Alice's Hell (34) - Dirty Tricks!

Having dealt with Zeng Lai, the only one left in the library was the exhausted servant who had prematurely withdrawn his eyeballs.

The books were scattered haphazardly on the floor, a sight that would make someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder feel uneasy.

Ye got up from the ground, glanced at Xing who was leaning against the side with her arms crossed, and took two steps back warily. "Why aren't you leaving yet?"

He's already helped Sachi with this, so he's not going to share clues with her, is he? If so, this... this person isn't on the Fallen Path, he should just write his name backwards!

Why should I?!

To his surprise, Yu Xing merely glanced at him, her fingers casually resting on her side.

After discovering that dealing with hysteria more effectively with a slightly violent approach, Yu Xing decided to maintain this way of interacting with this person to avoid trouble. "Um... there's something else I need your help with."

"What!?" Yi indignantly exclaimed, "What else is there?!"

Yu Xing flexed her wrists. "Find something to tie me up."

Hysteria: "...?" What about you?

He suspected that his hysteria symptoms had started to manifest, to the point that he began experiencing auditory hallucinations.

"Tie me up." Seeing his expression gradually become blank, Yu Xing repeated the words slowly and deliberately. "Can't you? Tie your hands behind your back, and connect your ankles with a rope to make sure I can't walk fast... It shouldn't be difficult, right?"

Coming to his senses, he thought to himself, "I wasn't asking how to tie you up, I was asking why you suddenly wanted me to tie you up!"

Yu Xing asked, "Do you have a rope?"

Hysteria: "Yes..."

It was just ordinary thin hemp rope; he grabbed it as he passed by the storeroom.

"That saves us time," Yu Xing nodded in satisfaction, coldly uttering a single word:

"Tie."

"..." Full of doubt, Yi took out the rope and began to tie Yu Xing up according to what he had just said. When he tied Yu Xing's wrists together, he thought angrily, "He should have brought a rope-shaped sacrifice. He was so willing to let me tie him up. I will make sure Xing can never break free again."

And then... and then they ruined the other person's life.

That's infuriating!

"Is it tied up?"

After a while, ropes were put around his wrists and ankles. Yu Xing tried to struggle a little, but didn't dare to use too much force. However, he could feel that the person binding him was very genuine.

"Alright, what exactly do you want?" Ye rolled her eyes.

"Take me to the lobby on the first floor, hand me over to the housekeeper, and tell him I'm the one who vandalized the sculpture exhibition hall."

The sculpted marks on Yu Xing's body had disappeared after the half-hour time limit had passed. He didn't know if the butler could still identify him as the vandal, but he just needed a chance to start a conversation with the butler.

The hostile mission is over, but his side quests are not.

"It's you..." Yi naturally knew about the incident of the sculpture exhibition hall being destroyed, which had been broadcast throughout the castle, and had also received a notification of a hostile mission, but he was focused on finding a book in the library that appeared to be an employee's autobiography, so he ignored it.

Hmm... did this guy do it? It seems entirely possible!

"Wait, you want me to kidnap you... aren't you afraid of being... by Alice..." She paused mid-sentence, seemingly recalling the clue she'd obtained. "Do you think that butler would help the tourists?"

Yu Xing said nothing, but urged him on with a cold look in her eyes.

So, a few minutes later, in the spacious and bright lobby on the first floor, the butler, standing ramrod straight, witnessed this scene.

Two figures walked down the stairs, one after the other. The one in front was very tall, with his hands tied behind his back, walking with a leisurely pace. Although he was being pushed forward by the hands behind him, his expression seemed to say, "Can you hurry up?"

The one in the back was mostly blocked by the one in front because he was shorter.

"Butler, this is the sabotage they were looking for on the broadcast." Yi pushed Yu Xing to the butler and tried to speak.

The old butler, dressed in a lake-blue suit, was in excellent spirits, but his stiff, unsmiling face made him seem lifeless. His eyes were like a stagnant pool as he said matter-of-factly, "He doesn't bear the aura of any mark."

