Chapter Content
Sullen, black clouds pressed down upon a bruised-purple sky, crushing the last of the pale, anemic daylight. A damp chill hung in the air, so thick it felt as though it might condense and fall as rain at any moment.
Qi Si opened his eyes to find himself standing in the grounds of a Gothic manor. Before him, a tall, ancient castle cast a monstrous shadow that enveloped him completely.
The castle looked ancient. Its walls were completely covered in a web of decaying vines, like a fisherman's net of veins, fracturing the surface into small, shattered pieces. It looked as if it might crumble to the ground at any moment.
In front of the castle lay a sea of roses. Every single flower was in vibrant bloom, their branches growing wild, like bared claws and fangs.
A light grey, translucent panel materialized in the upper-left corner of his vision. It looked no different from the system interfaces in any number of cheap, third-rate games on the market. Silvery-white text refreshed on its surface.
[Instance Name: Rose Manor]
[Instance Type: Team Survival (6 Players)]
[Main Objective: Survive for three days and decipher the rules.]
[Initial Hint: Flowery words are detestable. In this instance, no NPC will verbally deceive the players.]
Qi Si stroked the silver bracelet on his right wrist, his gaze sweeping over the four lines of text before finally settling on the last one.
He knew all too well that the truth could also be used to deceive.
Leading people down the wrong path with a series of incomplete truths was, coincidentally, something he excelled at.
Without warning, a soft narrative voice whispered in his ear, its tone a mixture of lament and complaint.
[What is the most beautiful thing in the world? She spent her entire life in search of it, until her beautiful face was reduced to a bare skull.]
[The girl who so loved beauty planted a garden of roses, hoping the endless flowers would pay the price for her own loveliness.]
[Watching the roses in her garden gradually wither, she began to wonder: Could roses be made to never wilt? Could the beauty she so adored be made to never age?]
[Honored guests, welcome to Miss Anna's Rose Manor.]
The voice was incredibly faint, like the whisper of a frail young girl, yet its tone carried a dead, twilight stillness. It was like an ancient cemetery after a downpour—damp, with the scent of decay hanging over everything.
Unfortunately for the narrator, Qi Si had always lacked a sense of reverence for ghosts and the unknown, and he wasn't in the habit of letting his imagination run wild and frightening himself.
He gave a soft chuckle and stepped onto the damp path. He walked through the dense, dark sea of flowers and came to a stop before a stone door choked with withered vines.
He pushed the door open and went inside.
...
The castle's interior was sparsely furnished. A massive, old-fashioned grandfather clock stood in one corner, its presence seeming to blur the lines of time and history.
The great hall was dimly lit. In the center stood a long marble table, upon which sat a fruit basket. Beside it, the flickering flames of a candelabra provided the only source of light within the castle.
A head seat was placed at the end of the table facing the door, with three chairs on either side. Five people were already seated.
These five, naturally, were all players.
"This is a team survival instance, so we'll need to work together to figure out the world's rules. Why don't we start with some introductions?"
The first to speak was a middle-aged man with glasses. He had one of those generic faces that would be lost in a crowd, and he wore a full suit. At first glance, he seemed like a dependable professional, the kind of person who easily inspires trust.
"My name is Shen Ming. This is my third instance, and if I clear this one, I'll become an official player. I'm the general manager of a publicly traded company, so you should be able to look me up online once we're out."
He paused for a moment, his tone casual. "I've done quite well for myself over the years. Ever since I was chosen by this Weird Game, I've invested a portion of my funds into researching strange phenomena like this. I'd say I've had some success."
"Wow, an expert! Looks like we're in good hands for this instance! Is it okay if I call you Big Bro Shen?" a girl with a ponytail chimed in enthusiastically.
She couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen, with two dimples that appeared when she smiled. She showed no trace of fear, looking more like she was on a holiday trip.
"My name is Liu Qingye, and this is my second instance. You can just call me Yezi. I used to be a paranormal streamer, so I've got a lot of nerve. Ghosts don't really scare me, so you don't have to worry about me holding you back."
With two people having broken the ice, the other players began to introduce themselves one by one.
"This is my first time. My name is Lin Chen..." The last to speak was a young man in a hospital gown. His face was as white as paper, and he looked so frail and sickly it seemed no medicine could help him.
He was only halfway through his sentence when his eyes suddenly shot wide as he stared at the castle's main door.
Everyone followed his gaze and saw that a figure had appeared in the shadows of the doorway at some point.
The person looked to be in their early twenties, dressed in a white shirt and black trousers. They had a slender build and soft, handsome features beneath a head of short, dark hair. Yet, their face was as pale as a phantom's, making them look more like a ghost than a living person.
A closer look revealed specks of blood spattered across his shirt, as if he had just walked away from a murder.
This newcomer, however, seemed completely unaware that he was being viewed as a potential threat. Noticing he had become the center of attention, he simply smiled nonchalantly and said, "Qi Si. Second instance."
