Chapter 13: Rose Manor (12) Death Compensation

After Ye Zi came over, it didn’t take long before Zou Yan heard the commotion and walked over as well.

Several people gathered around the corpse in the pit, just like they had previously gathered around Shen Ming’s corpse on the second floor.

After the warning from this morning’s events, the players were relatively calm; no one screamed, and no one paced the ground uneasily.

“This corpse should be the most important clue in the garden,” Zou Yan analyzed. “If things are truly as Chang Xu said and Miss Anna needs corpses as fertilizer for the roses, I’m afraid all of us will become her prey.”

As she spoke, she glanced at Qi Si intentionally or unintentionally, as if certain that the young man would be Miss Anna’s primary focus.

Qi Si smiled nonchalantly, his gaze passing through the void to land on the second-to-last rule on the system interface.

【8. If you must violate certain rules in an emergency, please ensure you violate as few rules as possible; perhaps she will… let you go.】

Yesterday, all players had violated the rule to “stay away from Miss Anna in black,” but in the end, only Shen Ming had an accident, which basically verified Qi Si’s guess.

The number of people an NPC can kill each day is limited; to survive, one only needs to ensure they violate fewer rules than the others.

“From last night’s situation, only those who violate relatively more rules will die.” Qi Si paused, speaking pointedly, “I’m curious what the result would be if all of us violated the same number of rules.”

Ye Zi gave a playful smile: “Either use some means to make a certain player violate one more rule, or randomly select a lucky one who looks pleasing to the eye and kill them. Perhaps we won’t even have to wait for Miss Anna to act before someone among us starts harming their companions.”

Zou Yan shook her head: “It hasn’t happened yet, so there’s no need for us to have internal strife over this. Regardless, this is a team instance; as long as we cooperate to decipher the world view, we will all be fine.”

Ye Zi looked at her with a cold sneer: “What kind of act are you putting on now? Someone’s already dead, and you’re still playing house with this ‘everyone be nice’ routine?”

A groundless dispute broke out inexplicably. Qi Si swept his gaze over the two with interest: “Hasn’t only one person died so far? It won’t be too late to argue when half of us are dead.”

No one could understand his gallows humor. Ye Zi let Zou Yan go and glared at him fiercely: “You with the surname Qi, what kind of nonsense are you talking about to scare people? Are you a psycho?”

“I am mentally ill,” Qi Si corrected patiently.

“F*ck your father…”

Chang Xu, carrying a shovel, had no intention of mediating the fight and continued to lead by example, digging holes in the garden.

The iron farm tool kicked up shovel after shovel of flower mulch, soil flying everywhere; the garden’s environment was no longer suitable for standing.

Qi Si successfully lost interest in continuing to participate in the shouting match. He said, “Leaving first,” then turned back toward the castle and climbed the stairs.

The hallway on the second floor was silent. The corpse and the pool of blood on the floor were long gone, leaving only a few scraps embedded in the cracks of the floor, looking as if the floor had chewed the corpse to nothingness.

Qi Si walked along the edge of where the blood pool had been in his memory, avoiding the filth on the ground as he returned to the guest room.

Lin Chen was already waiting inside.

His face was pale, but his eyes were shining brightly with a strange excitement from having survived a disaster.

Before Qi Si could speak, he reported his results in a rapid-fire manner: “All the doors on the Third Floor are locked, I don’t know what’s inside; I also met an old lady who looked like a ghost at first glance…”

Qi Si listened to his account seriously and said with a smile, “Hard work, this information is very useful. I think I have a lead.”

After the other party completes a command, one must give appropriate affirmation and establish a reward-feedback mechanism—even if it’s only verbal.

By handling these details well, the relationship can become more stable.

As expected, Lin Chen began to giggle happily and continued, “The layout of the Third Floor is very similar to the second floor, but the distance between the first two rooms is relatively large…”

Qi Si walked to the desk, picked up a pen and paper, and began sketching. He was drawing a floor plan of the Third Floor based on Lin Chen’s description. The lines weren’t particularly neat, but they were clear enough to reflect the general layout of the Third Floor.

After adding a few more details to the paper, he seemed to suddenly think of something and looked up at Lin Chen: “Was that old woman you saw on the Third Floor wearing red?”

Lin Chen nodded, not understanding the reason: “Yeah, it was a red princess dress. My eyes were about to go blind…”

Qi Si’s expression became serious, mixed with visible concern: “I remember I should have reminded you about the issue of how to address people. What did you call her?”

Lin Chen asked in confusion, “I just called her ‘Miss Anna,’ what’s wrong?”

All of this was within Qi Si’s expectations; it was even the result of his intentional verbal inducement.

But at this moment, he looked as if he had heard some terrible news, his expression turning ugly: “Didn’t I tell you not to use specific identifying titles lightly?…Look at rule 9.”

Although Lin Chen didn’t understand what was happening, Qi Si’s expression still made him panic.

