Chapter 6: Rose Earl 6

"Calm down, don't worry, take your time and tell me what happened."

Xia Qi listened to the little girl's confused explanation and gently consoled her.

The little girl paused, trying to regain her composure, and began to recount the entire incident.

This morning, she and her sister went to the East Hall changing room to change clothes. When they came out, a female member of the Red Side descended from upstairs carrying a pile of jewelry, telling them that there were many jewels in the dressing room upstairs.

Her sister had entered the game to make money, and since the game tasks always reminded them to dress up, she believed that looking good could help them pass the game. Hearing that there were jewels upstairs, her sister eagerly went up and took a diamond necklace from the dressing table.

As a result, just as they came downstairs, her sister was surrounded by members of the Red Side and the butler, and was accused of being a thief.

Seeing the butler present, the younger sister feared her sister would suffer the same fate as the fat guy, so she hurriedly came out to find Blue Side members for help.

"I told my sister not to take the necklace, but she didn't listen to me," the younger sister said, biting her lip and crying. "I shouldn't have gone along with her!"

Xia Qi thought for a moment and said, "Even if you hadn't fallen for their trap, the Red Side would have found another opportunity to attack us."

After losing two members, the Red Side finally couldn't sit still and decided to take action against the Blue Side.

Through this incident, Xia Qi deduced a rule of the game from the behavior of the Red Side.

If all members of one side die, the remaining side will gain a significant advantage, possibly winning the game by default or making it easier to find clues...

Xia Qi guessed that in the coming days, the Red Side would spare no effort to sabotage the Blue Side members.

Thus, the situation for the Blue Side members would become very dangerous. They would not only need to be cautious of the game's deadly tasks but also watch out for the schemes of the Red Side elders.

However, Xia Qi also discovered a piece of information that worked in their favor. From the fact that the Red Side used NPCs to harm others, it seemed that players could not directly kill other players within the game...

Therefore, they only needed to remain vigilant against the Red Side to avoid falling into their traps.

"Will you help me?" The younger sister continued to cry, her eyes swollen like walnuts.

"I'll do my best to help you. Let's go and see what's happening," Xia Qi said.

Through the incident of her sister taking the diamond necklace, Xia Qi realized that the Red Side had exposed a crucial clue.

Even if it was just for the clue, he had to go and take a look.

"Brother Xia, thank you!" The younger sister said gratefully. She didn't expect much help from Xia Qi, but hoped that having another person involved might lead to more solutions.

Xia Qi and the old man followed the younger sister to the entrance of the East Hall.

The Yellow-haired man was smoking at the door. Seeing Xia Qi and the others approach, he blew a smoke ring at them and deliberately blocked the entrance, saying to the younger sister, "Wow, you sure know how to find allies. Did you bring two more helpers?"

"Get out of the way!" The younger sister rushed forward and pushed his shoulder.

In real life, the Yellow-haired man was a small-time thug known as Big Chicken. He always talked about brotherhood and loyalty, but when the sisters got into trouble today, Big Chicken immediately distanced himself from them.

Big Chicken grabbed the younger sister's wrist and shoved her aside, growling, "I'm warning you. I don't care if you want to save someone, but you're not allowed to affect the progress of the entire Blue Team, understand?"

Big Chicken had a scar on his cheekbone, which made him look particularly menacing when he was angry.

"You..." The younger sister clenched her teeth in anger. Yesterday, Big Chicken had said he was the captain of the Blue Side and would protect everyone, but today he had changed his attitude.

"If you're in the wrong, you should admit it. If you get beaten, you should stand straight. Your sister stole something, and she deserves the punishment," Big Chicken said smugly, seeing the younger sister's tears.

Suddenly, Xia Qi stepped forward and pushed Big Chicken's not-so-sturdy shoulder, coldly saying, "Move out of the way."

Xia Qi urgently wanted to hear the confrontation between the Red Side and her sister and had no time to watch a thug bully a high school girl.

