Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 27

Jiang Yuqing had become younger.

This matter wasn’t noticed by He Xiaowei until Zhou Qian mentioned it. But after hearing it, he took a closer look and felt that Jiang Yuqing indeed seemed younger.

“Could it be…” He Xiaowei thought of a terrifying possibility. “Did he set up some kind of magical formation, killing those two caretakers? His purpose was to kill and rejuvenate himself—”

He Xiaowei’s voice rose. “I get it. Jiang Yuqing is the boss of this instance. Aren’t we supposed to fulfill his last wish? I think his wish is to become young again! Now… he has killed two players and three janitors in a side mission. And two caretakers vanished in the main storyline…”

“It’s horrifying. Extremely cruel. He must have used some dark magic?!”

Zhou Qian, looking through the window into room 701, said, “I don’t think so.”

He Xiaowei: “Huh?”

Zhou Qian continued, “There must be a way to clear this game, and the clearance rate of this stage is as high as 60%. If Jiang Yuqing’s wish is to kill all of us and become young, and we need to fulfill this wish to clear the level… think about it, isn’t that contradictory and impossible?”

He Xiaowei nodded vigorously. “Right. True. This building feels very strange.”

“It is strange,” Zhou Qian said. “Have you ever seen, in the real world, an entire nursing home where everyone revolves around just one person?”

“No… I haven’t!” He Xiaowei exclaimed. “You mean, this isn’t real?”

What He Xiaowei meant was ambiguous since they were both in a game world, which wasn’t reality.

But Zhou Qian understood him.

Regardless of the game’s backdrop, based on the plot in this instance, everything they encountered didn’t seem to follow the logic of the real world. They seemed to be in a virtual space, like an illusion.

Zhou Qian began, “If my guess is right, this might be Jiang Yuqing’s conscious world, where he controls our existence and disappearance.”

“He slept for an hour in the afternoon. During this hour… we entered another layer of his conscious world, which was the side quest.”

“The side quest called ‘Checks and Balance’ isn’t easy to clear, but surviving it is simple. Players avoiding those 12 rooms, enduring an hour, and returning to 701 can leave the side quest and return to the regular 7th floor. In reality, Jiang Yuqing would wake up after that hour, ending the dream.”

“However, since we cleared it, everything we experienced, and the ending scenes are significant and might be related to the hidden achievement.”

“The S squad’s gunman kills the 7 squad members with bullets marked ‘S’. Our mission was to help a young officer collect 12 bullets marked ‘7’, which he then used to retaliate against the 12 S squad gunmen.”

“There’s a meaning in this, but I haven’t linked them to the main plot. Also—”

Looking at the peculiar damp photo on the wall, Zhou Qian said, “I still can’t grasp the meaning of that photo.”

On the photo were seven blurred faces. When the side mission started, touching the photo would reveal a handsome officer giving players hints. Dead players would vanish when the side mission ended. All the janitors disappeared during the side mission, and caretakers started disappearing as well…

What was the meaning behind these images?

It was as if a curtain covered the truth.

Now, Zhou Qian had lifted most of it. Just a bit more, and he would see the entire truth.

At that moment, there was movement in room 701.

Jiang Yuqing asked three times in a row, “Where’s my osmanthus cake?”

With the two girls lost in their thoughts and not answering him, he began to act.

[Target: Jiang Yuqing]

[Rank: B]

[Specialty: ???]

[Due to not getting his beloved osmanthus cake, Jiang Yuqing becomes agitated and shows a strong murderous intent. Players, be careful!]

Suddenly, all four players received this notification.

At this moment, Situ Qing calmly nestled beside the bookshelf, as if nothing had happened. This was probably due to her physical and mental fatigue and also because the protective shield around her had not yet completely disappeared.

Yun Xiangrong quickly hid near the door. Pushing it open, she exchanged a glance with Zhou Qian and silently moved to the other side of the corridor.

Following Yun Xiangrong out of the room was the little dragon Zhou Qian had brought with him earlier. Sensing danger, it widened its eyes in surprise, let out a faint “yelp”, and rushed out of the room, jumping straight into Zhou Qian’s arms.