"But half an hour has passed? The mark must be gone, so the vandal can get away with it." Yi thought about the torn page of the book that Zeng Lai had seen through his eyes. He suspected that the source of that torn page was this butler. At the moment, he hoped to find a breakthrough through the butler.

The butler glanced at him indifferently and bowed politely. "Dear guest, you cannot prove that this guest is the vandal."

"Able."

Did he still want to reason with her? Yu Xing spoke up himself, "Did I do it? After realizing my mistake, I was extremely terrified and frightened. I am willing to admit my mistake and receive the punishment I deserve. I hope the butler will give me a chance to make amends."

Housekeeper. "..."

Hysteria: "..."

What the butler was thinking was naturally unknown to Yi; he only knew that he was completely dazzled by Xing's actions.

Good heavens, what kind of high school student's attitude is this when writing a self-criticism?! Is it appropriate to apply this attitude to a scenario that could very well cost you your life??

Yu Xing continued, "Before the alarm sounded, I had broken twelve sculptures in total. After the broadcast, I panicked and broke another one. Butler, I have caused great damage to the castle. I will not be able to live with myself if I am not punished."

Housekeeper. "..."

The white-haired old man's stiff face seemed to twitch slightly, and he stared at Yu Xing: "That's right, there are thirteen sculptures in total. I believe you are the vandal."

The rubble scattered all over the ground was impossible to count unless you watched it being broken one by one on the spot.

He reached out and took Yu Xing from the hand of the seemingly surprised but actually irritated Ye, saying, "Respected visitor, thank you for your contribution to the security of Alice's Hell."

Since the time limit had passed, Yi didn't receive any reward. He hadn't expected any anyway, but he took the opportunity to ask, "Butler, where will you take Xing... that is, the Destroyer,?"

"Leave it to Alice to handle." The butler nodded calmly. "Would you like to come along?"

Hand her over to Alice? Alice's now on the monster side; she kills anyone she catches!

Ye frowned, realizing he couldn't jump into the trap so rashly. He also suspected that Yu Xing's actions might be a recipe for disaster, perhaps even suicide. So he shook his head and said, "No, Mr. Butler, you can handle it."

The butler didn't say much, but led Yu Xing towards the rightmost staircase leading to the fifth floor.

Yu Xing glanced back at Ye, her eyes telling him: Get lost, don't follow.

He scoffed, too lazy to care about the potential tragedy, and turned to walk back to the fourth floor.

That's unreliable. This guy is a bit too confident. He should find clues in his own way.

The butler's grip on the rope didn't look heavy, but it actually restricted all of Yu Xing's possible small movements.

Without saying a word, the old man led him to the rusty, locked door on the fifth floor. He took out a key from his suit pocket, turned the lock with one hand, and the rusty door creaked open a crack, revealing the dark, gloomy interior.

Yu Xing then asked again, "Where are you taking me?"

"Didn't I just say to leave it to Alice to deal with?" Having probably identified him as the vandal, the butler no longer showed him the politeness he would show to a tourist, and his tone became cold and hard.

"Forget it," Yu Xing said. "If someone had caught me in those half hour, I would have believed you if you said you'd take me to Alice. But now? Alice's delirious. What do you expect her to do with me?"

The butler paused as he pushed the door open, and looked at him.

Yu Xing's hands were bound, and the ropes around his ankles made it difficult for him to walk, but he was in incredibly good spirits. He flashed the old butler a smile that clearly indicated he was difficult to control, "I happened to run into her before~ Alice was irrational when she joined the monster camp."

The butler withdrew his gaze, calmly pushed open the door, and shoved Yu Xing inside.

"Swish"

The door closed behind Yu Xing again, and the next second, a small flame shot out from the completely dark space, illuminating a very small area.

Yu Xing spared a bit of attention to look around. The corridor he was in was deep and narrow, and at first glance it looked a bit like the Rose Tunnel where Zeng Lai was.

"Are you scared?" The butler, who was holding a lighter and providing the small flame, rarely took the initiative to speak.

"I'm not afraid. Why would I come here to be your victim if I were?" Yu Xing felt the butler's grip on his wrist loosen, so he turned to face the butler, easily freed himself from the rope, took out a tinderbox from his pocket, and quickly struck it in the air, successfully lighting it. "Use this, it's brighter."

