First Exploration of the Third Floor of Rose Manor

Lin Chen put the notebook back on the table and stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in the guest room, anxiously watching the activity in the garden below.

He watched Qi Si walk to the iron gate and knock on the ground, say something to The Butler who suddenly appeared, and then Miss Anna emerged from the castle while Qi Si stepped forward with a smile to strike up a conversation.

Lin Chen knew the time had come.

Qi Si's part was complete. Now it was up to him.

He jogged out of the guest room and rushed toward the stairs, gripping the railing as he hurried upstairs.

It was only one floor, yet his nerves made him stumble several times.

By the time he reached the third-floor landing, he was already panting heavily, cold sweat streaming down his back.

The third floor was the same as the second, with only three rooms. The difference was that there was no clock in the corner.

Lin Chen clenched his fists, suppressing the useless hesitation in his heart, and walked step by step deeper into the floor.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but he always felt that the third floor was narrower and longer than the second, making him feel as though he were inside a coffin.

The farther he went, the stronger that feeling became. It seemed as though this floor had no end, no matter how far he walked.

For one moment, he suspected that everything around him had frozen at a single instant, that even the passage of time was merely an illusion.

A thin sheen of sweat seeped into Lin Chen's palms, and even his breathing began to tremble.

He shook his head, trying to fling the inexplicable thoughts from his mind.

"The boss has already handled Miss Anna. How can I fail at something this simple?"

Thinking that, he turned and walked toward one of the rooms.

Seeing the thick layer of dust on the door, he gritted his teeth, grasped the brass doorknob, and cautiously pressed it down.

It would not turn. The door was locked.

Instead, Lin Chen felt relieved. He had no desire to open an unknown door in a horror game. Even if there was no jump scare behind it, there was no telling what terrifying thing he might encounter.

He did the same with the handles of the remaining two doors.

They were both locked.

"This should be about enough... The boss only asked me to scout out the layout a little..."

Lin Chen muttered softly as he carefully retreated toward the stairwell.

Just as he was about to back up beside the stairs, a soft female voice suddenly sounded behind his ear. "Who are you?"

The voice was affected and delicate, as smooth and cloying as an opera singer's drawn-out melody. It was unmistakably Miss Anna's voice!

Miss Anna... Why was she here?

Lin Chen felt the blood throughout his body stop flowing. His fear had reached such an extreme that he could no longer make any large movements.

He opened his mouth to scream, but it was as if his voice had lodged in his throat. No matter what, he could not force it out.

I've been discovered. It's over. I'm going to die...

Memories from the past twenty years flashed through his mind like a dying man's life flashing before his eyes.

Lin Chen's heart pounded wildly as he stiffly turned around.

At the stairwell stood a tiny old woman in a red European-style princess dress. Her white hair spilled down her back, and her wrinkled face was covered in rotting scars. Her lips and eye sockets had decayed so deeply that bone was visible.

It was clearly a bizarre and terrifying sight, yet Lin Chen let out a breath of relief.

As long as it wasn't Miss Anna...

As long as Miss Anna hadn't discovered him, there was still hope of surviving...

"Who are you?" Old Woman asked in a sickeningly sweet voice. That beautiful voice paired with such a face created an overwhelming contrast.

Lin Chen took a step back and stammered, "I... I'm Lin Chen."

Old Woman stared at him fixedly and asked again, "Then do you remember who I am?"

Lin Chen froze.

He recalled that when he and Qi Si had parted ways, Qi Si had walked a few steps before seeming to remember something. He stopped, turned back, and told him, "No matter which NPC you encounter on the third floor, don't casually use any specific form of address."

At the time, Lin Chen had not understood and asked why. Qi Si had smiled coolly and gestured for him to look at the third rule on the system interface.

[3. Miss Anna likes guests and bears them no ill will, but please remember the correct form of address: "Miss Anna," not anything else.]

The young man had smiled with a hint of mischief. "In any case, since The Rules mention forms of address, you should do your best not to make a mistake in that regard."

Lin Chen suddenly understood.

So Qi Si had anticipated this long ago? As expected of the boss.

His thoughts instinctively continued, dredging up memories related to Qi Si, including the conjecture he had written on paper: "There may be two Miss Annas." The black words on white paper stood out more clearly than any other information.

The identity of the ghost before him was practically revealed.