When Qi Si entered, the players' introductions were already wrapping up; he had only caught the one from the young man in the hospital gown. Upon hearing the words "first time," he immediately realized that some of the players must be veterans. Otherwise, there would be no need to specify the number of instances they'd been through.
In a game where life and death were on the line, the need for teamwork didn't mean you could trust strangers.
Qi Si didn't believe for a second that these people would look out for a rookie, and he had no intention of being played for a fool and used as cannon fodder for their trial-and-error experiments.
And so, with perfect composure, he lied.
"Hey there, handsome. You can call me Yezi," she said, greeting him with easy familiarity. Her eyes then fell on the bloodstains on his clothes. "Is that real blood on your shirt?" she asked curiously. "Don't tell me you just came from a murder scene."
Qi Si toyed with his fingers and offered a gentle smile. "I'm a taxidermist. I was working on a specimen just before I was brought here and didn't have time to change."
Yezi's eyes widened. "You don't watch the countdown timer? Didn't you know it was time for the instance to start? I was already lying in bed an hour before it began..."
The smile on Qi Si's face didn't fade. "And what of it? I'm not here for a ball, and this is hardly the place for a chance encounter."
There was nothing wrong with his logic; it made perfect sense and was impossible to refute. But still, something about it felt off.
Yezi pressed her lips together. She wasn't entirely convinced by his explanation but decided not to press the issue.
The middle-aged man named Shen Ming took it upon himself to act as the group's leader and briefly summarized everyone's introductions for Qi Si.
Qi Si took an empty seat, tilting his head as he listened intently.
This batch of players seemed to be of decent quality, at first glance. All of them belonged to the category he would consider worthy of being made into specimens. Aside from the shrewd and experienced Shen Ming and the skittish Lin Chen, the others were all on their second instance.
The young man in the black hoodie sitting at the corner of the table was named Chang Xu. He claimed to be a police officer and sat bolt upright in his chair, his face expressionless. His dark, brooding gaze gave him an air of cold indifference.
Across from Shen Ming sat a tall woman named Zou Yan. She wore a white trench coat and was a psychologist in the real world. Even here in the instance, she maintained a calming smile that made it difficult to dislike her.
Yezi suddenly gave a mischievous grin. "Hey, have you guys heard the latest rumor? They say the major guilds might team up for the Final Instance, with the great Fu Jue leading them..."
Gossiping is human nature. Spurred on by Yezi, the players quickly grew more comfortable with one another, chatting idly about anecdotes related to the Weird Game.
For a moment, the tension in the room dissipated. If not for the oppressive, windowless stone walls of the castle and the faint scent of blood mixed with the fragrance of roses, one might almost forget they were in a deadly horror game.
Could people truly be this composed on only their second time in the game?
Qi Si listened with a faint smile as the veteran players talked, gathering a good deal of useful information.
For example, players entered instances through different means. Some were driven by intense desires, while others were simply chosen for no apparent reason.
Also, no matter how severe their injuries were in an instance, as long as they survived to the end, the wounds wouldn't carry over into the real world.
And finally, if a player died in the game, their real-world body would die of "natural" causes within half an hour.
In the midst of their animated conversation, the sound of rolling wheels suddenly echoed from around a corner of the castle.
Everyone fell silent at once.
From the shadows of the corner, a man in a black butler's uniform emerged, pushing a serving cart. He had appeared as silently as a ghost.
Objectively speaking, his features were handsome, but the texture of his skin was unnervingly artificial, like that of an inflatable doll.
Seeing the players staring at him intently, the butler's slick, shiny face broke into an exaggerated smile. "Honored guests, Miss Anna will be arriving shortly. She will be joining you for dinner.
"Of course, this manor has many rules. For your own safety, I hope you will read and memorize them carefully."
As soon as he finished speaking, a sheet of paper covered in text materialized in the center of the long table.
The blood-red characters on the white paper were savage and twisted, looking as if they might crawl off the page at any moment.
Qi Si glanced down. The moment his eyes touched the paper, the lines of text also refreshed on the system interface in the upper-left corner of his vision.
[1. The manor provides two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. Please come to the great hall to dine punctually at 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Rest time begins after 9:00 PM.]
[2. Time is of the utmost importance. If you wake up during the night, you must ensure you know the exact time at all moments.]
[3. Miss Anna is fond of guests and bears you no ill will. However, please remember to address her correctly as "Miss Anna" and nothing else.]
[4. Do not refuse Miss Anna's requests. Do your best to satisfy her every demand. Miss Anna dislikes disobedient guests.]
[5. Miss Anna likes to wear red dresses. The Miss Anna in a red dress can be trusted. If you see a Miss Anna in black, please keep your distance from her.]
[6. Do not leave the castle at night. Do not pick the roses in the manor. Be wary of the roses.]
[7. Only ghosts can kill humans. You must firmly believe that you are human.]
[8. If you must break a rule in an emergency, ensure you break as few as possible. Perhaps she will... spare you.]