Chapter 19: Rose Manor (18) Subjective Time

“Assuming my deduction is correct, the Time Loop has already begun, and the initial number of players entering this instance was nine…” Qi Si crumpled the photo in his hand, threw it on the ground, and looked at the rain outside the window.

“Knowing myself, when facing a one-third death rate, I would ensure I didn’t violate any rules, wait for three unlucky fools to break the rules and die, and then easily clear the instance.”

He only told half the story; the reality was much worse.

Entering the game for the first time yet forcefully pretending to be a veteran player, he had to be more cautious and calculated than anyone else to find a slim chance of survival.

After learning about the Eerie Game’s Gu-Raising Style mechanism of a “guaranteed minimum death toll,” in order not to become a sacrificial lamb for others, he would inevitably strike first, seizing every opportunity to reduce the number of players; those three corpses in the Garden were likely his doing.

Of course, this scenario only existed in theory. After all, he had no memory of the so-called “First Round of the Game.”

Qi Si suddenly realized that he had opened his eyes to find himself in the Garden outside the Ancient Castle, while the other players were sitting safely inside the Ancient Castle.

As a result, because he arrived late, he could only sit in the position closest to the main seat, which was also the most dangerous.

Therefore, with a “nothing left to lose” mentality, he unscrupulously engaged in deception and probing.

Moreover, after Miss Anna proactively spoke to him, he took the opportunity to shake her hand, drawing her attention.

Under this premise, he subsequently decided to explore the Third Floor and decipher the World View, seeking a chance to survive while being the focus of the NPCs’ attention.

All of this seemed arranged by someone. And that person had an extremely accurate grasp of his psychology… The one who understood him best was always himself.

In an instant, the clues connected, all the fog suddenly cleared and dissipated, and his vision opened up.

Qi Si collected his thoughts and smiled brightly: “It seems highly likely that the ‘Let the Friend Die, Not the Priest’ method has failed, or a new cycle wouldn’t have begun. To clear the instance, deciphering the World View is the only way.”

Chang Xu was silent for a moment, then said, “Based on my intuition, my first choice will always be to decipher the World View and minimize the death rate.”

Anyone can say high-sounding, righteous words. When facing police investigations in reality, Qi Si could casually spin a long monologue, perfectly embodying his persona as a “Law-Abiding, Model Citizen.”

“It looks like deciphering the World View is quite difficult, Brother Chang, since you haven’t succeeded in two consecutive rounds.” He chuckled mockingly, walking straight toward the innermost room on the Third Floor.

That was the last unexplored room. Compared to the other two rooms, its exterior was much neater. The door was spotless, the keyhole was polished bright, and someone clearly lived inside.

Qi Si pushed aside the vines that moved without wind in the corridor, stepped over the scattered leaves, stopped in front of the door, and stared at the dried petals scattered in the door gap.

“Someone is inside.” Chang Xu raised his hand and pointed to the slender fingerprint on the doorknob. “We might run into Miss Anna.”

In this context, the “Miss Anna” he referred to was naturally the one the players saw at the dining table—the Younger Sister in the melodramatic story.

Even though both the Older Sister and the Younger Sister were “Miss Anna” in the instance’s background, encountering either on the Third Floor meant violating the Ninth Rule. However, the Younger Sister wearing black was comparatively more dangerous.

“We usually won’t run into her. She should be in the Garden right now—if we do, we’re unlucky.”

Qi Si smiled slightly, rubbing the Specialized Bracelet on his right wrist: “Anyway, the penalty for violating a rule won’t be settled until evening. We have plenty of time to decipher the World View, don’t we?”

He bent his fingers and knocked three times on the door, neither fast nor slow.

Last night, Ghosts knocked on his door; this morning, he was knocking on the Ghosts’ door. There was a genuine sense of drama and humor in this, reminding one of the Cycle of Providence and Karma, making one want to laugh out loud.

Chang Xu understood immediately upon seeing that Qi Si chose to knock politely instead of using a wire to pick the lock.

Although this easily alerts the enemy, being polite might effectively reduce the NPC’s hostility.

If nothing unexpected happened, the person inside the room was the true “Anna”—the “Miss Anna” wearing red clothes mentioned in the rules—who could be trusted and was tentatively considered a relatively safe NPC.

As Qi Si knocked on the door again, a long, drawn-out squeaking sound emerged, and the tightly shut door slowly swung open from the inside.

A stench of decay mixed with a strong floral fragrance assailed them. Intricate, dragon-like vines and branches twisted within the room; almost all space was filled with black and green, allowing only a faint glimpse of a red figure through the gaps in the stems and leaves.

It was a wrinkled old woman, half her face already rotten, impossible to associate with beauty. She groaned, disoriented, looking as if she might die at any moment, yet her murky eyes stared intently in Qi Si’s direction.

