Rose Manor (XV) 1 PM

"The most brilliant game of chess is played from behind the scenes—observing, prying, and gathering the most information while everyone else remains oblivious."

"Sister Zou, this isn't your second time entering a dungeon, is it? A novice wouldn't be able to produce a prop like that. You're a veteran who spent points to specify this dungeon, aren't you?"

After time flowed backward, in Room 1, Zou Yan smiled as she looked at Ye Zi: "You aren't simple either, are you? You and Shen Ming are both people from 'Sariel,' aren't you?"

The moment the word "Sariel" left her lips, Ye Zi's eyes widened, and for the first time since entering the dungeon, she truly lost her composure.

She opened her mouth, then asked with a fake smile: "Sister Zou, how did you figure that out? Can you tell me?"

The smile on Zou Yan's lips deepened, yet she sighed: "He didn't tell you, and you didn't even bother to find out for yourself. I'm afraid you still don't know what 'teaming up' actually means in this game, do you?"

Ye Zi remembered that before entering the game, Shen Ming had warned her repeatedly not to reveal that they knew each other.

She had assumed it was just to put on a show, so upon learning of Zou Yan's intention to cooperate, she had immediately put Shen Ming on the table as a bargaining chip.

Could it be...

"It's truly amusing. Two people who are exactly the same, yet they act out different roles in front of each other, both treating the other as some fool who is easy to control and exploit."

Zou Yan chuckled softly, then gently took hold of Ye Zi's right hand and pressed down on her little finger.

On the girl's originally smooth and fair knuckle, a Black Ring slowly emerged, its surface embossed with a decorative butterfly that, upon closer inspection, also resembled the English letter "S."

Zou Yan slipped the Black Ring off the girl's finger, while the latter found herself unable to move, her eyes bulging with rage as she could only wheeze "hngh-hngh" sounds from her throat.

A loud bell tolled from outside; it was one o'clock in the afternoon.

Zou Yan tilted her head to study the fear in Ye Zi's eyes, then smiled as she placed her hand over the girl's neck:

"God does not protect you."

"Shen Ming is a member of the Sariel Guild, and Liu Qingye knows Shen Ming; I suspect she is one as well." Chang Xu reached out to push aside the vines in front of him, his voice as calm as a still lake.

On the third floor of the ancient castle, black-green plant tentacles burst from the four corners of the room, crawling along the gray-black walls like reptiles.

The thick plants displayed a vigorous vitality, growing to the ceiling at a speed visible to the naked eye before hanging down to the floor, sealing off the space of the entire level layer by layer.

Qi Si tried using a blade to slash at a vine as thick as a finger, but green sap splashed onto his face, quickly congealing into fuzzy tentacles that burrowed into his skin.

He raised his hand to tear them off, but ended up peeling away a thin layer of skin along with them.

"These vines are interesting. Is it possible they're designed to parasitize the human body?" Qi Si put away his blade and, like Chang Xu, used his hands to push aside a path barely wide enough for a person to pass through. "...How did you know Shen Ming was from the Sariel Guild?"

He didn't know what the "Sariel Guild" was, but judging by the matter-of-fact tone Chang Xu used, this guild must be quite famous—the kind that veteran players would definitely know about.

Chang Xu stopped in his tracks, fished something resembling a ring from his pocket, and handed it to Qi Si to look at.

It was a Black Ring, simple in design, with a black butterfly twisted into the letter "S" embedded on its surface.

"I found this on Shen Ming; it's their token," Chang Xu said. "The Sariel Guild's research into the Eerie Game is very advanced; they can already manufacture some props that can be brought into the game. Like this ring, its effect is to increase the probability of two people entering the same dungeon."

Sariel Guild... they can manufacture their own props, can they?

Qi Si's eyes flickered as he lightly stroked the bracelet on his right wrist.

Seemingly sensing his temporary teammate's curiosity, Chang Xu said indifferently: "If you're interested in this information, you can look it up on the forums yourself. Basically, all publicly available information is on there."

He thought of something and added: "The Sariel Guild has committed many heinous acts and is now a target for everyone. They are being hunted by various factions both in the game and in reality; it's only a matter of time before they are uprooted."