In the dilapidated corridor, dust floated in the air, sometimes still, sometimes moving, and Yu Xing's face flickered in and out of the dust, giving people an unreal illusion.

The butler looked at him but didn't say anything.

Does this mean I need to "do something to trigger the next quest"? A thought flashed through Yu Xing's mind, and she found it a little funny, it really felt like Yugi.

"I found a book page that a previous visitor had hidden, and the contents... if I'm not mistaken, were written by you."

Yu Xing was referring to the things he found inside the pillowcase in the fifth-floor corridor he explored with Zeng Lai.

[After everything was over, things returned to normal. The sky was still overcast, and those eyes that never ceased to watch over the earth remained in the sky. I've lost count of how many sunless days I've endured. In the afternoon, Alice hired a third employee...]

The butler didn't actually know which page he was referring to, because there were more than one page containing this kind of information in the castle.

But this didn't prevent him from receiving some kind of information. The white-haired old man said, "Couldn't it have been written by your tour guide?"

The nun who guided them hadn't appeared since she led them to the bedroom in the castle.

Yu Xing bent down to untie the rope around his ankle, then straightened up and leaned back lazily. His hoodie, already stained with blood, was now covered in dust from the wall, but he didn't care at all. In fact, he was like this most of the time, spineless and leaning on whatever he could find.

"This brings us to the issue of stance, but before that, Mr. Butler, may I confirm something with you?" He raised an eyebrow. "I know you're terrified of Alice, which is why I found a 'rule-compliant' opportunity to be alone with you. But I must confirm... do you actually have the courage to defy Alice?"

The butler's expressionless face suddenly showed a hint of wanting to make another expression, but he could only twitch slightly. The coldness in his voice softened a little. "Tell me first, why me, and not the tour guide?"

He watched as Yu Xing was freed from her restraints without moving, making no further mention of where he was going to take Yu Xing for punishment, nor did he remain silent as he had been in the hall. Yu Xing's lips curled into a smile, knowing that his guess was correct.

"Since the butler is patient, I'll just get to the point. That way, the butler can confirm whether it's worthwhile to cooperate with me, a 'tourist'." Yu Xing was very relaxed, holding the tinderbox loosely, smelling the burning smell in the air. She even sat down on the abandoned cabinet next to her, one leg hanging down with her foot on the ground, and the other slightly bent with her foot dangling a few centimeters off the ground.

"In Alice's Castle, besides Alice, the founder, there are three employees: a tour guide, a butler, and a chef. The chef joined last, and the order in which the tour guide and butler joined isn't important. What's important is that Alice clearly values the tour guide more." Yu Xing glanced at the old butler. "When the tour guide led us through the hall, her attitude towards you was no different from that towards a statue or a potted plant. Obviously, she doesn't think you're someone who needs her respect."

"Given this situation, I've realized that Alice likely sensed that you, as the housekeeper, still possess a sense of self, or rather, a potential for disobedience. Therefore, she has significantly reduced your authority, making it impossible for you to even perform simple tasks like 'providing a glass of water to a guest outside of mealtimes.'"

The issue of permissions was something Yu Xing thought of when she followed Zeng Lai. Zeng Lai's probing might not have been aimed at this, but what was said in jest was taken seriously by Yu Xing, who was very good at reusing existing information.

He continued, "After we entered the castle, the tour guide told us that each visitor was associated with a specific ghost roaming the castle. At first glance, this might seem like just a rule, but upon closer examination, you'll discover..."

Why do ghosts appear, and why do they correspond to tourists?

"To know the sins of tourists, either Alice has the ability to see through people's hearts and thus quickly created these ghosts, but that's impossible. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to tell that I'm the person she's looking for just because I'm wearing a mask."

"Then, there's another possibility: before entering the castle, we cooperated in doing something that could have created the ghost."

He waved the dust swirling around his nose and smiled at the old butler, "Obviously, what we've all done... is ticket checking."

The tour guide, holding a pot of roses, told the "tourists" that they needed to have their tickets checked before entering.

The ticket checking process... involved making them drip their blood onto blooming red roses.