She asked, “What time is it now?”

Qi Si glanced at Chang Xu, who took out his Pocket Watch and replied, “Two minutes past two in the afternoon.”

The old woman tilted her head, struggling to comprehend the information she received.

After a while, she laughed hoarsely: “One o’clock this afternoon lasted longer than yesterday’s.”

After saying that, she lowered her head and drifted off to sleep, clearly unwilling to deal with the two uninvited guests any further.

Qi Si watched silently for a moment, then a gentle smile suddenly appeared on his face.

He pushed aside the vines in the room, walked step by step toward the old woman, and half-squatted in front of her, asking deliberately, “Do you want to see him?”

The old woman was woken up. She lifted her head and stared blankly ahead, no one’s reflection visible in her eyes.

Qi Si smiled, his expression tinged with recollection, his voice soft and gentle: “After that day, he left the Manor and returned to his Fiefdom, but he never forgot you. It took him many years to persuade his father before he dared to come back for you, but sadly, you were no longer among the living.”

As Qi Si spoke, the old woman’s eyes, which had been like stagnant water, gradually showed signs of movement.

She raised her hand and grabbed Qi Si’s sleeve, murmuring, “I want to see him… I want to see him… Where is he?”

“I don’t know.” Qi Si lowered his eyes, his smile warm. “But two of my companions should know his whereabouts. Would you like to see my two companions?”

The old woman stared fixedly at him.

Qi Si coaxed her: “You just need to say that you want Zou Yan and Liu Qingye to come up to the Third Floor to see you.”

“I want Zou Yan and Liu Qingye to come up to the Third Floor to see me…”

The moment the old woman’s voice fell, Qi Si mercilessly pulled back his sleeve and made a gesture to Chang Xu: “It’s done. Let’s go.”

Chang Xu understood Qi Si’s maneuver and frowned slightly: “You want Zou Yan and Ye Zi to violate the rules too?”

The old woman was also Miss Anna, and having her issue an order to see Zou Yan and Ye Zi on the Third Floor immediately put the two of them in a dilemma.

If they came, they would violate the Ninth Rule:

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

If they didn’t come, they would violate the Fourth Rule:

【Do not refuse Miss Anna’s requests. Try your best to satisfy everything she asks for. Miss Anna dislikes disobedient guests.】

Either way, they would violate at least one rule, putting them on equal footing with the two who had already gone upstairs.

Qi Si walked out of the room, turning back to reveal a malicious smile: “The Law Doesn’t Punish the Masses, right? Since we’ve all chosen the thankless path of deciphering the World View, I certainly don’t want to die alone.”

Chang Xu followed him, pressing, “Why did you spare Lin Chen alone?”

“Oh, my bad, I forgot to tell you earlier, Lin Chen came up long before we did. So, theoretically, everyone has violated the same number of rules now…” Qi Si closed the door with the back of his hand, his gaze drifting upward, his expression innocent. “Alas, it’s really not easy for me to balance things out.”

Chang Xu:…6.

He finally realized that the seemingly harmless guy next to him never spoke a single truth.

If he hadn’t agreed to cooperate in exploring the Third Floor, this guy would probably have included his name in the order Miss Anna gave… Qi Si looked at Chang Xu’s wary gaze and just smiled indifferently.

He never possessed the righteousness to bear everything alone. From the moment he decided to explore the Third Floor, he formulated a plan for risk-sharing, determined to drag all the players down with him.

It could be said that from the moment he sent Lin Chen to investigate the Third Floor and set a verbal trap to induce him to violate the rules, all subsequent actions, choices, and event developments were within his plan.

He succeeded.

One risky exploration brought a wealth of useful information, and the instance’s mechanism became clear in his mind.

The old woman could perceive the anomaly in time and state the assertion that “One o’clock this afternoon lasted longer than yesterday’s,” yet she could maintain a half-rotten, half-preserved state throughout the endless Time Loop.

This precisely indicated that individual agency and status were separate in this instance.

The body’s state would revert to the beginning as Time Reversal flowed backward, but as long as one became a Ghost, they could maintain their memories and even move freely during the Time Reversal.

One hour of Time Reversal was extra, cost-free time for the Ghosts.

At this point, the method to clear the instance was obvious.

Qi Si looked at the Seventh Rule on the system interface.

【7. Only Ghosts can kill humans. Please firmly believe that you are human.】

Originally, he thought this was a restrictive rule, used to prevent players from killing each other. He was puzzled why the Eerie Game, which was full of Gu-Raising Style elements, would be so kind.

Now it seemed the standard answer for clearing the instance was actually written within this rule.

Setting the main NPC, Miss Anna, who harbors malice toward the players, as human, and specifically stating that “Ghosts can kill humans,” the hint couldn’t be clearer.