"You mean..."
It took Zhao Yi a moment to remember the doll Wang Xing had smashed yesterday morning. "It was because of the doll that he..."
Bo Yi nodded.
Zhao Yi looked thoughtful. "Now that you mention it, they really did look alike..." In particular, he remembered Wang Xing crushing the doll's eyes underfoot-didn't that match his eyes, which had looked as though they had been run over?
Once he learned what had caused Wang Xing's death, Zhao Yi visibly relaxed. Clearly, as long as they didn't go out of their way to get themselves killed, they probably wouldn't trigger this death condition.
The two turned and left the room.
Bo Yu was waiting for them in the corridor. "Neither Zhang Songhao nor Tian Xiuyun is in their room."
"The rooms are clean."
Zhao Wen Shan speculated, "...Could they have run out on their own?" After all, both were newcomers. If they discovered monsters in their rooms, it would be perfectly normal for them to flee blindly in terror.
The others thought it over and agreed that Zhao Wen Shan had a point, so the remaining players gathered in the corridor and set out to search together.
Not long after leaving the gallery, they found Zhang Songhao-he was lying motionless, face down on the stairs. Even when he heard their footsteps, he showed no sign of getting up.
Bo Yu was at the front, so she reached Zhang Songhao first. She crouched down and felt his already cold, stiff neck, then turned to the others. "He's dead."
"He probably died last night."
"How did he die?"
Zheng Rong stepped forward as well and helped Bo Yu turn him over. When he saw the dent in Zhang Songhao's forehead, understanding crossed his face. "Oh. He fell to his death."
The carpet was so close to the color of blood that he hadn't initially noticed the large pool spreading beneath the body.
He examined Zhang Songhao and found no other wounds. Presumably, Zhang Songhao hadn't seen the steps clearly while fleeing and had fallen straight down. The blow to his head had left him unable to get up, and he had died from excessive blood loss.
But since he had died from a fall, it had nothing to do with the instance's death conditions, so there was no point in investigating further.
Zheng Rong and Zhao Yi worked together to move the body aside and clear the way. "Then let's look for Tian Xiuyun..."
Although they knew Tian Xiuyun was probably doomed as well, in this game, both a player's death and their body represented clues-and a chance of survival for those still alive. They had to find her.
Strangely, though, despite searching the castle all morning, not one of them found any trace of Tian Xiuyun, even by lunchtime.
Dead or alive.
It was as if she had evaporated inside the castle. They found neither her living self nor her corpse.
Still puzzled, they could only head to the dining room.
After just one night, another three chairs had disappeared from the dining room. Only six remained at the table, looking especially lonely beside its length.
"Did my guests sleep well last night?" The master of the house sat at the head of the table as usual, smiling at them.
It sounded like an ordinary question from a host, but to the players who hadn't slept all night, it sounded very much like mockery.
Zhao Wen Shan gave a quiet huff of displeasure. "We didn't sleep very well..."
"Really... What a shame..." Even her quiet grumbling hadn't escaped the master's ears. Still, he didn't seem angry. He nodded good-naturedly. "I didn't sleep well yesterday either..."
He picked up his knife and fork and spoke as he cut his meat. "I received some new materials last night and spent the whole night working."
His voice mingled with the grating scrape of cutlery against his plate. "It's just a pity..."
The master raised his fork and carefully studied the grain of the muscle on it in the candlelight. "They still weren't worthy of my work..."
None of the players spoke again.
Apart from Bo Yi, who kept eating as though no one else were there, all the players sat frozen in their seats. They had no desire to know what the master meant by "materials."
But the master clearly had no intention of letting them off. After swallowing his food with relish, he raised his eyes to them. "Perhaps I could ask for my guests' help?"
"After all, the sooner I finish, the sooner my guests can see my work..." he said meaningfully.
"So, if any of you have suitable materials, you may give them to me..."
"Well then..." He elegantly wiped his mouth and rose from the table. "Enjoy your meal..."
Even after the master had disappeared from sight, the dining room remained utterly silent. Then a sob broke the deathly stillness. "Sob..."
Pan Lulu covered her face with her hands, choking out between sobs, "W-what did he... what did he mean...?"
"What else could he mean?" Zhao Wen Shan's expression was grim. "He meant we don't need to keep looking for Tian Xiuyun."
Because the master had already taken her and "used" her up.
"S-so, Tian Xiuyun, she..." Tears clouded Pan Lulu's eyes, and her face was full of the panic and grief of someone who had just heard terrible news about a friend. "Is she already...?"
The others remained silent, offering no answer. But Pan Lulu found her answer in their silence anyway.
Then she cried even harder.
"The real question is, what did Tian Xiuyun do? Why did the master suddenly choose her?" Zhao Yi tapped the table and asked the crucial question.
Ever since they entered the instance, the master had shown no intention of attacking the players. He had seemed so harmless that Zhao Yi had almost taken him for a guide NPC.
Zhao Wen Shan looked at Pan Lulu, who was still wiping away her tears. "Weren't you with her most of the time? Do you know anything?"
"Me?" Pan Lulu looked up blankly, tears still brimming in her eyes. "I don't know... sob..."
Zhao Wen Shan patiently prompted her. "Then did she do anything unusual yesterday?"
Pan Lulu shook her head again. "I really don't know... We were just looking for clues in the castle. We didn't dare touch anything..."
Pan Lulu's crying was giving Zhao Wen Shan a headache. "All right, all right, I get it..."
She was just about to give up on getting any clues from Pan Lulu when Bo Yi, who had been silent all this time, suddenly tapped the table.
"Where's that rose of yours?"
He addressed Pan Lulu.
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