The First Round of Games

"Respected Ms. White Crow:

In accordance with your wishes, I entered the Rose Manor instance to explore and have achieved considerable results.

I have found traces and relics of that existence. His honorable name is:

'The Lord of All Gods, exiled beyond the rules of the world, The Soul Sovereign who holds the authority of contracts and transactions, The Great Existence that predates history itself.'

Miss Anna, an NPC of the instance, once traded with Him; I am willing to believe in the authenticity of this honorable name. I hope that this time, our ritual will succeed.

There were some twists during the process; someone beat me to deciphering the rules and killed me within the instance. That person was very cautious, and I could not see his face.

Barring any accidents, there will be three survivors, claiming to be named Chang Xu, Qi Si, and Lin Chen. The first two are both suspicious, and I suggest the Church pay close attention to them.

I cannot return to Xiang City to see you again. I only hope my death can serve as the first step toward the Apocalypse.

The Eerie will eventually run rampant in the world, and the mysterious will eventually descend upon the earth.

Having seen His statue, I die without regrets.

Yan"

In a villa area far from the bustling city, inside an elegantly decorated study, Zou Yan sat at her desk, typing line after line into an email.

After checking it once to ensure there were no errors or omissions, she clicked "Send."

An automatic "Received" reply appeared in her inbox. Zou Yan pressed her hands against the edge of the desk, used her arms to support her body as she stood up, and stumbled toward the bedroom.

She began to tremble, whether from the fear of death or the icy chill of her life force draining away.

She could barely muster the strength to move her body, and her teeth chattered uncontrollably, making a "clacking" sound.

Fortunately, the distance from the study to the bedroom was short, and she managed to collapse onto the bed before she lost all ability to move.

She no longer had the strength to pull up the quilt. She lay on her back, staring at a spot on the ceiling as if trying to carve something deep into her retinas.

Blood overflowed from her mouth and nose. She licked a bit and found it tasted salty.

The Eerie Game causes players to die in reality in a "reasonable" way; Zou Yan speculated aimlessly about which terminal illness she was currently suffering from.

She tugged at the corners of her mouth, raised her hand to draw two triangles on her chest, and forced herself to show a serene smile, though tears slid down the corners of her eyes.

There may be people in this world who can face death calmly, but it certainly wasn't her.

She knew sacrifice was necessary and possessed the resolve of a martyr, but as the end truly arrived, a thousand regrets flooded her heart.

She still wanted to witness the prophesied Last Judgment and the subsequent Apocalypse; she still wanted to walk in the light, laugh, chat, listen to stories, and observe people; she still wanted to go back to the church that raised her and see those children...

She didn't want to die, but what other choice was there?

Her consciousness gradually sank into darkness. In the hazy, half-lit blur, a fragment of memory that should have been erased from the depths of her mind became vivid.

It was the first round of the Rose Manor game.

There were a total of nine players who initially entered the Rose Manor instance.

At the start of the instance, the nine people in the first round, like the six remaining in the second round, sat around a long table to introduce themselves.

Among them, two claimed to be entering the instance for the third time; there was also a young girl who, despite it being her second time, possessed an item that could point out clues.

In comparison, Chang Xu, Ye Zi, and the others seemed less dazzling.

Zou Yan had always followed a path of biding her time. With so many players capable of causing variables, she had no intention of stepping into the spotlight too early.

Using her professional expertise, she observed everyone and conducted psychological profiling.

At first glance, she noticed Qi Si, who, like her, was hiding himself among the crowd.

The young man kept his eyes lowered, silent and still, yet the gaze behind his lashes followed everyone who spoke, his deep, bottomless eyes reflecting the light of calculation.

He was also thinking, also observing.

When it came time to divide the rooms, three to a room, Zou Yan decisively invited Qi Si.

"Nine" was too large a number; in a situation of complex, intertwined interests, she needed a rational and calm ally.

Qi Si agreed, and the two of them pulled in a newcomer, choosing Room 1.

On the first night, Miss Anna went downstairs and knocked on every door.

The newcomer sharing their room was so frightened that he screamed and shouted, triggering a death condition just as expected.

Vines tore through the door gap and surged in like a tidal wave. In the darkness, Zou Yan saw Qi Si's eyes open slightly—terrifying like the pupils of a beast, bright like fire on an ice field.

The cold-faced young man didn't even stand up; in a single second, he drew an awl from the special bracelet on his right wrist and knocked the troublesome newcomer unconscious.

The vines at the door continued to grow and spread, showing no intention of letting the matter rest.

The young man sat up slowly. Without hesitation, he grabbed the collar of the unconscious newcomer and threw him toward the door.

