I get it!

A picture frame sat beside the vase. Vanessa walked over and picked it up to examine it.

It was a photograph of two people. In the center was a girl seated at a table, lifting a fork toward her mouth. A small cake with candles stood before her, while beside her was an empty silhouette.

In the photograph, a girl with a bright smile sat at the dining table, her fork bringing food toward her lips, a small cake with candles in front of her.

Yet the spot beside the girl, where another person should have stood, held only a glaring, charred hole-the photograph seemed to have been deliberately damaged, a hole precisely burned into that side, leaving only a vague human outline and curled scorch marks around the edges.

Vanessa carefully removed the frame's backing. On the back of the yellowed photographic paper, a line of handwriting came into view:

"My love-Sophia Everhart."

The place where the signature should have been had likewise been burned away, leaving only scorch marks corresponding to the hole on the front.

"Sophia? Was she that old man's wife or daughter?" Vanessa frowned in confusion. "Why burn himself out of it?"

There was an unsettling finality to this deliberate erasure.

She reassembled the frame, returned it to its place, and continued searching the first floor.

The kitchen was exceptionally tidy, the stove cold and the cupboards empty, as though its owner had foreseen a final farewell and erased the traces of daily life in advance.

She found only a few dusty Leo beneath the moth-eaten sofa, and nothing else after that.

Her gaze shifted to the second floor.

The stairs were somewhat rotten, and their creaking beneath her feet worried her a little. She watched her footing carefully with every step.

Upstairs was a short hallway connecting the bedroom and the study.

Vanessa found a small bookshelf in the study with a dozen or so books on it. She leafed through them and discovered that the old man's reading really had been eclectic.

About half were novels, including popular fiction and mysteries, and there was even an erotic novel with a suggestive cover.

Beside the hefty Tryst Empire Chronicles stood the bizarre Woodland Rambles, as well as a cult book titled Song of Flesh, its pages filled with spine-chilling illustrations and blasphemous words.

The rest were obscure collections of poetry and essays, their lines full of vague metaphors that left Vanessa utterly confused.

But whether she could understand them didn't matter. What mattered was that she could sell these books for money!

Vanessa felt a burst of delight. She didn't know much about the exact prices of books, but by her rough estimate, they could probably fetch a hundred Leo... right?

Hmm, if I want to sell books, I'll have to find a bookstore... I can ask that Dorothea about it the next time I visit the Wild Dog Gang.

The girl had indeed read quite a few books, but she had read all of them for free at the library. This was her first time buying or selling books herself.

Vanessa looked around the room, felt she probably hadn't missed anything, and carried the books outside.

After descending the stairs and reaching the front door, she suddenly stopped, set the books down, then turned and headed back into the house.

Just then-

Her body abruptly stiffened! That familiar, irresistible will took over her body again.

It's here! Vanessa perked up.

She was being controlled again.

This time, however, Vanessa felt no resistance whatsoever. Instead, a strange anticipation rose within her.

She had finally understood: although this will acted imperiously, it had never truly harmed her.

For instance, when she had collapsed in the freezing rain, that will had controlled her and taken her to the hospital. When she had encountered a powerful enemy, it had directly controlled her in battle!

Without its control, she would certainly have died. This will had never harmed her so far.

Aside from stuffing raw potatoes and black bread into her mouth...

Besides, she couldn't resist anyway, so what else could she do? It could control her if it wanted.

Then if it had come to control her this time, she must need help. There must be something she hadn't done well enough!

Sure enough, Vanessa watched her body move and begin searching the house.

It seemed there was something she hadn't found, and that will had come to guide her.

Vanessa nodded in satisfaction. Her feelings seemed to have swung from one extreme to the other, and she had instead become somewhat reliant on this control.

But that feeling was soon replaced by a sense of strangeness.

Over here... didn't I already search this spot?

I went through these drawers too...

There's nothing under the bed. I checked!

Vanessa "watched," dumbfounded, as her body gave the entire first floor another cursory search.

Its movements were even more perfunctory and careless than hers had been, as though it were merely mechanically carrying out the command "search" itself.

There's nothing here! Stop wasting your effort! Vanessa couldn't help shouting inwardly.

Sure enough, after rummaging around and finding nothing, her body returned to the doorway.

Vanessa felt a little reflective. So the will controlling her wasn't all-powerful after all.

Then she watched herself suddenly turn around and retrieve a key from a gap between the fireplace bricks.

Vanessa: "???"

She had indeed missed that fireplace, but she hadn't gone over to inspect it during the controlled search just now either. How had she walked over and taken it straight out?

Did that will know there was something here?

That was certainly possible, but why search places she had already checked?

Was it worried I'd missed something?

Vanessa regained control and looked at the key in her hand, feeling rather bewildered, only to suddenly feel her body stiffen.

That will was controlling her again!

Uh, did I miss somewhere else? Or... is it going to use the key?

But both her guesses were wrong. That will walked over to the drawers that had already been searched twice and began rummaging through them exactly as before.

Vanessa: "..."

It really was exactly the same as before! Just a cursory rummage, as though merely performing the act of "searching," without paying any attention at all!

It found nothing this time either.

When Vanessa walked back to the kitchen, speechless, her leg kicked the stove, revealing a trapdoor hidden beneath it.

Vanessa was stunned.

Then her body stiffened again, and she began searching those damned drawers for the fourth time...

At the Difference Engine.

Elliot watched the flip display on it, feeling a little bored.

The combat portion of this game was well designed, but exploration was a little boring.

All he had to do was insert a card into the [Explore] slot, and the character would automatically begin searching.

What was particularly annoying was that each search only produced one clue, so he had to search repeatedly.

This was purely a waste of the player's time!

Fortunately, this house didn't have many clues, and a few repetitions uncovered them all.

Next, he should only have to use the key he had found to open the attic's concealed lock...

Elliot stopped searching, satisfied. In his experience, the girl would soon go investigate on her own.

But this time, things took a somewhat unexpected turn.

The girl's card froze in place for quite a while. Then the brass dials on the speech panel suddenly spun frantically, spelling out a line:

[I get it!]