Zhou Qian patted its head, and it curled up into his embrace without making any fuss.

At the door, He Xiaowei first curiously looked at the little dragon, then turned his gaze, full of concern, towards Yun Xiangrong not far away. Seeing her red eyes, he seemed to want to comfort her but didn’t know what to say. So he lowered his hand and whispered to Zhou Qian, “Hey, did Jiang Yuqing’s irritability happen because he didn’t get to eat the osmanthus cake? Should we give it to him?”

“Yes. But wait, let’s observe first.”

Zhou Qian held the little dragon close and signaled He Xiaowei to be quiet, then continued to look into the room.

Inside the room, only Situ Qing and Jiang Yuqing remained. Even though the system had alerted that Jiang Yuqing now had a strong killing intent, he didn’t seem to show any noticeable aggression towards Situ Qing.

However, Jiang Yuqing was indeed “irritable”. He first smashed a vase on the table, then walked to the bookshelf. Without even glancing at Situ Qing by its side, he pulled out several books and threw them on the floor, stepping on them forcefully.

With a fierce look in his eyes, he seemed ready to tear the books apart when he suddenly froze. It appeared he remembered something, slowly turned around, and then looked at the photographs, walking towards them.

“What the hell—” At the door, He Xiaowei frowned and asked Zhou Qian, “Bro, have you figured anything out yet?”

“How can a man with only three days left to live suddenly become a Rank B ‘monster’?” Zhou Qian countered.

He Xiaowei quickly responded, “So, you were right! This is a consciousness world, not reality! In reality, Jiang Yuqing indeed has only three days left to live! But now, we are in a consciousness world. So, this consciousness form of Jiang Yuqing, under someone’s control, can suddenly become powerful!”

“Yes, it should be like that. But if… the elderly Jiang Yuqing in front of us is aggressive towards players, and the side quest ‘Checks and Balance’ related to the 12 rooms is also his creation in a dream, based on these points, it’s safe to infer that in this instance, this elderly Jiang Yuqing is hostile towards us players. But at the same time—”

Inside, Jiang Yuqing was walking towards the photograph. Zhou Qian glanced at the photo three times and then said, “The young military officer in the photo gave us clues to pass ‘Checks and Balance’; in the end animation, it was also him who dealt with the 12 gunmen. Does this mean that the young officer is opposed to Jiang Yuqing? That is, in this instance, unlike Jiang Yuqing, this officer is relatively friendly to players.”

Before He Xiaowei could respond, Zhou Qian suddenly entered the room. The moment he stepped in, he said to the person opposite, “Mr. Jiang, your osmanthus cake has arrived.”

These words were as soothing as a spring breeze, calming all turbulent emotions. Jiang Yuqing immediately smiled.

[Player triggers clue hint: “Wang’s Osmanthus Cake” can soothe Jiang Yuqing’s emotions; Jiang Yuqing’s irritable state is resolved.]

[Player unlocks two states of Jiang Yuqing: 1. Manic Jiang Yuqing; 2. Dementia Jiang Yuqing.]

So, the system had now clearly indicated that this elderly Jiang Yuqing indeed had dementia.

After the manic episode subsided, Jiang Yuqing, like a child, happily walked up to Zhou Qian, stretching out his hands in a candy-seeking gesture.

Zhou Qian handed him a piece of osmanthus cake he had prepared earlier. Receiving the cake, Jiang Yuqing showed an innocent, childlike smile and carelessly sat on the wooden floor, eating the cake bite by bite.

The centenarian sat on the floor eating sweets, crumbs scattering everywhere. But he seemed not to care at all.

He Xiaowei followed Zhou Qian into the room. When he saw the scene, he felt rather emotional.

Throughout one’s life, people would go through the long passage of time, experiencing childhood, youth, middle age, and old age… But when people reached a certain age, it seemed like they had returned to their childhood.

Physically, they would lose their ability to take care of themselves, and they would have to rely on others for eating, drinking, and their daily needs. Mentally, they became like children in their infant stage, seemingly losing all reason and becoming prone to crying and fussing.