He hurriedly looked at the system interface.

【9. Please try not to go to the Third Floor. If you do go, you must not be discovered by Miss Anna.】

Don’t be discovered by Miss Anna… It was known that there might be two Miss Annas. The identity of that old woman in red was unknown and she appeared on the Third Floor; what if she was the other Miss Anna?

Then hadn’t he violated the rule?

Many times, when one’s thinking falls into a trap or gets stuck in a certain place, they only need a little nudge from others to understand the key point.

In just a second, Lin Chen’s face became as white as paper: “No… that can’t be right? Didn’t they say Miss Anna is very beautiful? With her looking like that, how could she be Miss Anna?”

Qi Si flipped the notes on the table to a certain page and placed his finger on a line of text: “Read it.”

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

“Withering means ugliness. Isn’t it stated very clearly above? One Miss Anna is no longer perfect. Think carefully, what is the antonym of ‘beauty’?”

Qi Si reached out to brush away a rose petal that had fallen on Lin Chen’s shoulder, his voice cold: “If you hadn’t called out that name, you might have been saved by the fact that the ignorant are not guilty; but you just had to be self-righteous… As for now, heh.”

Lin Chen’s mind went blank.

He thought of Qi Si’s instructions when they parted, and how his brain had somehow flared up when he met the old woman… Yes, it was as if he had reacted that way while possessed.

Why did he try to be clever? It would have been fine if he just said “I don’t know”… Regret, or despair? Or both?

Lin Chen didn’t know what expression to make. Out of instinct, he tightly grabbed Qi Si’s sleeve, as if it were the last straw.

“Brother Qi, save me… I don’t want to die…”

He didn’t want to die; he still had a pair of aging parents to support. It was precisely his strong desire to survive that led him into the Eerie Game, gaining a chance at a new life.

But he never expected this chance to slip through his fingers like this; after hope came even deeper despair.

If only he had been a little more cautious back then, even just a little… Lin Chen looked on hopefully, but Qi Si only stared at him coldly, as if looking at a corpse.

His heart sank inch by inch to the bottom, as if falling into an ice cellar.

That’s right, no one has an obligation to save him.

Just like when he was being pinned down and beaten by those thugs, he had screamed for help, but the pedestrians in the distance all quickened their pace as if afraid of catching a plague.

By the time the police, called by some kind soul, arrived, he could no longer open his eyes. He lost consciousness just after being sent to the hospital… If it was like this in reality, how much more so in an instance of the Eerie Game?

Lin Chen let go, allowing the corner of Qi Si’s clothes to slip through his fingers, and his eyes dimmed inch by inch.

He backed up to the window step by step and sat down dejectedly, only to hear the young man by the table let out a faint sigh: “I’ll see if I can save you.”

“The price for violating the rules won’t be settled until nightfall. There are still nearly ten hours left. As long as someone violates more rules during this period, you will be saved.”

Hearing this, Lin Chen felt a surge of joy at first, but after grasping the meaning behind the words, he froze in place.

What did this mean? Did it mean he had to kill someone else in order to survive?

Lin Chen swallowed and shook his head: “Brother Qi, forget it… I caused this trouble myself, how can I drag someone else down with me?”

He still had a heart full of passion and had always looked down on behavior that benefited oneself at the expense of others; otherwise, he wouldn’t have died accidentally while performing a brave deed and entered the Eerie Game.

Qi Si himself didn’t have much kindness, but he didn’t dislike “good people” like Lin Chen.

There was no other reason than they were convenient to use; they would be deeply grateful for even a small favor, making them much easier to deal with than rationalists.

He lowered his eyes, his attitude calm and gentle: “Ultimately, I also bear some responsibility for this. If I had explained it more clearly to you, you wouldn’t have made such a mistake. Next, I will go to the Third Floor once; that way, the number of rules I’ve violated will be equal to yours.”

Lin Chen was stunned, becoming incoherent for a moment: “Qi… Brother Qi, this has nothing to do with you, it was my own carelessness! You absolutely must not mind me, I’m not afraid of death…”

“Who said I plan to die in your place?” Qi Si smiled. “I’m a veteran player who has cleared an instance; I still have some life-saving means on me, unlike a newcomer like you.”

Lin Chen wasn’t very convinced by this statement.

If veteran players really had life-saving means, how did Shen Ming die?

These words were probably just to comfort him, but why would he go to such lengths for him? They had clearly only just met… Amidst his hesitation, Qi Si had already walked to the door, pushed open the wooden door, and stepped halfway out of the room.

He stopped, turning his head to look back: “You don’t need to thank me either; I was going to the Third Floor anyway. Just guard the room well and wait for me to return.”

The young man had a smile on his lips, his arm casually resting on the doorframe, giving off a reliable feeling.

Lin Chen looked at the former’s back, opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

He only knew that after today, if he really could survive, he would owe Qi Si a life.