"Hmph!" Big Chicken glared at Xia Qi.

Although he had been annoyed by Xia Qi's arrogance for a long time, he was hesitant to offend him because Xia Qi was taller and looked agile and muscular.

"Hmph, I won't bother with you." Big Chicken, always adaptable, slowly moved aside.

Seeing Big Chicken's weak performance, Xia Qi showed a look of disdain.

Such a person only bullied the weak but cowered before the strong. If beating teammates wouldn't affect team unity, he would have punched Big Chicken.

Brushing past Big Chicken, Xia Qi entered the East Hall. At that moment, the sister was arguing fiercely with the Red Side.

"I really didn't know that the diamond necklace couldn't be taken!" The sister explained while wiping away tears. "I thought it was like the clothes in the changing room, where I could take anything I liked to dress myself."

Even now, the sister did not think she was wrong.

She had simply taken the necklace without knowing its owner. How could she be called a thief?

The Red Side members immediately rebutted, "Butler, she is greedy and wants to keep the lady's diamond necklace for herself."

Hearing the word "lady," Xia Qi paused.

Lady?

It seemed that the 10% plot progress the Red Side had achieved was related to this "lady."

After being rebuked by the Red Side members, the sister raised her trembling hand, pointed at the Red Side woman next to Cha Gong, and shouted angrily, "I went into that room because you deceived me this morning, saying it was a dressing room!"

The Red Side woman feigned surprise and said, "What are you talking about? I didn't see you this morning."

Unexpectedly, the Red Side was so shameless, and the sister was so enraged that she almost fainted. "You... You did this on purpose!"

"Since it has come to this, Butler, please make a decision," Cha Gong said with a smile, respectfully addressing the butler.

After watching the conflict among the players, the butler smiled satisfactorily, handed the diamond necklace to a maid, and said to the sister, "Dear lady, don't worry. Our master is a noble person of high morals and will not punish you arbitrarily. Please wait in the Corner Tower until the officers arrive tomorrow; they will handle the matter then."

When mentioning "master," the butler glanced subtly in Xia Qi's direction.

Xia Qi furrowed his brows. Did the man who danced with him last night also know about this?

Thinking back to the "Madam" mentioned by the Red Side earlier, Xia Qi wondered, what was the relationship between the man and "Madam"?

"Madam" ... Could she be the man's wife?

"What is the Corner Tower?" his sister asked aloud.

The butler blinked. "Please rest assured, Lady. The Corner Tower has all sorts of furniture, but it can get quite dark at night, so one must be extra cautious."

Hearing the butler emphasize the word "night," the Red Side members understood and some even chuckled.

Having achieved their desired outcome, Cha Gong praised the butler. "Butler, your judgment is very fair."

"No, it's the master's decision; he is the fairest nobleman." The butler said humbly, but the smile on his face wouldn't fade, clearly pleased with Cha Gong's flattery.

His sister clutched Xia Qi's sleeve tightly and shakily asked, "Does that mean... Sister will be in danger tonight?"

Or even... die like the fat man?

"It's very likely," Xia Qi frowned.

Although his sister had made mistakes, for a girl whose mind was not yet fully developed, the punishment of death seemed too severe.

The butler ordered someone to take his sister away. As they passed the Red Side members, a woman from the Red Side stepped forward, whispered something into his sister's ear, and then patted her shoulder.

After hearing what the Red Side woman said, his sister angrily shouted, "You, you wicked person, you still want to harm me!"

The Red Side woman smiled and waved her hand. "I told you a method out of kindness, but you don't appreciate it and blame me instead. Truly, a dog biting Lü Dongbin, not recognizing kindness."

His sister yelled a few insults at the Red Side woman before being dragged away by the male servants.

His sister panicked and said, "I want to go to the Corner Tower to see my sister. Will you come with me?"

"There's still time until evening. Your sister will be fine for now," Xia Qi said. "Could you show me to the room where the jewelry is stored?"