‘Perhaps life is a cycle,’ He Xiaowei thought.

As for Zhou Qian, he didn’t pay much attention to Jiang Yuqing. Instead, he looked at the photo again.

The reason he had entered the room just in time to give the osmanthus cake was because he had seen—when Jiang Yuqing in his manic state approached the photo, he tried to grab it, seemingly intending to destroy it.

From Zhou Qian’s previous analysis, whether it was the [Manic Jiang Yuqing] or the [Dementia Jiang Yuqing], both were harmful to the player. The former might attack the player, while the latter could use dreams to activate the “Check and Balance” mechanism to harm the player.

By contrast, it seemed that the only one who could help the player right now was the young officer in the photo.

So, Zhou Qian must prevent the photo from being destroyed, lest the officer in it disappear.

After giving Jiang Yuqing a piece of osmanthus cake, Zhou Qian hid most of the remaining cake in his bag.

Now he approached the photo again, trying to take down the framed picture to prevent Jiang Yuqing from potentially destroying it unexpectedly at night.

However, Zhou Qian found he couldn’t remove it.

The frame didn’t seem glued or nailed to the wall, but Zhou Qian simply couldn’t take it down.

He gave up, and at that moment, a hand suddenly grabbed the back of his collar.

Turning around, Zhou Qian found himself face to face with Jiang Yuqing.

Jiang Yuqing’s gesture had no other meaning.

He simply hadn’t had enough snacks and was asking for more.

Zhou Qian raised his hand, playfully tugged at Jiang Yuqing’s white hair, and said as one would to a child, “That’s all. Eating too many sweets is bad for you. You can have more tomorrow.”

Hearing this, Jiang Yuqing looked somewhat displeased.

But he didn’t say anything, silently turned to a bookshelf, and began reading a book.

It seemed that a small piece of osmanthus cake was enough to calm him down. He didn’t become agitated again.

The osmanthus cakes in the bag might come in handy later.

Then, Zhou Qian noticed that the book Jiang Yuqing was reading was on physics.

The “Check and Balance” level was related to mechanics in physics.

This could be seen as a clue—the side quest was constructed by the thoughts of Dementia Jiang Yuqing in his dream.

With Jiang Yuqing now calm and engrossed in his book, Zhou Qian looked around the room. Books were scattered on the floor, thrown by Jiang Yuqing during his fit.

A blue and white porcelain vase with fake flowers had been knocked over, its petals scattered like stars.

Suddenly, Zhou Qian looked at another bedside table. He noticed something amiss. On the other bedside table, there was supposed to be a glass vase with fake flowers. But now it was gone.

Zhou Qian glanced down at the little dragon in his arms and whispered in its ear, asking if anyone had moved the vase when he wasn’t in the room.

The little dragon, having witnessed everything, obediently shook its head.

Seeing this, Zhou Qian’s expression turned serious.

If no one moved the vase, it meant that it had vanished out of thin air.

Could it be that the elderly caretakers, Lao Yu and Lao Tie, and even many others who “left without getting their salaries” as the front desk recalled, had they also disappeared in the same way?

There was no so-called magic circle that reverses aging, nor any haunted supernatural events.

Many objects and people simply disappeared in this consciousness space.

But what did that imply?

Among the myriad clues, Zhou Qian grasped at a fragmentary piece of evidence.

He began to have a rough idea of the whole truth.

A moment later, the phone in room 701 rang.

Zhou Qian answered it, hearing the voice from the front desk. “Just letting you know, security and I are about to clock out. We’ve turned off the elevator, so just stay on the 7th floor and rest. See you tomorrow!

“Oh, and Mr. Jiang likes to read at night. If he’s tired, he’ll go to sleep early. He usually doesn’t cause trouble at night. No special precautions needed. You guys should rest too!”

Since this statement was from the front desk, it basically meant:

Players will live here for the next three days. The main plot probably won’t resume until tomorrow. All plot clues have come to a temporary close. Everyone can finally take a break.

