wooden box, which Yi Qing took, picked up, and glanced at it. "What are you planning?"

Yu Xing smiled and said, "It's nothing, just let it go. Wait until Zeng Lai leaves before you put it down, so he doesn't see it."

Clearly, Yu Xing had his own plans. Sheqing Ghost, always eager for a good show, reluctantly nodded in agreement. It wasn't until a few minutes later, when Yu Xing opened the door and left with Zeng Lai, that Yi Qing floated out the window.

To others, his current state was that of a wisp of smoke carrying a blurry object, nothing of which could be seen clearly. After drifting out of Yu Xing's room, the smoke squeezed into the crack of the window that the gambler Zeng Lai had closed, and the small wooden box was transported in as if it were not a physical object.

After entering, Yi Qing surveyed the layout of Zeng Lai's room. This bedroom was no different from Yu Xing's bedroom. He wandered around for a while and placed the box on top of the wardrobe, which was not easy to reach, at the very back.

In this position, even a normal person couldn't reach it by standing on tiptoe and stretching out, which is a convenience for Yi Qing as a ghost.

After putting the box away, he wasn't in a hurry to leave. Instead, he lingered in the room for a while, trying to see if the gambler had left anything interesting behind.

To Yiqing's great disappointment, there wasn't a single thing in the entire room that didn't belong to Alice Castle.

"Hmph... As expected, Yu Xing is the most interesting one. The others are too boring. No good, no good." Muttering to herself, Yi Qing left Zeng Lai's room and chased after Yu Xing.

Following his connection with [The Sheqing Dreamscape], he tracked it all the way to the main hall.

Yu Xing and Zeng Lai were walking, much slower than Yi Qing. Just as they stepped into the hall, he suddenly felt a breeze, a chill creeping into the hem of his clothes and lingering near the dagger fastened to his belt.

He knew Yi Qing was back, and with such a convenient and easy-to-use cheat code, his plans would be much easier.

Zeng Lai seemed to sense something, looked to the side but found nothing, so he gave up.

After silently praising the Sheqing Ghost, Yu Xing continued the conversation she hadn't finished with Zeng Lai: "The staircase leading to the third floor is the second one from the left. Let's take the first one and see."

"I think it's fine. It doesn't matter which of the remaining three staircases we choose. We're just taking a look; we won't examine them closely," Zeng Lai agreed.

Yu Xing returned to the first area she arrived at after entering the castle. The first-floor hall was very quiet and empty except for them. Only the butler, dressed in a tailcoat, stood by the golden bell, staring straight ahead, seemingly unaware of the two people coming down the stairs.

The long table remained unchanged, the chairs sat forlornly in their original places, and the crystal chandelier shone with just enough light to make the luxurious hall appear somewhat dim.

Zeng Lai suddenly stopped Yu Xing and said, "Hey, wait a minute, let me go and try to get some information out of the housekeeper."

The butler and the nun guide are like NPCs in Yugi; since they can advance the process and have their own roles, they might be able to reveal some information.

As an experienced Righteous Path deducer, Zeng Lai excels at finding ways to clear the game and developing strategies.

He strode up to the butler, who finally reacted, bowing slightly and politely saying, "Honorable guest, how can I help you?"

"Butler, I'd like to ask if we could bring dinner to our room?"

The butler replied expressionlessly, "No, Alice doesn't like tourists who don't fit in, and doing so would mean missing what Alice is saying; she hates being ignored."

Yu Xing slowly followed Zeng Lai's steps, then leaned against the golden bell to listen in.

Zeng Lai then asked, "So... besides the designated meal times, do we have snacks or afternoon tea?"

Butler: "No, the meal is only a complimentary service included with the Alice Castle themed tour; afternoon tea is not included."

Zeng Lai: "If you're thirsty, can you go to the kitchen to get some water?"

Butler: "... That probably won't work."

"This won't work, that won't work, your amusement park's service is just too poor," Zeng Lai said unhappily.

Housekeeper. "..."

Zeng Lai crossed his arms and raised his voice, "Hey, I need to give some feedback to your Alice. Where is she?"

Yu Xing listened with great interest to the key questions, eagerly awaiting the butler's answers.

"Alice appears in the hall before each meal, where you can offer your opinions," the butler said calmly and methodically. "Or you can find her at night when Alice wanders around the castle."

"I want to give my opinion now! Now!" Zeng Lai acted like an unreasonable person, insisting on forcing the butler to reveal Alice's address.