The vines coiled around the newcomer and dragged him out of the room. The young man watched the scene without any extra expression.

At that moment, Zou Yan realized that this player named "Qi Si" was the same kind of person as her—a kindred spirit she hadn't seen in a long time.

"Let's cooperate," she said.

Qi Si tilted his head to look at her, and after a long moment, he beamed a bright smile. "Alright."

He was like a completely different person compared to his previous cold expression. Even though she couldn't sense any genuine happiness from him, he smiled so joyfully that the contradiction intrigued Zou Yan.

She thought that the next three days wouldn't be boring; Qi Si would make for an excellent subject of observation.

Complex situations easily breed variables, and forcing a solution to the world-building would only invite trouble. Without any objections, the two finalized a plan to kill the other players to trigger the "minimum death toll" mechanism.

Things progressed smoothly. After killing one more person, they formed an alliance with Shen Ming and Ye Zi, gaining a numerical advantage.

Chang Xu, Lin Chen, and the little girl named Xu Xinyi were no match for them at all and were quickly brought under control.

While Lin Chen and Xu Xinyi only knew how to cry and wail, Chang Xu had a temperament as foul and stubborn as a rock. He found an opportunity to snatch Qi Si's specialized bracelet and carved a deep gash across his chest.

The others subdued Chang Xu in time, intending to toss him outside the manor at night to let the dungeon's mechanics finish him off.

Qi Si, however, clutched the wound on his chest and smiled as he blocked them. "Keep him. This guy is quite interesting."

One person's life or death was of no consequence, so although Chang Xu had his limbs broken, he remained alive.

On the third day, the four of them chose to kill Xu Xinyi, obtaining the item that could point toward clues.

A massive amount of information regarding the dungeon's world-building surfaced. Zou Yan vaguely sensed something was wrong, and after some investigation, she confirmed the existence of a "time loop."

As it turned out, killing three people did not mean clearing the level. The cycle would not stop; those who survived would lose their memories and return to the beginning to repeat the same scenario until everyone was buried in Rose Manor.

She told Qi Si about this discovery. The latter looked at the sea of roses outside the window and smiled indifferently. "A six-person game is much clearer than a nine-person one. At least when we collect clues in the second round, it won't be as troublesome as it is now. Besides, if you calculate it, we still have two rounds of opportunities, don't we?"

For a moment, Zou Yan suspected that the young man had known all of this from the start, and that using the first round to thin the numbers had been part of his plan. Even keeping Chang Xu alive might have been a preparation for the second round.

But she dismissed the thought—how could anyone have laid out such a trap before she even did?

The night bell chimed nine times. Watching his flickering silhouette behind the candlelight, she asked on a whim, "If our interests conflict later, will you kill me?"

The young man smiled, his eyes curving into crescents. "Don't you already know? We are the same kind of people."

The answer was clear; their choices had long been settled in their respective hearts, requiring no further words.

Zou Yan's rationality told her that she should eliminate the unstable factor that could lead to variables as soon as possible.

But she hesitated.

Three people had already died, and the remaining six formed exactly two three-day cycles. She wasn't sure if killing one more person now would cause the game to end prematurely, leaving her with insufficient time to crack the world-building.

Moreover, Qi Si in the first round seemed to possess nothing but calmness and indifference; he had no significant stash of items and could only rely on her. How much trouble could he really stir up?

In the end, Zou Yan dared not gamble the game's mechanics on her baseless suspicions.

She thought that killing Qi Si once the next round started wouldn't be too difficult.

Besides, it had been a long time since she had seen someone this interesting; what harm was there in keeping him around for one more round?

Thus, she watched Qi Si leave the room, walk out of the manor, and stand in the center of the sea of flowers, maintaining a guarded and distant space between them.

She did not stop him.

When the manor's clock strikes twelve, a new cycle will begin. The players will forget the grudges between them, the bloody sins they committed will dissipate, and they will gather at the long table like innocent passersby, meeting for the first time all over again.

Zou Yan knew she only had three hours to ruminate on the memories of these three days.

She stood before the massive floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the young man standing in the sea of flowers.

The heavy rain had stopped long ago, and the moon emerged from the clouds, its pale light casting a chilling glow on his blood-stained white shirt.

The young man stood there—motionless, soundless, and silent.

He was all alone, his back turned to the manor, as cold as a statue of a god and as lonely as a wild beast.

I ask you all, is this dungeon worth a monthly ticket? (Hands on hips) You can also cast recommendation votes, and leaving comments or chapter notes would be great too. I really want to know how many friends have read up to this point... Writing in isolation every day, I'm really struggling to keep going. /crying