With that, the players left Room 701 one after another, returning to their own rooms to rest.

The front desk prepared six rooms for the caretakers. Due to the deaths of two people, only four were now available.

Zhou Qian casually chose Room 702, right across from 701, also at the very end of the corridor.

Before entering the room, he heard He Xiaowei nervously say to him, “Bro, be careful. Rooms at the end of the corridor tend to be haunted!”

Zhou Qian: “That’s nice. Being alone is boring.”

He Xiaowei: “…”

Bidding farewell to He Xiaowei, Zhou Qian entered room 702.

The room was actually quite good, like a standard hotel room. But Zhou Qian undoubtedly looked down on it.

Once upon a time, he only stayed in high-end suites.

While squeezing into the tiny shower, Zhou Qian was showering when he suddenly remembered a middle school trip.

The teacher took them to a famous scenic spot in Lin City, with green mountains and clear waters. But the location was remote, so the accommodation wasn’t great.

The moment Zhou Qian entered the hotel lobby, he showed his dissatisfaction and was even more disdainful after seeing his room.

His repulsion peaked when he found cobwebs on the window, refusing to stay in the “shabby inn” of the scenic area. He insisted on going to the city to find a star-rated hotel and sneaked away when the teacher wasn’t looking.

That night, Bai Zhou, the class president, concerned about Zhou Qian, followed him.

To this day, Zhou Qian still remembers Bai Zhou’s very serious expression that night.

He also remembers saying to Bai Zhou, “Zhou Ge, do you think I’m wasteful? But my dad’s a gambler. He might go bankrupt one day. If I don’t splurge now, I won’t have the chance in the future!”

Bai Zhou ignored Zhou Qian’s bizarre logic and tried to persuade him to go back. “Stick with the group. You don’t know this place. It’s not safe.”

Zhou Qian faked sickness and lay down on the bed. “I can’t move. I have a fever.”

Bai Zhou: “If you can’t walk, I’ll carry you back.”

Zhou Qian refused and made excuses. “Actually, I have a reason for not going back. I’m avoiding the beauty of the class next door. She confessed to me yesterday. When we were assigned rooms, she was right opposite me. It’s so awkward!”

“No, Zhou Qian—”

“Huh, why did your face change when you heard this? Do you like the beauty from next door?”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Come back with me!”

“You go back if you want to. I won’t!”

Bai Zhou sighed. “I’m mainly worried about you. If you go alone—”

Zhou Qian smiled at him, tempting him to break the rules. “Then why don’t you stay here too? If you don’t leave, I won’t be alone.”

Bai Zhou: “…”

Suddenly, Zhou Qian sat up and looked into Bai Zhou’s eyes. “Actually, the beauty from the next class likes you. I heard she’s writing you a love letter. Hey, will you accept that letter?”

…..

After showering and turning off the showerhead, Zhou Qian’s thoughts, immersed in memories, came back.

Then he solemnly frowned, feeling that his junior high self was embarrassingly childish.

As he dried his hair and lay down to rest, Zhou Qian turned his full attention back to the current game.

First, he entered the trading house.

The system’s trading house consists of several different sections.

In the first section, all sellers were the system, equivalent to a system store, selling daily necessities like food, water, tissue, and common tools like daggers and scissors.

Regardless, in Zhou Qian’s view, the fact that the game didn’t provide food and required players to buy it from the trading house was purely a money-grabbing move by the system.

In the second section of the trading hall, the sellers were players.

Players could sell unwanted items or tools they’ve made or collected to earn money.

Rare items like health potions, when listed, were usually snatched up immediately.

There was also a third section in the trading house. This section was for buyers seeking purchases.

If players wanted to buy something they couldn’t find, they could list a “wanted” item, state their demand, and offer a suitable price; if a seller agreed, they could chat privately and enter a system-supervised transaction platform.

In the trading hall, Zhou Qian first went to the system store section to buy water and food. Reluctantly eating the food, which he found barely palatable, he then headed to the diverse second section to try his luck at finding some good items.

