Chapter 10: Rose Manor (IX) Prisoner’s Dilemma

Lin Chen was considered a high-achieving student in reality. Hearing Qi Si’s hint, he immediately understood the crux of the problem.

Shen Ming, the most capable among them, had already met with an accident; the difficulty of this instance was self-evident.

Once players realized that it was difficult to achieve clearance through normal means like gathering clues or deciphering rules, they might do anything unethical in order to survive.

The original team instance had now been imbued with competitive and hostile attributes; no wonder Qi Si had said from the beginning that he couldn’t trust the others…

Having lived in a society governed by law for twenty years, Lin Chen still held onto a sliver of unrealistic fantasy.

He stammered, “But we are all human. We could clearly just pool our clues together, try to cooperate against the Eerie Game, and find a way to achieve clearance together…”

“Have you heard of the Prisoner’s Dilemma?” Qi Si tapped his chin, guiding him patiently. “Cooperating to decipher the world-building is indeed the best choice, but the chain of suspicion objectively exists. We cannot be sure if others harbor malicious intent to harm us. The person who discloses clues first will inevitably fall into a disadvantage regarding information, and their survival will depend entirely on the benevolence or malice of others.”

He sighed, “No one is willing to entrust their fate to others, so this was a dead end from the beginning.”

Lin Chen whispered a rebuttal, “But normally, wouldn’t people be unwilling to harm others?”

“Why are you so naive?” Qi Si smiled. “You must know that humans evolved from beasts; the pursuit of profit and bloodlust are memes inscribed into our instincts. Children are born knowing how to lie, and they will torture insects and trample ants for no reason. As they grow and their strength increases, the thought of harming others will often flash through their minds.”

“Bullying on campus, street fights, workplace harassment, oppression—whether bloody or bloodless—harming others for profit is something written in our genes. Only not harming people requires a reason, such as fear of causing trouble, fear of one’s weak body being destroyed by the collective, or simply… because playing by the rules of morality makes it more convenient to obtain benefits.”

“In reality, thanks to the constraints of law enforcement, the risk of harming others is far greater than the potential gain most of the time. But in the game, there are no laws and no evidence can be left behind. How do you think the risk compares to the benefits?”

Lin Chen instinctively followed this logic, quickly realizing that if the worst-case scenario occurred and players began killing each other, then a newcomer like him would undoubtedly become a sacrificial lamb.

His heart skipped a beat, and he looked up at Qi Si.

The latter lowered his eyes at the right moment and smiled bitterly, “I have always loathed the rule of’survival of the fittest,’ simply because I know there is no such thing as an absolute powerhouse; even the fiercest beast will have a day when its strength runs dry. I firmly believe that peace and unity are more conducive to everyone’s survival, but now, I no longer know who to trust.”

“Shen Ming, as a player entering the instance for the third time, died on the first night, and Chang Xu, who shared a room with him, is highly suspicious. Ye Zi clearly knew Shen Ming in reality but intentionally concealed it earlier, so she is also untrustworthy. Zou Yan’s emotions are too stable, as if she had expected everything; there are many suspicious points about her…”

Speaking to this point, Qi Si’s voice became tinged with exhaustion, “You are the only one I can trust.”

“Of course, it seems that currently, I am the only one you can trust as well.”

Qi Si had a highly deceptive appearance, with soft features and very pale lips. He looked completely non-aggressive; on the contrary, he appeared calm, easy-going, and pleasant to talk to, making people trust him as a friend from the bottom of their hearts.

After the little episode before going to sleep last night, Lin Chen had long since let go of his doubts about Qi Si’s identity. Only after hearing these words did he belatedly realize how much of a luxury “trust” was in the Eerie Game.

Being in a weak position, trusting Qi Si was his only option. Yet Qi Si, an experienced veteran player, was actually willing to trust him and had taken the initiative to say such things to seek his trust…

Even though he only had a pale explanation for his own identity and cause of death, with no evidence to verify it; even though Qi Si hadn’t quite believed him yesterday, yet now he was willing to take such a risk…

A trace of guilt couldn’t help but well up in Lin Chen’s heart. Did a newcomer like him, who couldn’t do anything, really deserve such trust and respect?

“I shouldn’t have said these things to you, sorry.” Qi Si smiled self-deprecatingly. “Talking about these irrelevant things at a time like this is useless, other than increasing your pressure.”

“Let’s first find a way to decipher the rules and achieve clearance for the instance. As long as we decipher the world-building early, those worst-case scenarios won’t happen.”

Lin Chen nodded heavily.

Then he heard Qi Si gently instruct, “Go bring out those notes from the room; we’ll look at them in the hallway.”

“Ah? Why?”

“It’s more open here, which makes it easier to run away if we encounter a situation.”

“Oh, oh!”

Watching the back of his temporary teammate hurrying away, Qi Si picked up an apple, took a bite, and chewed it carefully.

I have to say, a gullible teammate is really quite cute. I dare to make things up, and this guy really dares to believe them…

When Lin Chen hurried back to Qi Si’s side with a pile of notes, he saw the latter calmly wiping his fingers with a napkin.

He said, panting, “Brother Qi, I’m back!”

Qi Si raised his eyes and asked with concern, “You didn’t encounter any danger, did you?”

