Chapter 23: Rose Manor (Twenty-Two) The Price of the Transaction

At this moment, Qi Si could not see his full reflection, but given the appearance of Anna, the ghost on the third floor, he figured he could not look much better.

At the very least, he was now covered head-to-toe in vines, resembling a monster born from plant cultivation.

After the reversal of time, he had managed to maintain his human state while simultaneously possessing the traits of a ghost, allowing him freedom of movement. In trendy terms, he was "Schrödinger’s Qi Si."

The original dead end had been brought back to life.

His veins were flooded with power that was not his own—violent, majestic, and surging as if it were about to destroy everything in its path.

His field of vision shifted between a limited perspective and a god’s-eye view, with the details of every corner of the manor manifesting in his mind.

Qi Si had a sudden sensation that he could now briefly control the entire Rose Manor, even bypassing the authority of Miss Anna.

Yes, "Miss Anna" was a living person, while he was now a ghost, and ghosts could kill the living.

Qi Si pushed aside the corpses surrounding him and strolled leisurely toward the woman in black hiding in the corner of the garden—Annie, who had been masquerading as "Miss Anna."

He stopped before her and grinned, flashing his teeth: "Annie, you never actually loved Anna. You were just so immersed in your performance that you even deceived yourself."

"You left that red dress in the guest room and wrote those ambiguous notes—just how desperate were you to let us know about your 'sincere' devotion? It’s a pity it was all so deliberate; it only made you look hypocritical."

He saw the woman’s expression twist in horror as he had hoped, but only her expression changed. Under the effects of the time reversal, she was frozen, unable to move a single finger despite her extreme fury.

This sense of powerlessness pleased Qi Si greatly. He liked peers who shared his aesthetic, but he liked making those peers sink into pain and despair even more.

He chuckled exactly three times, walked straight to the manor’s main gate, crouched beside the stone pedestal engraved with text, and tapped the ground lightly with his bent index finger.

The butler appeared silently behind him, wearing a programmed smile.

Vines coiled powerfully around Qi Si’s right arm. He thrust his hand straight into the butler's chest, which was hollow—there was no heart.

He understood, teasingly remarking, "So that’s why a manor without servants suddenly had a butler. You were the warrior who pursued Miss Anna, weren't you?"

The butler didn't seem to understand, continuing to smile meticulously like a dull puppet.

Qi Si seemed to naturally know what to do; or rather, the techniques for utilizing the ghost's power had melted into his sea of consciousness the moment the roses merged with him.

He plucked a rose from the vines on his body and gently placed it into the butler's chest. The latter’s vacant eyes brightened for an instant before returning to a blank stare.

In a second, Qi Si gained control over the puppet and commanded, "Go to the third floor and bring Miss Anna down."

The butler smiled heartily and, with a stiff body, entered the ancient castle.

Qi Si’s gaze fell back on Annie, his smile laced with irony: "If I’m not mistaken, you only ever loved beauty itself. That is why you distanced yourself from Anna after she became ugly, and why you wouldn't even step foot on the third floor to look at her."

"Your pursuit of beauty is merely a pathological displacement. Your parents' favoritism toward Anna gave you the illusion that beauty and being loved are synonymous. You crave to be loved, so you hunger for beauty."

"Yet, you are soberly aware that you cannot attain the quality of beauty in the short term. You could only pin your need to be loved onto your beautiful sister. You watched her for a long time, hoping to become her."

"You mistook this for love for your sister, but it was nothing more than jealousy. Otherwise, why would you pray to the gods to make your appearance the same as hers?"

Annie could not speak. As Qi Si’s judgment-like words fell, her expression grew hideous and distorted. The initial resentment gradually faded, replaced by an inexplicable sorrow.

She looked up toward the castle, just as she had stood silently outside the window on the first night.

Qi Si followed her gaze, though from her angle, she still could not see the interior of the second-floor room.

A glance revealed something flickering between the dilapidated walls of the corridor.

Qi Si raised his gaze slightly and, through the semi-transparent glass, suddenly caught sight of a face covered in roses within a crack in the brickwork.

It was Anna's face.

Standing in the garden, one might not be able to see the guest lying on the bed on the second floor, but one could catch a glimpse of the sister wandering the hallways.