Players, when resting in a completely safe environment, would slowly recover health and mana. However, this recovery was painfully slow. Zhou Qian’s health was full, but he estimated that by tomorrow, his mana would only be half full. By common sense, the mainline instance levels would become more challenging, and he would inevitably face monsters. Having only half his mana might not suffice. Mana recovery potions were rare to come by, so he hoped to find some useful items in advance.

After buying food and selecting some items, Zhou Qian proceeded to the third section. Knowing the chances were slim, he still listed items he wanted to buy, including a mana recovery potion.

Zhou Qian gave his purchase request a very catchy title— [High price for purchase¹, sincere offer…]

Three minutes later, he saw some comments under his post.

[Whoa, I thought it said ‘paying a high price for a child¹‘ at first.]

¹Clarity: Zhou Qian’s listing is (重金求购). The comment replying to it says he thought he saw (重金求子) with purchase (购) replaced with child (子).

[Same upstairs.]

[+10086]

[You’re not right, I’m not right, we’re all not right.]

Zhou Qian: “…”

He quickly replied, [If you’re not selling, don’t comment.]

Then, Zhou Qian went to sleep. But he didn’t sleep well. Roughly two hours later, he woke up.

The system notified him of unread messages. Upon opening, he saw someone had responded to his purchase request. The person had sent a trade request.

[Trade Item: “I Can Still Fight”; Potion; S+ grade; restores 400 MP; Quantity: 2]

[Trade Price: 3 gold coins]

[Seller: “137”]

[Trading Item: “I Feel Powerful Again”; Potion; S grade; restores 200 HP; Quantity: 4;]

[Trading Price: 3 gold coins]

[Seller: “137”.]

Previously, there was someone named [Hidden Blade] who at least had a codename. This person’s name was just a string of numbers. Was “137” his codename? What kind of weird code name was this?

Opening the trade interface, Zhou Qian immediately messaged, [Who are you?]

A moment later, the reply came: [I am a friend of Hidden Blade. I heard he recently took you on as a disciple. I saw your purchase request while browsing the trading house, so I sent over the potions you needed.]

A friend of Hidden Blade? But didn’t Hidden Blade say he took me as a disciple on someone else’s behalf? Was that “someone” this “137”?

Zhou Qian narrowed his eyes while typing back. [I never agreed to be his disciple.]

The other side paused before asking, [Then what kind of master do you want?]

Without waiting for Zhou Qian’s reply, he added, [The master-disciple system is just for convenience—to send messages, transfer items, etc. In future special instances, the system may limit regular chats and trades, but the master-disciple system will remain unaffected.]

Ignoring the question, Zhou Qian cheekily asked, [How about you? Who’s stronger, you or Hidden Blade?]

Before he received a reply, Zhou Qian rapidly shot back several probing questions.

[Are you considering taking me on as a disciple?]

[Do you think Hidden Blade is better suited to be my master? Why?]

[Oh, is it because you think he’s stronger than you?]

[So, you’re not up to the mark?]

Feeling quite pleased with his cheekiness, Zhou Qian quickly agreed to the trade to avoid offending “137” into canceling the deal. He then leisurely waited for “137” to respond, sipping on a bottle of juice.

However, after a while, there was no reply from “137”. Zhou Qian, slightly puzzled, initiated a trade request, only to receive a system prompt he found very strange.

[The other party has gone offline. Trade cannot be initiated.]

Offline?

This was the first time Zhou Qian saw this term. It was strange since he had never seen anyone in an “offline” status before. Whether in the game battling through instances or back in reality, players were always “online”, as they could still chat, trade items, team up, participate in instance matching, and so on.

That was to say, Zhou Qian had always thought that the player was always “online”, the only difference being whether they entered the instance or not. Unless they died, Zhou Qian still had no idea how a player could go “offline”.

“137” remained offline since. Zhou Qian waited for a while and, not seeing him, fell back asleep.

By the time Zhou Qian woke up, it was almost midnight. He was awakened by a noise. The sound was harsh, like fingernails scraping a blackboard, causing Zhou Qian to immediately frown. When he got up and looked, it was the small dragon he had conjured using scales, scratching at the door, seemingly wanting to get out.

