Chapter Three: Rose Manor (Part Two) Miss Anna

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The butler arranged the tableware and dishes before each seat, bowed in a perfunctory manner, and disappeared around the bend in the staircase without looking back.

Blood-red wine was poured into stemmed glasses and placed before the players. Platters piled with various meats, fruits, and vegetables were lined up along the long table. The meat was streaked with blood, making the bright red apples that had already been on the table appear even more vivid.

Apart from Chang Xu, who had picked up another apple and begun gnawing at it, no one showed any interest in the food.

Shen Ming exhaled softly and surveyed the others. “This is a rules-based horror scenario. You all saw the rules, right? As long as we follow them strictly, nothing should happen. So from now on, I hope everyone will bring any ideas they have to the table for discussion. Don’t try to be clever or act on your own.”

Qi Si had heard of rules-based horror stories. They were a form of unconventional mystery fiction that had recently become popular online, usually presenting bizarre, counterintuitive rules in a grave, admonitory tone, thereby provoking human curiosity and the fear hidden in the subconscious.

He had not expected this strange game to be so up-to-date.

Ye Zi was the first to laugh. “No problem, no problem! Since this is a team scenario, there’s no reason to hide any information from one another. With an experienced player like Brother Shen leading us, this scenario is as good as cleared!”

Qi Si deliberately wanted to muddy the waters further, so he put on a smile and responded with apparent sincerity. “Exactly. I’m worst at riddles and word games, so I’ll be counting on you, Brother Shen, to get us through.”

Shen Ming had the distinct feeling that Qi Si’s words were laced with sarcasm, but he could hardly take offense. All he could do was force a dry laugh. “Not at all. Strictly speaking, I’m a newcomer too. Solving the puzzles and exploring the scenario will require everyone’s effort.”

“What do you think of the second rule?” Zhou Yan took the initiative to steer the conversation back on track, discreetly helping Shen Ming out. “I couldn’t bring my watch or phone in with me, and I assume the same is true for the rest of you. How are we supposed to determine the exact time?”

She paused, then gave a wry smile. “No one can guarantee that they’ll sleep straight through until dawn without waking up, can they?”

“I probably can,” Lin Chen said quietly. “Once I fall asleep, it’s hard to wake me. There have been several times when I set five or six alarms and still slept through them, missing my morning classes…”

When he looked up, he found Zhou Yan gazing at him with the indulgent concern one might show a child.

The woman who claimed to be a psychologist patiently explained, “I don’t know whether you’ll understand what I mean. In a supernatural game, whether you remain awake or fall asleep depends on the mechanics of the scenario, not on your own will. It’s like certain story-driven games, where the protagonist triggers events according to a prewritten program. All the player can do is respond after those events occur.”

Lin Chen seemed to need a full two seconds to process this. Then he appeared to understand and nodded.

He glanced at the mechanical clock in the corner and cautiously suggested, “There’s a clock here. There might be clocks elsewhere too. Why don’t we sleep beside one?”

“I advise against it,” Shen Ming said. “In my past experience, once night falls, unclean things tend to wander near important items. Spending the night beside the clock would only get us killed faster.”

“I’ve heard that rules-based horror has a strong subjective element,” Qi Si said. “Generally speaking, as long as you don’t know that you’ve broken a rule, nothing will happen to you for the time being. If you really wake up during the night, don’t think about anything. Just go back to sleep.”

Qi Si silently recorded these experiences, unsure whether they were true or false. At the same time, he nodded gravely, indicating that everything Shen Ming had said was correct.

Lin Chen awkwardly rubbed his nose.

After several seconds of silence, and with no one else offering an opinion, he raised another question. “I saw that the main mission says we have to ‘decipher the rules.’ Could there be other rules besides the ones we already know, rules we’re supposed to discover ourselves?”

“Normally, the basic rules are the ones we’re told at the beginning,” Ye Zi explained. “Otherwise, no one would be able to play. ‘Deciphering the rules’ simply means using exploration to interpret those basic rules.”

“For example, the first rule says that time is the most important thing. We need to figure out why time is important and how it relates to the scenario’s worldbuilding.”