"Who am I?" Old Woman stared at Lin Chen and asked again, enunciating each word. "Tell me... who exactly am I?"

Lin Chen swallowed and said, "You are Miss Anna..."

In the garden, the soft earth steamed with damp heat, while dark clumps of loose soil lay scattered along both sides of the pit.

Qi Si and Chang Xu both lowered their heads to look at the corpse in the newly dug pit, speechless for a moment.

Chang Xu still held a shovel in his hand. Naturally, he had dug the pit.

Qi Si had just seen Miss Anna off and passed by this spot, ostensibly by chance but actually with a plan in mind. Then he saw this scene.

The corpse in the pit was a bloody mess from head to toe, though its face had been deliberately cleaned, allowing its appearance in life to be barely discerned—

It was an ordinary-looking young man.

The mortuary work looked rather familiar. If Qi Si had not thought about it and realized he had no impression of this face whatsoever, he might have suspected that he had done it himself.

The dead man wore a white T-shirt that did not fit the manor's era, with a huge goofy expression printed on it.

Chang Xu concluded, "A Player. He died the same way Shen Ming did. The Rose drained all his blood."

That was obvious enough.

Qi Si casually asked, "Brother Chang, how did you know there was a corpse buried here?"

Chang Xu asked in return, "What did you say to Miss Anna just now?"

This was undoubtedly a statement of his position: everyone had secrets of their own, not to be probed or touched by others.

Qi Si understood and gave him a sincere smile. "Me? I told her she was pretty and asked her age while I was at it. She got angry for no reason and left me behind."

Chang Xu turned his head and looked into Qi Si's eyes.

Qi Si neither avoided his gaze nor flinched, his expression open and frank.

The silence lasted two seconds. Chang Xu seemed to believe Qi Si's nonsense and explained, "One of my clues said that Miss Anna believed death was the best nourishment for Roses. That was why I concluded there were corpses buried in the garden."

Qi Si had not expected Chang Xu to be so straightforward. When asked a question, he actually answered it.

Of course, without seeing solid proof, Qi Si would not readily believe a single word anyone else said.

He crouched beside the pit, a faintly amused expression on his face. "'Garden' refers to an area of roughly a thousand square meters. How did you know the corpse was right here?"

"Intuition." Chang Xu also crouched by the pit. "My intuition has always been accurate."

"Impressive, impressive." Qi Si offered the perfunctory praise as he wrapped his fingers in a napkin and poked the corpse's face. "Judging by the feel, it died less than seventy-two hours ago. This instance is pretty busy. Players keep arriving batch after batch."

Chang Xu raised an eyebrow. "You know a lot about corpses."

"Professional expertise. I spend every day around corpses, so even if I didn't want to know, I would."

"Animal corpses and human corpses do not seem comparable."

"That's merely a preconceived stereotype." Qi Si had already flipped the napkin over, folded it, and tucked it into his pocket.

He stood and looked down at Chang Xu, squinting with a smile. "Humans are animals too, aren't they?"

He said it as though it were perfectly natural. His tone was clearly relaxed and casual, yet it made one involuntarily ponder the implications beneath his words and shudder.

Chang Xu abruptly looked up, his voice instantly turning cold. "Have you killed someone?"

"No. Don't slander me." Qi Si slipped his hands into his pockets, his calm expression especially innocent. "You bring up killing so easily. Don't tell me you've killed someone?"

Chang Xu answered seriously, "I have."

"Are you armed police?"

"Something like that." Chang Xu seemed somewhat hesitant. After pausing for a moment, he added, "The missions assigned to me were usually kill-on-sight missions. I have never failed."

"Is that so?" Qi Si sharply realized that no matter what Chang Xu's true profession was, this would be a point he could use.

—People accustomed to carrying out kill missions could easily develop a conditioned reflex to kill.

At some point, Ye Zi had walked over and stopped beside them. Frowning, she lowered her head to peer into the pit. She claimed to be studying the newly discovered clue, but she looked more like she had come to investigate what the two of them were doing.

It was unwise to continue discussing such a dangerous topic. Qi Si's gentle, harmless smile returned. "Anyway, Officer, if you run into anything involving corpses in the future, you can ask me. I can handle simple assessments of causes and times of death."

Chang Xu silently narrowed his eyes, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.