Three scales could conjure up three small dragons that fully obeyed him. That was what the System had explained. But why did this dragon now seem to have its own consciousness?

Walking up to it, Zhou Qian squatted down and patted its cute little head. “Where do you want to go?”

“Ah, ah, ah…” The little dragon tilted its head and smiled at Zhou Qian, then pointed outside. It couldn’t speak, but it seemed to have a place it wanted to go.

Zhou Qian squinted slightly, didn’t say much, but stood up and cracked the door open. He then quietly followed the little dragon, only to find it heading to room 701.

The little dragon tilted its head and stared at the door of room 701, looking a bit lost. It tentatively pushed the door, and finding it locked, its eyes showed a bit of urgency. In its haste, it seemed to want to scratch at the door again.

With the corridor light shining, Zhou Qian peered through the window into the room. Jiang Yuqing was already asleep. He was lying quietly on the bed, looking very peaceful. For now, it seemed that he hadn’t become agitated or tried to destroy the photo frame.

Zhou Qian thought for a moment, squatted down, and tried to calm the dragon. The little dragon quickly settled down, its eyes glistening as it looked at Zhou Qian, appearing extremely adorable.

“Don’t disturb others’ sleep, okay?” Zhou Qian whispered to it. The dragon stared at Zhou Qian in confusion, but it was very obedient. It blinked in comprehension, not making any noise or trying to scratch on the door of room 701. Instead, it cuddled in Zhou Qian’s arm and nestled into his embrace.

Patting its head again, Zhou Qian felt a twinge of reluctance, thinking that it would disappear by tomorrow afternoon. After all, to him, animals were much more adorable than humans. Even though this little dragon was artificial and didn’t have life.

Zhou Qian then asked, “Do you want to stay here?”

The little dragon nodded.

Zhou Qian said, “Alright. Then you’ll help me keep watch here. Make sure the person inside doesn’t destroy any furniture or clues. If he acts up, come to my room and alert me.”

The dragon smiled, obediently nodded, and hopped to the entrance of room 701, sitting down and assuming a serious guarding posture.

Zhou Qian waved at it and turned to head back to his room. Just then, he heard footsteps. Looking over, he saw Situ Qing approaching from the end of the hallway.

Under the cold lighting, Situ Qing’s hair and eyes appeared even darker, exuding a cool elegance. Her red lips added a touch of allure. It seemed she had recovered quite a bit, looking much better than her previously distraught state. But when her gaze met Zhou Qian’s, she frowned.

In the corridor, Zhou Qian’s tall figure cast a slender shadow. His face was sharply defined by the lighting, and his dark, emotionless eyes held a hint of mockery. “Did your gambler send you? He wants to check on Jiang Yuqing’s condition at night and see if he’ll destroy that photo?”

Situ Qing avoided Zhou Qian’s gaze, her face turning slightly pale. She continued walking to the door of room 701 and turned to look inside at Jiang Yuqing, leaving Zhou Qian with a view of her slim and straight back.

Watching her, Zhou Qian said, “The previous two times, I told you two sharp truths. They might not have been pleasant to hear, but they were accurate.”

“The first was that he fears you becoming too powerful and slipping from his control. The second was that he wishes to control you because you’re useful to him. Now, let me tell you a third thing. Hey, don’t be so quick to leave. This one will sound much better than the previous two.”

Seeing Situ Qing turn away, but her silhouette momentarily paused, Zhou Qian chuckled. “You have a talent for output, but you lack the wisdom to play such games. That’s why you can only act based on his cues and commands.”

“But think about it from another perspective,” he continued. “It seems you’re living in his shadow, but perhaps he can’t afford to lose you either. Why would he go to such lengths to control you otherwise?”

“That brings me to my third point. If he still needs to control you, it means you’re still valuable to him. So, while you’re still of use to him, you should take the chance to escape. I can help you.”

Hearing this, Situ Qing stayed silent for a while. Finally, she turned to face Zhou Qian and met his gaze. “I’ve told you before, you’ve got it all wrong. You misunderstand our relationship.”

