Without a second thought, Ning Zhuangzhuang took several long strides, trying to flee back to her room.
But the moment she opened the door, "Mom's" icy voice sounded beside her:
"What are you doing here so late?"
Ning Zhuangzhuang turned around stiffly.
"Mom" wore a plain long dress, her hair trailing on the floor. She studied Ning Zhuangzhuang as though she were looking at a corpse.
"What are you doing outside so late?"
"Mom" repeated the question and took a step forward.
An oppressive presence washed over her.
It's over, Ning Zhuangzhuang thought. I'm going to die here.
"Mom's" long hair began moving without a breeze, lunging toward her and coiling around her neck like snakes.
"Did you go somewhere you shouldn't have, or look at something you shouldn't have?"
Ning Zhuangzhuang instinctively thought of what had just happened in Room 208 and stammered, "N-no. There was a snake on my bed. I got scared and ran out."
The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted not being calmer. She sounded so unnatural-it was obvious she was lying!
"Really?"
"Mom" reached out and pressed her hand against Ning Zhuangzhuang's forehead.
Ning Zhuangzhuang trembled even harder. She had almost forgotten that "Mom" could use this method to tell whether a player was lying.
On the day they had cleaned the house, one player had had their eyes gouged out for looking at the cabinet in Room 208.
Goodbye, Lu Mi.
She drew a deep breath and closed her eyes, ready to meet her death.
"If there's a snake, just chase it away."
??
Ning Zhuangzhuang opened her eyes in astonishment. The long hair wrapped around her was slowly withdrawing.
"Good night." With that, "Mom" walked toward the other end of the corridor. Her lips gleamed with grease, as though she had just had a late-night snack.
When Ning Zhuangzhuang collapsed onto her bed, her heart was still pounding wildly.
Was that a dream? She pinched her cheek. It wasn't, was it?
Even if she hadn't lied, surely being outside so late should have gotten her killed?
How could she possibly have survived that situation?
She rolled over, still shaken and utterly bewildered, when she suddenly felt something digging into her waist.
But there was nothing on the bed. She felt around her clothes and pulled several hard pieces out of her pocket.
She held them up to the moonlight by the window and recognized the Buddha Jade, now broken into several pieces.
After entering his room, Lu Mi sneezed.
A figure on the bed immediately sat up. "Did you catch a chill?"
Sure enough, the man who wanted nothing but to bury his face in cat fur had come.
Lu Mi warned him, "It's almost midnight. Don't mess with me."
Roman lowered his cloak's hood, his eyes pleading. "But I waited so long for you..."
"I mean it. I'm really tired today..."
Dong-dong-
As the clock struck twelve, Lu Mi turned into a tabby cat before he could finish speaking.
He wearily jumped onto the bed, ready for a good rest, only to be scooped up by a pair of large hands.
Roman lifted the tabby to his chest and buried his face in his soft belly.
He nuzzled him like that for quite a while, yet never heard the cat's contented purring.
He hesitated, then suddenly felt a sharp pain in his hand.
Lu Mi leaped out of his arms, flopped onto the bed, and went to sleep on his own. He didn't spare Roman so much as a glance, leaving him with nothing but three bleeding claw marks.
Roman froze. He stared at the curled-up tabby for a long time before finally realizing what had happened.
Lu Mi was angry.
He lowered his eyes, at a loss. Putting his gloves back on, he rested his hand on a piece of clothing beside him.
It was a loose, pale green knitted sweater.
He had traveled through world after world before finding a piece of clothing worthy of Lu Mi, then risked punishment from the rules to bring it here.
All that had taken him quite some time. It had been nearly midnight by the time he returned.
Lu Mi got up rather late the next morning. When he entered the dining room, he saw Xu Zhi and Zhang Mei talking quietly in a corner. The breakfast on the table also showed signs of having been eaten.
It seemed everyone except him and Ning Zhuangzhuang had already eaten.
He picked up a glass of water, only to notice tiny bubbles rising through it unnaturally.
After Ning Zhuangzhuang came in, Lu Mi pointed at the glass. "Someone put something in the water."
He glanced at Xu Zhi, who was still talking and hadn't looked their way.
But Lu Mi's instincts told him that Xu Zhi was actually keeping an eye on them.
Before long, "Mom" walked into the kitchen with a smile and announced that their relatives would be coming over for lunch.
Today, she wore a bright red padded jacket, as though trying to look festive, but the sight was deeply unsettling.
As usual, Xu Zhi agreed on everyone's behalf. "Mom" nodded and went into the adjoining kitchen.
The kitchen door was only partly closed, so Lu Mi quietly peered through the gap.
Wearing an apron, "Mom" took all sorts of fruits and vegetables out of the cupboard and rinsed them in the sink.
Ning Zhuangzhuang leaned over for a look as well.
They watched for a while and found that "Mom" did nothing but cook the entire time. She really seemed to be preparing a lunch for her guests.
Back in the living room, Lu Mi asked, "Where did all that food come from? I didn't see any of it in the cupboard when I cleaned the kitchen."
"The game system generated it. Our breakfast, too." Ning Zhuangzhuang activated her wristband. "It just doesn't taste very good, so some people choose to buy their own food from the panel's shop."
Lu Mi couldn't see Ning Zhuangzhuang's panel, but he still found it amazing. "So the wristband can do that, too. Does that mean you bought the meat buns you gave me the morning before yesterday from there?"
"Yes. There are lots of other goods, too, but they cost points... You'll learn all about that once you clear the game."
And here he had spent the past few days worrying about the human flesh in the fridge, daring to eat only vegetables. Lu Mi silently regretted it.
"Oh, right. You put this in my pocket, didn't you?" Ning Zhuangzhuang took the broken Buddha Jade out of her pocket.
Lu Mi took it from her. "Yes. It's a protective charm the Ghost Infant gave me. I thought Room 208 might be dangerous."
"When I went back to my room last night, I ran into 'Mom' at the worst possible moment. It must have broken while protecting me then. This is something really important, isn't it? And now I've broken it..."
"Don't think of it that way," Lu Mi interrupted. "I'll find a way to repair it. Thank goodness it worked, or I wouldn't have seen you today."
Ning Zhuangzhuang looked at him and smiled faintly.
Just then, Zhang Mei sighed at the family portrait. "At noon today, our heads will have to be arranged in the same positions as in this photo."
"Yes. We originally had a sliver of hope." Xu Zhi stood beside her, but his dark gaze drifted toward Lu Mi. "Too bad certain people are so stubborn that they refuse to share their clues."
Ning Zhuangzhuang looked away, her tone turning somewhat cold. By now, her opinion of Xu Zhi had completely changed.
"Tell me why we can't give the mirror to the man in the cabinet."
Before you continue