Chapter 15 Rose Manor (XIV) Reasoning the Past

The clues on Chang Xu’s side were similar in structure to the parts already known to Qi Si; both consisted of four cryptic lines of poetry, plus five segments of diary-style content.

Judging by the tone, the diaries in the two sets of clues were written by different people, which happened to metaphorically reveal the backstory from different perspectives.

Qi Si read the clues from beginning to end twice, memorized them, then took a piece of papyrus and stood at the table to write down the clues from his own room from memory.

Next, he picked up the red dress and repeated the speculation he had shared with Lin Chen, earning a look of confusion yet awe from Chang Xu.

With the two sets of clues combined, a story had already taken shape.

“A fallen aristocratic family had two daughters. The elder daughter, Anna, was beautiful and perfect in every way, while the younger daughter, Annie, was far more mediocre by comparison. A man stumbled into the manor, fell in love with Anna, and made every effort to marry her, but unfortunately, he was one step too late; Anna, thinking she had been abandoned by him, had long since died of melancholy.”

“The reason why time is the most important factor is that the mechanical clock had been tampered with, causing the man and Anna to miss each other on the night they had agreed to elope, leading to a series of misunderstandings.” Qi Si looked down at the words on the paper, a strange smile blooming at the corner of his lips.

“I don’t know what kind of psychology drove Annie—perhaps it was a twisted love, or perhaps it was a jealousy she herself didn’t even realize—but she took on the identity of her sister, Anna, met with the man who returned to the manor, killed him, and buried him in the garden.”

Lin Chen also knew this information. Faking it would be too easy to expose, and besides, it was useless on its own, so Qi Si stated it truthfully, which happened to dispel some of the wariness between the two parties cooperating.

After finishing, he looked at Chang Xu: “Brother Chang, you’ve been digging in the garden all morning; did you dig up anything else strange?”

Chang Xu replied: “A total of three corpses, two men and one woman, initially presumed to be players.”

“… Alright then.”

That was that. He had originally hoped to find the corpse of the warrior who had pursued Miss Anna.

Qi Si was slightly disappointed, but not much.

He continued: “I tested it; the Miss Anna we saw at the dining table is a living person, likely the younger sister, Annie, who survived. The real Miss Anna is already dead and might appear in the state of Ghosts.”

Chang Xu frowned slightly: “It is known that Annie and Anna do not look alike. The fact that she took Anna’s place without being discovered suggests she could mobilize the power of the Eerie long ago. I feel that Rose Manor itself is likely problematic; she is just a part of the Eerie, controlled by someone else.”

“That is also my speculation.” Qi Si nodded in agreement.

Those who set the rule often have the privilege of not following the rule, and it is very obvious that Miss Anna does not have the right to break the rule.

In other words, there is someone else who dictates those Eerie rules in Rose Manor.

“The clues to complete this part of the reasoning are either on the Third Floor or with Zou Yan and Ye Zi.” Qi Si’s gaze fell back on the four lines of poetry at the top of the page.

The lines of poetry belonging to him were ambiguous, like a prophecy or a curse, causing a suffocating, sharp pain in his heart just from a single glance.

By comparison, the four lines of poetry belonging to Chang Xu were much easier to understand.

【I am finally trapped in time】

【Dawn and dusk intersect here】

【The cycle repeats year after year】

【Yesterday reappears with me】

Trapped in the same time within an endless cycle, experiencing the same yesterday over and over—

It is clearly talking about a time loop and time reversal.

Qi Si narrowed his eyes and asked: “Brother Chang, do you usually carry that 【Pocket Watch of Fate】 with you and check it often?”

“On average, once every half hour.” Chang Xu took the pocket watch out of his pocket and checked the time again, “In my memory, from entering the instance until now, there has been no obvious problem with time.”

“Is that so?”

Qi Si believed that Chang Xu was not too stupid; having been the first to get clues about time, he would certainly pay more attention to this aspect, and there was basically no possibility of error.

The pocket watch indicating objective time did not show any abnormalities, which was enough to prove that the time in this instance had not yet experienced any loops or reversals.

The reasoning had already reached a dead end; to proceed further, more information was needed…

“Let’s go, let’s go to the Third Floor and take a look together.” Qi Si reached out to push the door.

At that moment, the mechanical clock struck for the first time.

…

In Guest Room No. 1 near the stairs, Zou Yan and Ye Zi sat at the desk, staring intently at an eyeball-shaped prop on the table.

【Name: Eye of Hermes (Right Eye)】

【Type: Item】

【Effect: After placing the left eye into a certain space, one can see what the left eye sees from the right eye; during the transmission process, it can significantly lower the vigilance and perception of nearby players】

【Note: The gods know everything, so says Hermes】

At this moment, what appeared on the eyeball was the scene in Chang Xu’s room, including Qi Si’s speculation about the backstory and the decision of the two to explore the Third Floor.

“The most brilliant game is to stay behind the scenes, to observe, to spy, and to collect the most information while everyone else is ignorant and unaware.” Zou Yan looked at Ye Zi and smiled faintly, “By comparison, entering the game with open cards is truly the worst choice. After all, we don’t have an advantage in force.”