“Really? And what is your relationship?” Zhou Qian probed.

Situ Qing replied, “It’s one of mutual love. We love each other. There’s no control or manipulation like you’re suggesting.”

“Oh, so you’re willingly imprisoned by your love for him?” Zhou Qian’s words grew more cryptic. “I’ve said it before, a bird in a cage usually doesn’t meet a good end.”

For a brief moment, a look of surprise flashed across Situ Qing’s clear eyes. But she quickly turned cold again. “I love him. That’s more important than anything else.”

Did she truly love him? Or was she saying all of this for his benefit, knowing he’d be watching?

Regardless, this conversation between Zhou Qian and Situ Qing had only deepened the rift between them.

Zhou Qian laughed with a hint of malice. Then he heard Situ Qing’s tone become more urgent. “You really don’t get it. Talking about caged birds…You’re so presumptuous. How much life experience do you think you really have?”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qian, without hesitation, revealed a painful memory. “Actually, my mother was an amateur singer. She sang beautifully. Her best song—do you know its name? It’s called ‘Caged Bird’.”

Situ Qing frowned upon hearing this. Zhou Qian continued, “For her, I’d say I pity her misfortune but am angry she never fought back. She wouldn’t dare defy my father, even when he tried to harm me and gambled me away.”

“Really?” Situ Qing asked, “And what happened to her afterward?”

Zhou Qian stepped closer. His dark pupils were fixed on Situ Qing as he whispered, “She died. My father killed her.”

Situ Qing instinctively stepped back, as if Zhou Qian was some malevolent creature. If she got any closer, she might get ensnared by him. After a deep breath and a long pause, she finally looked back at Zhou Qian.

Situ Qing said in a hoarse voice, “I know what you’re trying to do. Our conversation can be heard by him. You’re intentionally saying all of this to sow distrust between us so you can find our weakness later. Zhou Qian, an enemy like you, is truly terrifying. They say one shouldn’t air their dirty laundry, and no one would usually share such dark secrets. But you’re willing to share even this with your enemy to break me down and ruin our relationship. Honestly, I admire that. But you should know—”

At that exact moment, it struck midnight. Suddenly, Situ Qing froze mid-sentence, her expression turning to one of utter shock, as if she was seeing something unimaginable.

Then, from down the hallway, He Xiaowei’s voice exclaimed in panic, “Fuck! My face! There’s something wrong with my face! Brother Zhou Qian—oh, you and Situ Qing are here! Shit, your face too… I’m going to get Yun Xiangrong—!”

Three minutes later, four players stood in front of a large mirror in the 7^th floor bathroom. Three of them, Zhou Qian, He Xiaowei, and Yun Xiangrong, had visibly changed features, somewhat recognizable but drastically different from before.

[Player Zhou Qian, Transformation 40%]

[Player He Xiaowei, Transformation 40%]

[Player Yun Xiangrong, Transformation 40%]

The three of them not only had their facial features changed, but they also received these notifications. From start to finish, the only one who hadn’t undergone any changes or received any notifications was Situ Qing.

Late at night, with a chill in the air, even the cold lighting added a sense of eeriness.

He Xiaowei couldn’t bear to look at himself in the mirror for more than a few moments. He turned away, dripping with cold sweat, and didn’t dare look at the mirror again.

He couldn’t help but hug his arms tightly. “What’s going on? I’m so scared… Wuwuwu. Have I been possessed by a ghost?”

Zhou Qian glanced at his reflection in the mirror with a calm expression.

Then he said, “During the side quest ‘Checks and Balance’, in order to find the clue to pass, the three of us touched the photo in room 701 and experienced illusions to varying extents. Only Situ Qing didn’t touch it. That’s probably why we transformed, but she didn’t.”

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The author has something to say:

Zhou Qian: Zhou Ge, are you not up to the task?

Bai Zhou: ???????

——

P.S. Mu Sheng and Situ Qing are not blood related.

“The Caged Bird” is a lovely old song. Highly recommended~.

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