Qi Si frowned, his eyes narrowing.

He suddenly remembered there was one final clue left—with Zou Yan.

The staircase on the second floor of the castle was blocked by frantically growing vines.

Zou Yan remained standing, her body unable to move, only her vine-covered arm twitching slightly.

The moment the time reversal was triggered, she realized her plan had failed. Someone had cleared the key to the stage before her and put it into action.

Who could it be?

Chang Xu, who clearly had official backing? Qi Si, who seemed to harbor many secrets? Or Lin Chen, who had appeared completely useless?

There were too few clues, and Zou Yan found it difficult to make an accurate judgment. She could only hope that the person still possessed some shred of humanity and would not kill her in cold blood...

Footsteps sounded behind her. Zou Yan’s eyes rolled slowly, attempting to see the person approaching through her peripheral vision.

It was in vain.

Her back went cold, followed by the pain that signaled death. The strings of her consciousness snapped in an instant, leaving only the fear and despair that could consume all reason.

A hand pierced through her heart from behind, stealing the warmth of her life.

Blood cascaded from her chest like a waterfall, leaving winding red trails on her clean white trench coat that extended all the way to the ground, as if she were connecting to the earth's veins.

Zou Yan slumped forward powerlessly, hitting the floor with a heavy thud and kicking up dust.

From beginning to end, she simply lacked the courage to gamble; she didn't dare to fully turn herself into a ghost. Qi Si, however, was a man who dared to gamble.

In the same situation, the one who places the larger bet deserves the greater gain.

Qi Si had always understood the principle of cutting weeds and pulling up their roots; killing Zou Yan and eliminating the future threat was imperative.

He waited patiently for two seconds, then poked a few more holes in Zou Yan's body. Calculating that she was thoroughly dead, he bent over, flipped the freshly made corpse, and reached into her coat pocket to search.

It was bulging, containing a key and a statue of a god.

[Name: (Data Deleted) Statue]
[Type: Prop (Cannot be taken out of the instance)]
[Effect: Pray to the god, perhaps He will respond (Expired)]
[Note: The god does not love the world]

The statue was only palm-sized and felt as cold as ice to the touch.

Qi Si’s gaze lingered on the statue’s exquisite face; the fresh red color and downward-cast eyes were exactly those of the statue he had seen in the cemetery in his dream.

Memories linked together in a chain, and in an instant, a flood of emotions that did not belong to him overflowed like a tide.

Countless thoughts surged in his mind, mixed with unintelligible whispers, as if countless people were praying in unison in his ears.

"Welcome back," they said.

A pair of scarlet eyes opened at the bottom of the sea of his consciousness, bathing his entire body in their gaze from the depths of his soul, then turning into blood that seeped into every pore of his body.

Blood-stained golden vines descended from the sky, their semi-illusory forms waving aimlessly like tentacles.

The vision lasted only a few breaths. The next second, cracks appeared on the statue, spreading from the crown down, and within seconds it crumbled into powder that fell through his fingers.

Qi Si felt a slight sense of disorientation, and in an instant, he lost the memories of those few breaths, subconsciously forgetting to think about the statue.

Taking the key found on Zou Yan, he went to unlock the door to Room 1.

Inside the room, on the solid wood desk by the floor-to-ceiling window, lay the third clue.

On the papyrus, fresh red ink recorded lines from the past.

[The Lord of Gods, exiled beyond the rules of the world.]
[The Master of Souls, who holds the authority of contract and trade.]
[A great existence older than the dawn of history.]
[I am willing to sacrifice everything to see my long-cherished wish fulfilled.]
...
[After my sister woke up, she seemed to have forgotten who I was. The way she looked at me was filled with strangeness and fear. All I can do is stay away so I don't cause her further agitation.]
...
[I left that man's corpse behind to serve as the manor's butler. I wanted him to take care of my sister; perhaps she might feel a little better.]
...
[My sister actually remembered him! I hid him away, yet she went downstairs, searching for him room by room!]
...
[I asked the god why it is always others who are harmed in the trade, while I do not have to pay any price.]
[The god said, a love that is unwavering until death is itself a painful price.]
...
[I am tired, but I can no longer let go.]