“Completing the main mission is only the bare minimum. If you want more points, you need to gather more clues and decipher the scenario’s world.”

As Ye Zi spoke, a sweet smile remained on her lips, as though she were genuinely eager to answer the newcomer’s questions.

Lin Chen flushed slightly and stammered, “I’m not hoping for any rewards. I’ve already died once. After finally being given a new life, all I want is to survive…”

Zhou Yan laughed. “The sooner we decipher the world, the sooner the scenario will end, and the fewer people will die. So even if all you want is to stay alive, you still have to do your best to decipher the world.”

Ye Zi was just as contemptuous of Lin Chen’s words. Her smile acquired a distinctly venomous edge. “Now that you’re in the game, you might as well do your best to earn more points. Once you become an official player, find a powerful guild to join. As far as I know, the first people to die in scenarios are always those with your attitude—killed by their own stupidity.”

Chang Xu, who had been silent all this time, seemed to have heard a keyword. He suddenly raised his eyes and said coldly, “Second time in a scenario, and you already know quite a lot.”

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Meeting his gaze, Ye Zi narrowed her eyes and teased, “What is it, Officer Handsome? Are you going to interrogate me?”

Chang Xu said nothing more. Shen Ming hurriedly changed the subject. “Let’s each share our thoughts on the rules first. That way, we’ll be better prepared later…”

Qi Si had no intention of joining the conversation. With so little information available, the more one said, the more mistakes one made.

He casually picked up an apple and carefully polished it with a pristine white napkin.

When Shen Ming turned an expectant gaze toward him, Qi Si only placed the apple against his lips with an innocent expression and began quietly gnawing at it, displaying the air of someone who had no intention of speaking to mere mortals.

The apples in the scenario tasted much the same as those in the real world. They were a little crisper, but not very sweet—not the sort Qi Si liked.

Still, remembering that he had not eaten fruit for a month outside, he finished the entire apple to replenish his vitamins.

The moment he placed the core on the plate, the heavy tolling of a bell rang out in the hall without warning. Like a boulder dropped into water, each toll struck against his heart.

The pendulum of the mechanical clock in the corner swung slowly, striking six times at the same steady interval. The sound was crisp and clean, with no echo.

It was dinnertime.

Light footsteps came from the shadows, like the dance of a woman walking on tiptoe, or an animal hunched over and waiting to pounce.

Qi Si looked toward the source of the sound.

A slender, graceful woman emerged from the stairwell. Her long black dress dragged across the floor, wrapping her entire body in the shape of a thin, elongated specter. She seemed crookedly embedded in the darkness, like a single freehand stroke of ink across white paper.

There was no denying that the woman was beautiful. Anyone who saw her for the first time would be unable to suppress a gasp of admiration, only to be seized moments later by the fear of the uncanny valley.

Her face was deathly pale, unlike that of a living person. Beneath her brown-black hair was a pair of pitch-dark, lightless eyes, while her lips were painted a vivid blood-red. It was impossible not to form ominous associations.

“My dear guests, welcome to my Rose Manor!” the woman announced, her voice high and rounded, like an operatic aria.

Her gaze swept over each player in turn. Everyone she looked at felt an intense sensation of being watched, as though the hungriest and most savage beast in the jungle had fixed its eyes upon them, and they had no idea when its fatal strike would fall.

Dragging her train behind her, the woman walked to the seat of honor, stirring up a rich, intoxicating fragrance mingled with the damp, fishy smell of water, as though she had just come in from the rain.

Once seated, she covered her mouth and laughed. Her voice became fine and soft. “You may call me Miss Anna.”

Fragmented images linked together in Qi Si’s mind, and he immediately identified the corresponding rule on the system interface.

[If you see Miss Anna wearing black, keep as far away from her as possible.]

It was already too late to leave. Breaking the rule was now unavoidable.

Moreover, perhaps it was only his imagination, but Qi Si felt that Miss Anna’s gaze lingered on him far longer than on the others, sticky and slippery as mud after rainfall.

It made him deeply uncomfortable.

Remembering the narrator’s hint at the beginning of the scenario, Qi Si tentatively offered a compliment. “Miss Anna, it’s a pleasure to meet you. You’re even more beautiful than the rumors said.”