...Is he afraid I'll join this so-called "Sariel Guild"?

Qi Si, who feared nothing more than peace, raised an eyebrow at Chang Xu: "Looking at it that way, Brother Chang, Shen Ming's death couldn't possibly have nothing to do with you, could it?"

Chang Xu looked at him in confusion: "What would it have to do with me?"

"...How boring."

Behind the screen of vines, a door stood tightly shut, its rusted keyhole thick with dust.

Qi Si stepped forward, pulled a thin wire from his bracelet, and inserted it into the keyhole to fiddle with it.

A few seconds later, with a "click," the lock opened.

Chang Xu, who had witnessed the whole thing, looked suspicious: You call yourself a specimen maker?

"My father was a locksmith; I learned from him when I was a child."

Qi Si put away the wire, took a step back, and smiled at Chang Xu: "Brother Chang, I have a bit of a germ phobia, if you don't mind."

Chang Xu looked at the thick layer of dust on the doorknob, didn't harbor too much suspicion, and took the lead in pushing the door open to enter.

Qi Si waited calmly for two seconds, and seeing no abnormalities, followed at a leisurely pace.

The room before them seemed not to have been visited for a very long time. As the guests stepped inside, a sky full of dust rushed toward them, accompanied by a decaying scent known as "days of old."

In the center of the room sat a large bed covered by an unfolded quilt, which had already gathered a thick layer of dust. From the bumps on the surface, one could tell that two people were lying underneath.

Qi Si stepped forward and pulled back the quilt.

Beneath the quilt, two skeletons lay side by side on the bed, their white bones chilling to the core.

The boundary between reality and the game blurred for a moment before his eyes, and countless memories that should have been deliberately forgotten surged in his mind.

First the red dress under the bedsheets, then the skeletons in the quilt... I have to say, Miss Anna's aesthetic is surprisingly consistent with his own...

After a long silence, Qi Si let out a low chuckle: "These two must be Miss Anna's parents."

Chang Xu looked at the stark white skeleton, a chill running down the back of his neck as he couldn't help but ask, "How did you know?"

Qi Si's smile did not falter. "If I said I guessed, would you believe me?"

Death is inevitable, and the dead are swallowed into silence. Only those who remain struggle to accept it, resorting to all manner of futile methods to preserve the remnants of the departed, self-deceptively keeping them in the states they held in life as a memorial.

--That is the meaning of taxidermy.

Qi Si straightened up, lowering his eyes to study the skeleton lying quietly on the bed.

Two seconds later, he gently reached his hand beneath the pillow the skeleton rested upon, and sure enough, he felt a few scraps of paper.

With a pinch of his fingers, he drew the papers out, and lines of text were written clearly upon them.

[Anna and Annie were born at the same time. In ancient legends, one of a pair of twins is born carrying a curse. We did not believe these things; they were both our most beloved daughters, and we only wanted them to grow up happy.]

[Anna is always so obedient, but Annie always has all sorts of strange ideas. It really gives one a headache.]

[Anna is becoming more and more beautiful. She is so perfect; she will find happiness. Annie's behavior is becoming increasingly bizarre. We suspect she wants to do something to Anna. We are holding a banquet at home, so let's lock her in her room for the day.]

[The family cat is dead. We found the cat's corpse in Annie's room. She killed the cat and used its blood to draw all sorts of terrifying runes on the wall. She is cursing us!]

[Our illness is growing worse; we are going to die... It must be Annie...]

The notes came to an abrupt end.

From the direction of the bed, a teeth-grinding "creak" suddenly rang out.

Qi Si's eyes snapped up to see the two skeletons on the bed sitting bolt upright, both turning their heads to look in his direction.

His fingertips felt a hint of dampness; on the paper in his hand, the black text was turning red inch by inch, seeping out from the paper like blood and trickling downward.

He let go, but the paper seemed stuck to his hand, impossible to shake off no matter what he did. The blood-colored characters extended tentacles that dug into his skin and flesh, like the roots of a rose.

Qi Si's pupils constricted.