"Brother Xia, why are you going there?" his sister asked in surprise.

Shouldn't they be focusing on rescuing his sister?!

"There might be clues in that room, little girl," the old man coaxed, eager to find the clues quickly.

Xia Qi calmly stated, "We need to gather more clues to understand our situation better. Even if we can't save your sister, we can save ourselves and everyone else in the future."

This room was exposed by the Red Side's wrongdoing and must contain important clues about the castle.

There's no such thing as eternal vigilance against thieves. Facing the Red Side's repeated attacks, the Blue Side must take the initiative to uncover clues and advance the game.

"Alright, I'll take you there," his sister understood Xia Qi's intention and gritted her teeth, deciding to put her sister aside for now.

After the three of them left, Cha Gong led the group out of the East Hall and saw a familiar figure flash by the staircase. He looked closely and realized it was Xia Qi again.

"Why did he change clothes again?" the Red Side members clearly saw Xia Qi and scoffed.

Wearing a pure white evening gown, Xia Qi's slender waist was accentuated, making the butterfly bones on his back look particularly elegant. More captivating was the expanse of snow-white skin at the back of his neck, which made the pearl decorations on his back seem dull in comparison.

With a "clang," Cha Gong's leg hit the corner of a cabinet. He stared at Xia Qi's back, unable to look away for a long time.

After a while, Cha Gong finally snapped out of Xia Qi's beauty... Where did Xia Qi get that high-quality dress?

Cha Gong instructed the Red Side woman, "Go to the women's changing room and see if there are any other dresses of this material."

Compared to the clothing worn by others, the silk material of Xia Qi's dress today was excessively luxurious.

Based on his understanding of Xia Qi, who was introverted and lived simply, he would never wear such an ostentatious outfit voluntarily.

"The young master is sick. Didn't you tell me to take care of him?" the Red Side woman complained, tired from her day's work and wanting to rest.

Cha Gong glanced at her coldly and said, "You sort it out yourself."

Xia Qi and the others arrived at the third-floor corridor of the East Hall.

Apart from the lack of hanging oil paintings, the decorations were identical to those in the women's changing room corridor, which explained why his sister and his sister mistook it for a guest "dressing room."

Opening the door, Xia Qi felt this should be a lady's bedroom.

The layout and furnishings of the room were similar to his own, with a glass-painted door leading to a scenic terrace. The only difference was the presence of a vanity table with a large round mirror, filled with layers of shelves holding various boxes and beautiful jewels.

"This is the box where the diamond necklace was originally kept," his sister pointed to an open box on the vanity table.

Xia Qi carefully examined the entire vanity table and noticed a small black velvet box in the corner. He pointed to it and asked, "What was originally in this box?"

"I don't know," his sister shook her head. "I didn't open this box, and I don't remember if my sister did either."

Xia Qi picked up the small black velvet box and observed it, noticing a recessed area inside. "A ring used to be here."

Unfortunately, he didn't know who took it, or perhaps there was never a ring.

Shaking his head, Xia Qi put down the small box and began inspecting the room.

On the bedside table were a few books. Xia Qi picked one up and found it was a musical score.

To help players understand the world accurately, whenever Xia Qi flipped through a book, the system automatically translated it for him.

This score contained many minuets. Recalling the music from last night's ball, Xia Qi's pupils narrowed, and he quickly flipped through the pages.

"First Suite," "Dance and March," "Minuet in G Major," "Brandenburg Concerto"... "Will-o'-the-Wisp Minuet."

Seeing the title of the last chapter, Xia Qi couldn't help but exclaim inwardly, "The Will-o'-the-Wisp Minuet?!"

Xia Qi remembered that the tune they had danced to last night, to their heart's content, was indeed "The Will-o'-the-Wisp Minuet"!

Xia Qi took a deep breath and turned another page.

On the yellowed pages, neat handwriting had been penned with a quill.

"Beautiful Margaret has fallen asleep,

the devil entered her room..."