There's no reason Alice wouldn't stay in the castle. If we knew her location, we could figure out her movements, making it much easier to find clues or avoid Alice, who's with the ghosts at night.

The butler glanced at him, his eyes cold and chilling.

"Please understand our work. If you are dissatisfied with the service at Alice Castle Theme Park, please provide feedback after your two-day experience. If you strongly intend to complain now, you might be able to have an extra dish at dinner tonight."

The threat in his words was obvious. It was unclear whether the butler was bluffing or if it was simply the rule; if Zeng Lai asked about Alice's location again, the butler seemed ready to harm Zeng Lai.

Zeng Lai shut her mouth. "Then let's give feedback after the experience is over."

He turned and left angrily, heading towards the first staircase on his left.

After he left, the butler resumed his expressionless work demeanor, looked at Yu Xing, and asked, "Is there anything else this guest needs? Please feel free to contact me if there's any damage to the room facilities or any injuries."

Yu Xing straightened up beside the bell, waved her hand, and gave a perfunctory smile, "Not for now, good luck with your work."

After saying that, he followed Zeng Lai away.

The first staircase on the left was short and meandered upwards, seemingly leading to the second floor. After Yu Xing went up, he saw Zeng Lai waiting for him at the top of the stairs on the second floor.

"What were the conclusions from the tests?" he asked casually as he stepped forward.

Zeng Lai chuckled and said, "It's alright. At least we know that staff members can attack us if they're provoked. Also, the time and food intake are strictly controlled; there must be a reason for that. We need to be more careful in the future."

Yu Xing added, "Yes, the tour guide said that Alice wears bells at night and belongs to the ghost camp. We'll see how Alice usually treats us. If her reaction is predictable, it means this simulation has a storyline, and it's not just the Yugi content on the surface."

"That's right!" Zeng Lai was increasingly satisfied with Yu Xing. With this logical thinking, it at least proved that Xing had the ability, rather than rising to the top just because someone mentored him.

He had only heard Ren Yi mention Xing before, but since Xing was clearly not on the Righteous Path and couldn't join their guild, he hadn't paid any attention. Now that he had met him in person, he realized that Ren Yi's assessment was not an exaggeration.

The second floor is generally quite spacious and mostly consists of functional rooms, such as bathrooms, gyms, storage rooms, and electrical control rooms.

The rooms were piled up in the same corridor, appearing somewhat irregular. The two opened a few doors and then retreated, going up two more staircases through the lobby to investigate.

The third staircase leads to the fourth floor, which leads directly to a vast library. With so many books, Yu Xing was certain that some crucial information must be hidden within, but that was not within the scope of his investigation for the time being.

The fourth staircase leads to the fifth floor, but the entrance is blocked by a rusty iron door. When he tried to push the door open, he was told that he didn't have the key and that he couldn't force it open.

In other words, the lobby on the first floor connects to the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors. Leaving aside the fact that the door on the fifth floor cannot be opened, Yu Xing discovered that there are actually very few ways to reach other places on the first floor.

To this day, the only area on the first floor he has ever seen besides the main hall is the eerie sculpture hall outside his bedroom window, the atmosphere of which is indescribably unsettling.

The first and fifth floors were the two strangest floors to him.

Walking back through the iron gate on the fifth floor, when they returned to the hall, all the other strategists had already arrived. In fact, shortly after Yu Xing and Zeng Lai arrived in the hall, the others had entered one after another and done similar things.

At this moment, the deducers had not yet taken their seats and were wandering around the hall. Yu Xing eased the chest tightness caused by climbing the stairs continuously and looked at Jin Zhong.

This exquisite, dark gold clock is heavy and magnificent, its hands pointing to 18:25.

Dinner is about to begin.

The lighting in the hall remained ambiguous, teetering on the edge of clarity and darkness. Things a little further away were indistinct, making the deducers, who knew they were in a dangerous and absurd situation, feel somewhat uneasy.

"You're here." Ye waved and walked over unhurriedly. She glanced at the two of them, her voice tinged with melancholy, "Why didn't you take me with you when you went to investigate? I was acting alone just now..."

"Haha, I actually prefer to act alone, but I thought I'd mentor Xiaoxing since he's so new." Zeng Lai was indeed shrewd despite his Little Xing exterior, speaking flawlessly and perfectly deflecting any potential demands that might follow.

