[After spending a long time in contact with it, I realized it had a mind of its own, though not much of one. Its thoughts were limited to the level of a child, so it only needed to be treated like one.]
[Children were simple by nature. They remembered what they liked and disliked for a long time, but their feelings toward someone could change easily. For example... a piece of candy.] (The text had been deliberately colored over with a marker.)
[What the front desk said was absolutely true, provided you had paid a price to obtain the answer.]
[Be sure to find a way out within three weeks. If all else fails, remember... that will help you the next time...]
[There were only seven rooms on the second and third floors, and eight on the first. The extra room was for the front desk to live in. This meant each floor could only be occupied for one week.]
[Minzhai did not provide fresh meat. Resist your inner cravings, and do not take that forbidden step.]
[That's everything I wanted to say. Remember it all, and you'll live a little longer. There are things I can't say outright; whether you understand them is up to you.]
Bai Yuze looked at the new hints and reached into his pocket for the little note he had found earlier.
(Was that what "Don't swallow a lifetime's worth of sweetness all at once" meant?)
Bai Yuze also noticed that the piece of milk candy in his pocket was gone. He was very glad he hadn't eaten it.
Speaking of eating, Bai Yuze realized he hadn't eaten anything in two days. That left him wondering: everyone had a role to play. Yamauchi Haruki was "food," and Yukino and Tuanzi were "victims." So what role did he have?
He tugged at the sleeve of his left arm. The three horrifying cuts were still there on his wrist.
(Could I be a victim? Is that why I don't feel hungry? But shouldn't I be like that corpse?)
At the thought, Bai Yuze glanced at the Male Corpse in the room. After Bai Yuze was injured, the two girls had carried him onto the bed and moved the corpse off it.
[Death is release, but anger will carry on.]
Bai Yuze suddenly thought of this hint. Putting it together with the three cuts on his wrist, he came up with a bold idea.
Perhaps he had been part of this "game" from the very beginning, but for some reason, he had forgotten. Yang Peng had said, "Find a way out within three weeks. If all else fails, then..." At first, Bai Yuze hadn't understood, but now he did. Yang Peng had wanted him to leave behind marks that could preserve his experiences: notes, and something else...
But Yang Peng had mentioned that hints left in diaries and the like would be altered by it. Yang Peng had also gone through multiple loops before escaping; that much was clear from his words, "I think I know it." The loops gradually wore away the players' memories, and Yang Peng had said more than once that his memory was getting worse.
(But what memories did I leave behind?)
Bai Yuze fell silent. He knew himself. Since he knew that blatant hints would be changed, he would never have risked leaving them.
Then he suddenly thought of a way: a life flashing before his eyes!
"So... death means breaking free of this loop, but 'anger' will carry my 'memories' onward!"
Bai Yuze had figured it out! But Tuanzi was baffled by his strange behavior. She waved a hand in front of him and asked,
"Xiaoze, what's wrong? Are you feeling sick?"
"No! I feel great! Tuanzi, could you get me a knife?"
"A knife? What do you need one for?"
Though Tuanzi was a little confused, she still handed Bai Yuze the scalpel.
Bai Yuze took the scalpel, gave Tuanzi a small smile, then said,
"Thank you, Tuanzi. If we get out of here, I'll definitely pursue you. And Yukino, too!"
Tuanzi was stunned. She hadn't expected Bai Yuze to brazenly announce that he wanted to pursue Xiaoxue and her. She couldn't help wondering if he'd hit his head and gone a little crazy.
But what happened next shocked her even more. As soon as Bai Yuze finished speaking, he didn't hesitate for even a moment. He gripped the scalpel and slashed his own wrist.
Blood spurted everywhere. Tuanzi was stunned, and even Yukino, who had just been about to unleash her sharp tongue, was shocked.
You can take your time thinking about building a harem! What was the point of slitting your wrist? Were you going to kill yourself if they said no? What is wrong with you, kid?!
That was what both girls were thinking.
But from Bai Yuze's perspective, the moment he cut his wrist, the whole world began to darken. The room crumbled away, and he felt himself falling.
Then he saw "himself"—or, more precisely, his past self.
The Bai Yuze in the scene had just arrived, just like he had the first time. During the first week of the first loop, he explored the entire first floor. In the second week, a newcomer arrived: Yuigahama Yui. After calming her down, Bai Yuze invited her to explore the second floor with him, but the two of them were killed by the "monster" there.
In the second loop, he arrived with Yuigahama Yui. He still had no memories, but with the help of his subconscious, the Strange Pill, and Yang Peng's hints, he solved the second floor's puzzle. During the second week of the second loop, Yukinoshita Yukino arrived. The three of them went to the third floor, but "it" suddenly split into two and blocked the stairwell, trapping all three of them.
In the third loop, Yamauchi Haruki joined them, and they nearly died because of him. So, on the way to the third floor, the three of them sent Yamauchi Haruki ahead to scout. After sacrificing him, they solved the third floor's puzzle, but the loop still didn't end. They couldn't find a fourth floor or a way out, and the eerie force completely corrupted Yang Peng's hints.
Everyone was game over.
The fourth loop was the one that had just happened.
The scene ended, and memories flooded back like a tide. Bai Yuze felt a little mentally exhausted, but his body felt completely relaxed. He wanted to laugh, but didn't know what about.
He had a theory about the fourth floor they hadn't found in the first three loops. Who said the fourth floor had to be above the third? The basement mentioned in the rules might be the fourth floor, and the way out might be down there.
But Bai Yuze was a little frustrated. How was he supposed to preserve these memories? And how could he get to the basement?
Bai Yuze realized that he could move normally. He could go anywhere he wanted. Then he understood that his loop hadn't ended yet. He decided to do something to help his future self.
So... he sneaked into the front desk's room and took some slips of paper and a marker from inside. He wrote down the rules and the dangers he'd seen, then hid them in different places. When he was done, he suddenly thought of something and added a few more words to one of the notes.
[Hello, dear player. I'm Yang Peng]
Before you continue