Rose Manor (End): A Tragic Curtain Call

The girl said to the god, "I have sinned. After my sister became this way, I found I could no longer love her as I once did."

The god said, "If you no longer love her, then let her return to the embrace of death and be buried beneath the earth."

The girl hesitated. She thought of the dead cat, the slick blood on her hands when she killed the man, and the skin on her own body scratched by rose thorns.

She had already sacrificed so much; she only needed to kill a few more unsuspecting guests to restore her sister's beauty... How could she give up now?

The girl kowtowed before the statue and swore an oath: "I will not let her leave. She must stay with me, forever."

Qi Si put down the notebook, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The four-line poem on the inside cover was likely the true name of the god who had made the deal with Annie.

Having played through the entire instance, Qi Si found himself inexplicably interested in this god lurking behind the scenes.

By luring Annie into the trap with small costs and massive benefits, the god had forced her step by step to pay more, pushing her onto a path of no return.

The heavy initial investment created a significant sunk cost. By the time Annie realized something was wrong and wanted to retreat, it was already too late. All she could do was continue down the wrong path.

It had to be said that this deity was well-versed in human psychology, much like a demon from legend.

"But what is the essential difference between a god and a devil?"

Qi Si chuckled, his laughter as light as a ghost's whisper, tinged with a chill that felt quite eerie in the current setting.

The corresponding information was too sparse and fragmented for him to piece together the full picture of the deity in the instance's backstory, and he had no intention of inviting trouble by reciting the true name and causing complications just as he was about to clear the instance.

After a quick search of the room to ensure no important clues were missed, Qi Si wiped the smile from his lips, exited the room in silence, and descended the stairs.

In the garden, the young and beautiful Annie and the aged, rotting Anna stood facing each other. The contrast between beauty and ugliness, with their roles reversed after the passage of time, truly presented an interesting drama.

Pain brewed in Annie's eyes, while Anna's gaze remained dull and vacant; all the affection poured into her was like falling into a quagmire, unable to stir up a single ripple.

Qi Si watched Annie, a gentle smile curling his lips, though his eyes were brimming with malice.

He had never possessed the kindness to let others have their way; on the contrary, he loved tragedy and the deeper despair that followed the shattering of hope.

He laughed, his laughter ghostly and sinister: "Miss Annie, unfortunately, the sister you love so deeply does not love you back; in fact, she fears you and wants to stay away from you."

The image of the ragdoll found in Room 2 on the third floor surfaced in his mind, along with that eerie hide-and-seek nursery rhyme repeating the words "don't look at me," sending a shiver deep into his marrow.

He looked at the monstrous Anna, his lowered eyes as compassionate as a god's: "Miss Anna, it is also unfortunate that your sister, out of a twisted love for you, killed your lover."

Anna seemed to understand, yet also seemed to grasp very little. She let out a low, guttural growl, like a naive beast.

Qi Si tilted his head and glanced at the Butler beside her. As if remembering something pleasant, he smiled like a child whose prank had succeeded: "Of course, now that you two star-crossed lovers have both become monsters, it can no longer be said that you are separated by the divide between the living and the dead."

"I have temporarily gained control of Rose Manor. Annie can no longer do anything to you. I am very curious to see what you will choose."

This time, as if she had finally understood Qi Si's words completely, Anna let out a low roar, dropped to all fours, and began to run like a beast across the ground toward the manor gate.

Her chaotic footsteps crushed the roses along the way, mixing black-green vines and crimson petals together, shattered like a fragmented dream.

Behind her, the Butler followed with stiff, mechanical movements, always half a step behind, yet never falling too far back.

The two terrifying monsters stopped before the iron gate. The gate opened slowly before them, and they stood restless, their forms swaying, poised to strike.

"No!"

In the sea of flowers, Annie, pinned to the spot, finally let out a shrill, piercing scream.

Breaking free from the control of the time reversal to make a sound was not easy. Tears streamed down her cheeks, mixing with the blood spilling from her nose and mouth, flowing into a pool on the ground within seconds.

She shrieked and wailed, unable to form coherent words, like a crazed beast.