"Well, since the seniors can survive on their own, I can only rely on Senior Gambler's coattails." Yu Xing said this without batting an eye, her sincerity unwavering.

He could only laugh twice, "Alright, I hope you can save me if I encounter any danger. Thank you very much."

Zeng Lai patted him on the shoulder. "If I see it, I'll definitely save him, hehe, as long as he's not a match for me."

Yu Xing always felt that Zeng Lai harbored an inexplicable hostility towards Yi, subtly implying that Yi seemed to have ill intentions.

Although the name "Yi" certainly doesn't sound like a good person, the name "Gambler" doesn't sound like Righteous Path deducer either, does it? Judging a person by their name doesn't seem like something the experienced Zeng Lai would do.

Therefore, Zeng Lai must have noticed something wrong with hysteria.

A hint of amusement flickered in Yu Xing's eyes behind the mask. Regardless of Ye's attitude, it was basically certain that it was aimed at the gamblers. All he had to do was complete the deduction and kill Han Xinyi and Han Zhiyong.

He asked Qu Xuanqing, "If someone dies in the simulation, what will happen in reality?"

Qu Xuanqing's answer at the time was that she would not die immediately, but would lose all her abilities due to the shattering of her Persona Mask, and die in a reasonable way, such as suicide or an accident.

He could only protect Yu Jiaming and Gao Chang'an by killing off the two murderers in the simulation, so that these two sharp detectives wouldn't die from the frustration of being outmatched in strength.

Thinking of this, Yu Xing shifted her gaze to Han Xinyi, who was sitting in the corner.

Han Xinyi stood there alone, looking somewhat lonely. Han Zhiyong had actually separated from her and was standing on the other side.

At this moment, she was examining a stone sculpture with a human body and a snake's tail in the hall, keeping a distance from everyone else and not looking at Yu Xing, seemingly lost in thought.

After confirming that Han Xinyi was the murderer in the Throat Cutting Case and a member of Single Prism, Yu Xing went to find videos related to her.

However, her records were too clean. Even with Qu Xuanqing's help, they couldn't find any useful video materials. First of all, she had never uploaded any paid videos herself, and in other people's videos, she was just a passerby.

These videos all have one thing in common... At the beginning, Han Xinyi would always quickly find a teammate, then separate from the main group, but in the end, that teammate never survived.

This perfectly aligns with the characteristics of Single Prism members who excel at concealing themselves, except that this concealment costs them lives.

"Without me, her deduction style would likely have leaned towards feigning weakness and gaining the trust of others, before finally killing the deduction teammates who left traces of her to prevent related videos from being leaked. However, this time there are people who can expose her tricks, so in order to continue to remain out of the public eye, she can only achieve this by remaining silent and distant from the group." Yu Xing thought to herself, then followed Han Xinyi's gaze to the stone sculpture.

This is a male with a human body and a snake's tail. His upper body is naked, and the scales on his lower body are carved with lifelike detail. The statue is the same height as a human, except that there is a pedestal about half a meter below his tail, which means that people have to look up to see it.

Please take your seats and prepare for dinner.

Just as Yu Xing's expression gradually turned strange, the butler walked past the Golden Bell and came to the dining table, announcing to the deducers who had lost their appetite because they were about to meet the legendary Alice.

Yu Xing snapped out of her daze, glanced at the statue again, and then walked towards the long table with Zeng Lai and Yi.

Others came over as well. There were eighteen seats on both sides of the long table, offering a wide range of choices. No one went to sit near the head seat, because it was obvious that the head seat belonged to Alice.

Alice is practically the mastermind behind the plot; who would want to sit next to the boss?

Yu Xing did the same; he chose a seat on the right, towards the back, far away from Alice.

If it were any other boss, he would be happy to sit near Alice and cause trouble, but he can't let Alice discover his identity now.

The gambler sat down next to him, while the other gambler sat one seat away.

After Yu Xing sat down, Han Xinyi giggled and sat down next to him.

"Let's have dinner together, Xing~"

The girl's sweet voice drew everyone's attention. Yu Xing calmly turned her head to look at her and smiled, "Of course, that's your prerogative."

"Thump--"

"Thump--"

"Thump--"

Just then, the hands of the golden bell pointed to 6:30 and rang solemnly.

At the same time, the ceiling lights suddenly went out without warning!

The entire hall was instantly plunged into complete darkness. Yu Xing heard someone seem startled and let out a half-scream before immediately stopping.

"Gurgle..."

From the darkness came the sound of wheels turning.