Lin Chen shook his head, moved, “No! Thank you for your concern, Brother Qi!”

“I see…” Qi Si pulled a blade from his bracelet, held it between his fingertips, and turned his back. “Read the contents of the notes to me; I’ll be on the lookout. If there’s danger, I can react in time.”

Lin Chen nodded and then began to read with clear pronunciation.

… 【My chest is decaying】 【Flesh and blood spread on the ground】 【Roses dwell here】 【Tomorrow, endure with me】…

【They say she is the most beautiful girl. She is indeed very pretty, much prettier than me. I believe she will be the most perfect girl in the world; she will be, I hope she is.】

【Why does she never look at me? Why are those beautiful eyes of hers filled with tears? Why does she, who possesses such beauty, not carefully guard this treasure?】

【I will not let her see him again. I only need to gently turn the hands of the clock to change time…】

【She is about to wither, the doctors say. It is because of sadness. She is grieving for that abominable man! That bastard should go to hell!】

【No, she would never think that way. She is much kinder than I am…】

【Everyone thinks I am the one who survived, but actually, I am not. The one who survived is my younger sister; the one who died of illness is me.】

【We both survived, but she is still withering. However, there is still a way… I will love her forever and will cherish her perfection more than she does herself.】

Lin Chen’s voice was steady. It seemed he hadn’t encountered any eerie things from start to finish, which was very different from Qi Si’s experience after opening the notes last night.

Qi Si turned around suspiciously and leaned in to take a glance at the open notes.

Layers of black smoke almost obscured his vision. A phantom of blood-colored vines swayed and grew, condensing into a huge tentacle to touch his cheek, only to scatter into red light on the ground the moment it was about to make contact.

The anomaly lasted only a moment, like a hallucination. His vision settled and became clear. On the yellowed paper, the handwritten English script wriggled like earthworms, spontaneously giving one a sense of the uncanny valley effect regarding text.

The only parts truly legible were the four-line poem on the title page and the five paragraphs of diary entries, which were translated into Chinese the moment his gaze touched them, appearing on the system interface.

Was the crisis only aimed at specific people, or did it have a time limit that would disappear after a while?

Qi Si stroked his chin, lost in thought.

“It makes no sense, I have no idea what it’s talking about.” Lin Chen was completely unaware of Qi Si’s focus.

A bunch of melodramatic plots he had seen on some website floated through his mind. He touched his nose awkwardly, “It sounds like a tragic unrequited love; it feels so morbid and twisted…”

Qi Si gave a light click of his tongue, “Who writes a diary if they’re a normal person?”

Lin Chen perked up his ears, preparing to listen to the expert’s explanation, but Qi Si changed the subject, “Records for many time periods are missing. There should be more clues in the other players’ rooms.”

“Ah? Then what should we do?”

Qi Si looked up at the damp ceiling, “Let’s go check the Third Floor in a while.”

“Oh… ah?”

“It’s not advisable to clash with other players in the short term. The only locations left for us to explore are the garden and the Third Floor. I choose the Third Floor.” Qi Si turned his head to look at Lin Chen, his voice calm.

“It’s this late, and they still haven’t gone upstairs. It’s unlikely they haven’t eaten enough and ordered another table. I guess they have most likely gone to the garden. After all, the butler’s words last night directly indicated that exploring the garden during the day follows the conventional procedure and is relatively safe.”

“By comparison, the Third Floor, as a location with risks, will generally not be considered a priority, so there must be plenty of fresh clues left for us there.”

Lin Chen shook his head repeatedly, “But… but if we get caught by Anna, we’re done for…”

Qi Si patted Lin Chen’s shoulder, “Hmm, we’ll be fine as long as we don’t get caught.”

“How can we not get caught?” Lin Chen wailed with a mournful face, “Anna is elusive; who knows when she’ll suddenly pop upstairs…”

“You don’t need to worry about that. The Eerie Game generally won’t design an unsolvable situation. Since we need to explore the Third Floor, there must be a relatively safe way.”

“You go upstairs to investigate, and I will take the initiative to meet with Anna to see if I can lure her away or stall her.”

Upon hearing the words “go upstairs to investigate,” Lin Chen’s face turned pale, and he reflexively wanted to refuse.

Then, he heard Qi Si’s arrangement for himself.

Taking the initiative to meet Anna and having to stall for some time was undoubtedly a more dangerous and difficult task.

“You and I trust each other; this is our advantage compared to the other players. While they are timid and hesitant, only we can unfold the exploration of the Third Floor through cooperation and planning. If we don’t go to the Third Floor, how can we find all the clues and achieve clearance for the instance?”

Qi Si sighed and added apologetically, “I might not be able to stall for long. You prioritize investigating the terrain and determining if there are any other NPCs on the Third Floor. It’s best if you can obtain more information, but if not, then so be it.”

Lin Chen listened with his head bowed, feeling ashamed of his momentary retreat earlier.

The other person had taken the initiative to take on the greater responsibility, while all he had to do was a simple investigation, which might not even be helpful for clearance…

He had always prided himself on being responsible. How had he become so timid and fearful, like a coward, once he entered the Eerie Game?

Thinking of this, Lin Chen no longer hesitated and clenched his fists, saying, “I… I will do my best!”