At his words, Miss Anna gave a shy smile. Calmly and gracefully, she raised her hand in the conventional medieval aristocratic gesture of waiting to have it kissed.

Qi Si slipped the napkin into his pocket, pretended not to understand the etiquette, and quickly seized her hand, shaking it firmly.

It felt warm. No indentation appeared under the pressure. According to common sense, the owner of the hand ought to be alive.

How boring.

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Qi Si withdrew his hand without interest, shoved it into his pocket, and vigorously rubbed it against the napkin several times.

Miss Anna had shown only a trace of astonishment when he first grasped her hand. By now, she had hidden every inappropriate expression and calmly accepted Qi Si’s discourteous behavior.

With a faint smile on her lips, she picked up the knife and fork with her slender, knobby hands and cut a piece of meat from the plate nearest to her.

The broad black sleeve concealed her wrist, exposing nails painted a vivid red. They made her hand look even paler and thinner, like the claw of some avian monster.

She lifted the blood-streaked meat to her mouth with her fork and chewed and swallowed it slowly. When she finished, she even extended her scarlet tongue to lick the corner of her lips, conjuring visions of a creature that lived on raw flesh and blood.

Apart from Chang Xu, who was conspicuously detached from the others and eating with his head down, no one else dared touch their knife or fork.

They stared blankly at the woman in the seat of honor as she ate. All sorts of bizarre conjectures took root in their minds, brewing an even deeper terror.

Miss Anna seemed to notice the strange atmosphere. She looked up and smiled. “Go on, eat. Why aren’t you eating? Is the food not to your taste?”

Qi Si was the first to look away. He obediently lowered his head, speared a piece of meat with the fork he had polished to a shine, and put it into his mouth.

He had to admit, the dish in front of him—made from some unknown meat—tasted quite good. The meat was tender, and the sauce had thoroughly permeated it. It was easily on par with the average restaurant.

Qi Si narrowed his eyes in satisfaction and, under everyone’s watchful gaze, used his fork to pull another large piece of meat onto his plate.

Once someone had set an example, the others began eating as well. After all, the rule [Do not refuse Miss Anna’s requests] was clearly written on the system interface. No one dared challenge its authority at a time like this.

Dinner ended quickly in silence. Every dish on the long table was eaten clean. As for how many people had enjoyed the feast and how many had found every bite tasteless, only each person knew that for themselves.

Miss Anna put down her knife and fork and lifted her napkin to wipe her lips. Her gaze swept over everyone once more, lingering noticeably longer on Qi Si as before.

She rose with unhurried elegance, bowed to the players, and then slowly withdrew into the shadows at the foot of the stairs.

Lin Chen had scarcely dared breathe earlier. Now, at last, he let out a sigh of relief. He hurriedly tugged at Qi Si’s sleeve and lowered his voice. “Brother Qi, Miss Anna seemed to be wearing a black dress…”

Miss Anna in a black dress was precisely the sort of presence the rules said they should keep as far away from as possible.

Qi Si nodded to show that he understood. “Yes, I saw it. A solemn, formal black evening gown.”

“Then why did you…”

Then why had he gone out of his way to make physical contact with her? Wasn’t that practically asking to die?

“The moment she sat down, all of us had already broken the rule. Sitting at the same table for dinner hardly counts as ‘keeping one’s distance.’” Qi Si casually tucked the napkin into his pocket and glanced toward the ceiling. “Since it’s already happened, we might as well take the opportunity to see whether we can find any clues.”

There was one thing he did not say aloud. He suspected that Miss Anna had already set her sights on him. Perhaps it was because his seat was the closest, or perhaps it was due to some similar quality they shared. Humans were always good at recognizing their own kind in a crowd, weren’t they?

Lin Chen asked, only half-understanding, “So, Brother Qi, did you discover anything just now?”

The gazes of all the players drifted toward Qi Si, clearly waiting for him to reveal the answer.

“Of course I did.”

Qi Si raised his eyes to the ceiling. “But what makes you think I’ll share the clues I worked so hard to test with you?”