Ye Zi lowered her head, silent, as scenes of her time with Zou Yan flashed before her eyes.

First, pretending to be a good person to avoid arousing others’ wariness; then requiring her to act panicked, exposing the fact that she knew Shen Ming to divert attention; and finally, inciting an argument to mislead other players into thinking it was impossible for the two of them to form an alliance.

—Undoubtedly manipulating people’s hearts perfectly.

She had originally thought she could control Zou Yan by relying on her alliance with Shen Ming; even if Shen Ming died, it would be nothing more than seeking cooperation on equal footing; but now it seemed that Zou Yan had firmly held the upper hand from beginning to end.

Ye Zi remembered the knowledge Shen Ming had taught her and asked with a grin: “Sister Zou, this isn’t your second time entering an instance, is it? A prop like this isn’t something a newcomer can get. You’re a veteran who spent points to designate this instance, right?”

Zou Yan countered: “Aren’t you the same?”

Ye Zi’s smile did not diminish: “I’m a pure newcomer. I was tricked by the contract of the company I signed with, owed a debt, and had no choice but to enter the game to try and earn some money.”

“Sister Zou, is there anything special about this instance? Why did you choose to enter it? I heard that there are no points rewards for designated instance entry…”

“Is that so.” Zou Yan smiled knowingly.

She had no intention of answering Ye Zi’s question but instead looked straight into the latter’s eyes, a compassionate and gentle expression on her face: “Can you help me complete an experiment?”

“What experiment?”

The pendulum of the mechanical clock struck for the first time, and the lingering sound faded into silence the moment it was born.

Zou Yan said: “Ye Zi, close your eyes.”

…

The mechanical clock struck for the first time; it was one o’clock in the afternoon.

Chang Xu picked up the pocket watch in his hand and took a look; his face, which had always been expressionless, finally changed.

“The pocket watch is an hour fast. Just a second ago, the hour hand moved a full notch, as if an hour of time had been pulled away out of thin air.”

He turned the knob to calibrate the time on the pocket watch, his tone of statement still without any fluctuation.

An hour of time had passed out of thin air, yet the two of them had no impression of it, and the time within the instance was still one o’clock in the afternoon—the answer was self-evident.

“It’s a time reversal with a duration of one hour.” Qi Si looked around, “Could it be that the Eerie Game saw that we were at a loss and was afraid of affecting the average clearance rate, so it deliberately gave us a hint?”

He was making a nonsensical joke, but unfortunately, it didn’t amuse anyone.

The situation just now was very clear; the time reversal mechanism had been triggered by other players, and it was related to the four-line poetry clue they had just obtained.

Their information had leaked, and the person who stole the information was clearly confident enough in their own strength and was not afraid of them knowing at all.

Or perhaps they were in such a rush to complete something that they couldn’t wait even a moment, and as soon as they obtained the information, they couldn’t wait to try it out.

Qi Si walked out of the room, his gaze lingering on the door of the guest room next door.

The gloomy, mottled wooden door was tightly closed; there was nothing unusual about its appearance, and not even a sound leaked out.

Behind him, Chang Xu seemed to have thought of something and reached out to grope his body.

Two seconds later, he extended two fingers and pinched out an eyeball-shaped object from his jacket pocket.

That thing was already shattered, but the pupil, covered in blood vessels and markings, was still constantly dilating and contracting, performing an action similar to breathing, like the remains of some tenacious monster.

“Someone is spying on us.” Chang Xu threw the eyeball to Qi Si, signaling him to look.

Qi Si raised his hand to catch the eyeball, and the moment his skin touched the cold fluid, a system prompt appeared before his eyes.

【Name: Eye of Hermes (Left Eye) (Damaged)】

【Type: Item】

【Effect:…】

Chang Xu’s expression was cold and stern: “Not long ago, Liu Qingye had physical contact with me. I guess this prop was likely placed on me at that time. The night before, I also had contact with Shen Ming, so the corresponding possibility cannot be ruled out.”

Qi Si shook his head slightly: “It’s not Shen Ming. Having a premonition that he was going to die in advance and making wedding clothes for others—he doesn’t seem like such an unselfish person.”

At this point, the clues connected, and all the various oddities encountered earlier had an explanation.

On the first day, Ye Zi appeared lively and cheerful, and even had the leisure to chat about gossip, clearly not taking life and death seriously, and her acting skills and IQ were also in a good range.

As a result, by the second day, she first showed an excessive concern for the corpses, then fell into disarray, revealing flaws and making bad moves everywhere…

She was like a different person from the first day.

Ordinary people might think this was a normal reaction to being stimulated, but Qi Si, who had been acting since he was a child, didn’t think so—for no other reason than that practice makes perfect.

Now it seems his premonition was correct.

Qi Si smiled and tapped his chin with his finger: “Ye Zi suddenly having an argument with Zou Yan was probably just to create the illusion that the two of them were not on good terms. Pushing someone out as a smokescreen to muddy the waters—what a good plan…”

Chang Xu’s expression tightened: “You mean…”