Rose Manor (10): Inducement and Suggestion

The stone walls lining the inside of the castle were streaked with vast patches of dampness that seeped like ulcers. The withered vines seemed to have grown a little more, deepening the cracks in the weathered, crumbling walls.

Qi Si followed the stairs down to the first floor but saw neither Miss Anna nor The Butler.

Most of the time, these two NPCs seemed to vanish into thin air within the castle, never showing themselves unless necessary. Perhaps they kindly left the Players ample room to explore freely, or perhaps they understood that fear came from the unknown and hid in the shadows to put on a show.

Qi Si pushed open the castle gates, and a vast sea of Roses filled his view.

The grayish-purple overcast sky cast a leaden gloom over the vivid red Roses. Beneath the overlapping branches and leaves lay swathes of pitch-black darkness, giving the impression that secrets and horrors were buried and hidden there.

Qi Si walked down the path and looked up to see Zou Yan standing amid the flowerbeds some distance away, watching him.

When their gazes met, Zou Yan nodded in greeting. Then she lowered her head, bent over, and reached out to fiddle with the Roses before her.

With the warning [Beware of Roses] engraved on the system interface, anyone with average nerves would never dare touch the Roses in the garden at a time like this.

Qi Si walked straight over and parted a cluster of Roses as well, clearing out a small space for himself to stand.

He stood still in the damp, biting chill and turned toward the castle.

The towering structure stood in desolate silence, veiled in a gray, eerie hue by natural light from no discernible source. Ancient vines crisscrossed the outer walls as they climbed upward, having long become part of the castle beneath the dust of ages.

He was standing exactly where Miss Anna had stood last night. In his line of sight was the window of the second-floor guest room; through the weathered glass, he could see only a gloomy vault as deep as a tomb.

What exactly had Miss Anna been looking at last night?

Qi Si took several steps back and brought the entire castle into view.

The building's outer walls had faded in many places, covered in countless tiny fungi and mold stains. The massive stones seemed split open, with dead vines growing from their cracks. For an instant, he felt that the castle resembled a person—a person bound layer upon layer in chains.

Zou Yan suddenly spoke beside him. "Qi Si, what do you think of Miss Anna?"

Qi Si turned his head and looked directly into the woman's eyes. "In what regard?"

Zou Yan smiled. "Just chatting. It's only idle conversation."

Two scenes flashed through Qi Si's mind at just the right moment: a woman chewing flesh and blood at the dining table, and a sorrowful, resentful figure standing in the sea of Roses at night...

The image of a human lingered in his mind for two seconds before automatically being broken down into skin, flesh, and bones, rearranged into countless possibilities: how to dissect it, how to make it into a specimen, what techniques to use, and what kind of specimen to make...

A hint of gentleness unconsciously touched the smile on his lips. "Judging by common human traits, Miss Anna has quite a good appetite. She may also have a bit of insomnia."

"..."

Seeing Zou Yan's strange expression, Qi Si lowered his eyelids slightly and added a more normal answer. "Of course, she is indeed very beautiful. If she weren't a ghost, she would definitely be the type to make many people's hearts race at first sight."

Zou Yan took the opening and asked, "What about you? If she were alive, would you fall for her?"

If she were a corpse, I might be somewhat interested in putting her in my collection room.

The smile on Qi Si's face was utterly sincere. "To me, after any living being dies, it is nothing more than a skeleton without skin and flesh."

"And what if her hands were stained with blood?" Zou Yan stared silently at Qi Si. Her brown eyes spread like pigment soaking through water, as if they were about to draw his soul into a whirlpool. "She possesses the exact same Sin, can understand your interests, hobbies, and past. Even beasts accustomed to walking alone will feel lonely in an endless night..."

This time, Qi Si did not answer. Instead, he asked, "What do you think of Miss Anna? It seems to me that you care about her a great deal."

Zou Yan thought for a moment before saying, "She is probably a pitiful person too. I don't know anything more than that, though. After all, I haven't spoken a single word to her."

"Yes, I've only spoken three sentences to her myself." With that, Qi Si turned and walked deeper into the sea of flowers.

This had been a probe. Zou Yan had wanted to draw out more clues without revealing what she already knew, even resorting to some psychological techniques.

But she had failed.

From childhood to adulthood, Qi Si had received no fewer than two hundred counseling sessions. He had long memorized the tricks used by psychologists; in the end, he had even gained considerable skill himself and cured six psychologists of their mental illnesses in succession.

By now, he was long past the age of being influenced by inducement, suggestion, or hypnosis. Even in his dreams, he remained awake...

"Still, does this count as the stage where we start probing each other?" Qi Si stroked his chin with interest, his gaze falling on Chang Xu on the other side of the garden.

The garden of Rose Manor was wide and empty, but fortunately, it contained only one kind of plant: Roses. Even the tallest Rose bushes reached only waist height and offered little cover, so one could take in the movements of everyone in the garden with a single glance.

Chang Xu held a shovel and dug beneath the dead vines at the base of the castle wall. It looked as though he had found some significant clue.

Ye Zi, meanwhile, was bent over searching through the Rose bushes. She looked aimless and distracted, as though she had merely come to wander the garden because she did not want to remain in the castle.

Qi Si strolled along a path scattered with only a few petals, heading away from the castle. In the distance, he saw a rusty iron gate blocking the end of the road.

A clumsy, oversized iron lock hung from the gate, rusted shut. With a Player's strength, it would be impossible to open.

Qi Si noticed a small patch of bare ground beside the iron gate. There was no grass, no vegetation, and no Roses there. Instead, a rectangular stone platform had been embedded into the earth, with several lines of English engraved upon it.

He remembered that The Butler had said he lived underground, yet the castle had no basement...

The clue was obvious. Qi Si crouched in front of the stone platform and rapped his bent index knuckle twice against the ground.

The sound of wind rose behind him, accompanied by suspicious rustling.

Qi Si stood and turned around, only to see The Butler in a black uniform standing behind him at some unknown time.

An exaggerated smile hung on that plastic-looking face. "Guest sir, you cannot leave the manor yet, or Miss Anna will be angry."

Qi Si looked into The Butler's eyes, his tone sincere. "I have no intention of leaving. I only came here to ask where Miss Anna is."

The Butler said, "The young lady is naturally wherever she wishes to be."

"Is that so? What a pity." Qi Si lowered his eyes and sighed. "Miss Anna always seems to avoid us. Other than during meals, we do not even know where to find her if we wish to see her. Could it be... that she dislikes guests like us?"

He kept his voice low and slow, as though he regretted Miss Anna's attitude, yet an undertone of threat flickered faintly within the question.

Panic flashed through The Butler's eyes, and he shook his head repeatedly. "No, she does not dislike you. Miss Anna likes guests."

—The third rule: [Miss Anna likes guests and bears no ill will toward them].

Sure enough, the rules did not merely restrain the Players; they also restrained the NPCs in the instance. True fairness was nowhere to be found, but putting on a superficial show was not difficult.

Qi Si curled his lips into a smile. "Then may I meet her in the garden now?"

Seeing The Butler's troubled expression, he added softly, "I won't take up much of her time."

With the matter put so plainly, The Butler could only bow to Qi Si reluctantly. "I will go invite Miss Anna at once."