Anna and the Butler, however, seemed not to hear her at all. They stepped into the white mist outside the iron gate, and the moment their figures were completely obscured, they exploded, scattering into a pile of blood-red rose petals.

Annie stared with pitch-black eyes, witnessing this scene, her eye sockets stretched to a grotesque degree.

She suddenly remembered where the sense of familiarity about Qi Si came from.

The god in red had once descended as a phantom, sitting beside her, watching her with a smile: "Your desires are quite interesting; you have the value to be one of my collections."

Long-forgotten fear grew in the depths of her heart. Annie briefly broke free from the shackles of the time reversal and took a step forward, leaving a shallow depression in the slick, muddy ground.

However, the next second, countless withered vines twisted out from the ancient castle behind her, wrapping around her limbs from all directions, tightening with lethal force as they dragged her backward.

She was dragged back into the castle inch by inch, her black skirt torn by rose thorns, dust and broken branches dirtying the black lace.

She realized what was about to happen and struggled violently, but the vines only tightened, embedding themselves into her flesh.

Drenched in blood, she finally fell into despair, letting her limbs go limp as she allowed herself to be completely swallowed by the pitch-black castle behind her.

The moment her figure vanished into the darkness, the castle gates slammed shut with a thunderous "bang."

The rain across the world reversed direction once more, falling from the high heavens.

The time reversal had ended.

There were no roses in Qi Si's hands, and no wounds on his chest.

He stood alone in the sea of flowers like a phantom, savoring the end of the drama in his human form.

A "rumble" came from overhead, sounding like thunder, yet deeper and more resonant.

Qi Si watched as the stone walls of the castle before him cracked piece by piece, the monstrous structure collapsing with a roar. The ghosts that had existed for countless cycles vanished into thin air, leaving only clouds of dust floating and settling in the sky.

Perhaps only one person had been imprisoned from beginning to end, and in this moment, an absurd story was buried here...

[All Rules and world-building have been deciphered]

[Congratulations to the player for clearing the team survival instance Rose Manor]

The cold system prompt rang in Qi Si's ears, accompanied by text rapidly refreshing on the system interface.

[Self-righteous paranoia always demands a price; perhaps death and tragedy are the best answers to beauty]

A yellowed image flickered before his eyes.

In a dusty attic, the girl who had become beautiful asked the stone-carved god, "You have bestowed so much upon me, but what can you gain in return?"

The god lowered his eyes, his scarlet gaze falling upon the girl.

He replied, "I wish to see your sins; they shall be the finest sustenance for The Rules. I also wish to see the end of the story, for tragedy is forever etched into the bone."

The girl felt a surge of panic; to her, this was the rhetoric of a devil. Even though she was no different from the devil in the eyes of the world, she still feared an existence more powerful and malicious than herself.

She wanted to pray, to pray to the righteous gods from her blurred memories—those her parents had once believed in, the existences she had forgotten and discarded...

She discovered she had long since forgotten the prayers.

The god's gaze was compassionate, his smile mocking: "God does not love the world."

[Tiny wishes lead to hollow greed; once sin is chosen, there is no turning back. Everyone is guilty, born into a cage]

[Rose Manor True End - "Cage of Obsession" has been recorded]

[Automatic extraction from the instance in three minutes]

On the ruins of the ancient castle, a torrential rain poured down.

Qi Si stood in the rain, watching the rubble before him, lost in thought.

After a long silence, he stroked his chin and muttered to himself, "The house has collapsed; even with protagonist halos, they couldn't possibly have survived, right..."

It was a pity; he had finally encountered two tools that were convenient to use, and now they were gone just like that.

However, there was nothing to be dejected about. Judging by Chang Xu's tone earlier, forming teams in the Eerie Game seemed to require specific items, which was not very convenient.

As for tools, one could always source them locally within the instances; he believed he would encounter many more interesting instances and interesting people in the future.

Under the gray-purple sky, Qi Si lowered his eyes to gaze at the Pocket Watch of Fate held in his left hand, feigning a hypocritical sense of sorrow as if mourning the dead: "Chang Xu, Linchen, I will remember your sacrifices and continue to live on, carrying your hopes."

Then, he tucked the [Pocket Watch of Fate] into his shirt pocket with a clear conscience.