Chapter 7: Rose Earl 7

"The devil summoned a swarm of will-o'-the-wisps,

dancing around Margaret,

flitting and flickering,

as the devil and Margaret danced a minuet!"

Xia Qi's fingers trembled slightly as he held the paper.

Margaret's experience was too similar to his own.

Both had encountered a mysterious man, both dancing the minuet...

Wait!

Xia Qi suddenly remembered the man's whispers from his dream. Could it be that the man had also entered his room last night?

His mind racing, Xia Qi took a deep breath, trying to remain calm.

His fingers still trembling, he turned the page.

"Oh, Margaret fell in love,

entranced by the devil's handsome face!

In that moment,

Margaret became the happiest woman in the world..."

Xia Qi wanted to continue reading but found it was the last page.

All the clues had run dry once again.

What happened after Margaret fell in love with the devil?

A chill ran down Xia Qi's spine; Margaret's strange experiences made him worry about himself.

Xia Qi tore out the section of "The Will-O'-The-Wisp Minuet" and hid it in his small bag, then shared Margaret's story with his two teammates.

The old man asked, puzzled, "Why didn't this advance the plot this time?"

Xia Qi shook his head, "Maybe it's an irrelevant clue."

After saying this, Xia Qi felt something was off. Logically, Margaret was an important character and possibly the "Madame" mentioned by the red side. Why didn't finding her clues advance the plot?

Xia Qi suddenly slapped his forehead, realizing, "Could it be that clues already discovered by others don't count toward the game's progress?"

"You're too clever, kid," the old man chuckled. Having played many games, he had never seen a "newbie" with such talent as Xia Qi. Players like Xia Qi seemed born for these wicked games.

Of course, Cha Gong, the leader of the red side, was also capable, and the old man suspected Cha Gong had been a brainworker before.

However, Cha Gong's character was too despicable. While he could clear the game, someone without morals could hardly be called human.

"Margaret is the 'Madame' mentioned by the red side. She is human and the owner of this room," said Xia Qi.

Thanks to the clues exposed by the red side, they learned more about Margaret.

But her whereabouts and fate remained unknown, and all clues were lost again.

After checking Margaret's room, the sister asked anxiously, "Are you still going to the Corner Tower?"

"We certainly are," the old man winked at them, "after all, I'm a kind-hearted person, right, Xia Qi?"

Seeing the glint in the old man's eyes, Xia Qi silently shook his head.

"Old man, what's your real motive?" Xia Qi questioned.

This veteran player wouldn't act without benefit. He rarely spoke the truth, and Xia Qi doubted the old man's sudden benevolence.

The old man's true intention was likely to witness the sister's death.

Xia Qi continued thinking.

Margaret lived in a luxurious bedroom and was addressed as "Madame" by the butler, indicating she had a significant connection to the castle's owner.

The sister had "stolen" Margaret's diamond necklace that morning, so the castle's owner would likely appear tonight.

Thus, the old man was willing to accompany them to the Corner Tower to see the castle's owner.

The trio headed straight to the Corner Tower without stopping for dinner.

As the butler had said, the eastern Corner Tower was narrow and gloomy. The evening sun shone through the small windows beside the stairs, adding no warmth.

Xia Qi reached the highest floor of the Corner Tower.

The sister was locked in a cell, wearing chains on her hands.

"Haha, there's only a broken wooden bed in the cell. This is the fully furnished room the butler mentioned?" The old man laughed. These NPCs were as adept at wordplay as players.

The sister burst into tears, "Sister! How are you?"

The sister reached through the iron bars of the cell door, gripping her sister's hand tightly, "Sister, have you come to save me?"

The old man quickly stepped back, grinning, "No, we came to watch you die."

The sister froze, and Xia Qi cleared his throat, "We'll help you. But first, you need to tell us everything you know."

"I... my sister knows everything about me." The sister looked at Xia Qi, puzzled, "Didn't she tell you?"

Xia Qi said calmly, "I want to know what the woman from the Red Side said to you when you were taken away by the male servant."

He had come here just to ask her this question.

Sister bit her lip guiltily and then stammered, "She just cursed at me. It was pretty harsh, so I’d rather not repeat it."

Xia Qi was silent for a moment. The reason he had come to the Corner Tower was largely to hear his sister tell the truth.

However, she did not say anything.

The old man said, "Let her out."

Xia Qi looked at the large lock on the iron cell door and said, "Alright, I’ll go get an axe."

He remembered that there was an axe in the hands of the armored figure downstairs.

The old man explained coldly, "By letting her out, we add another person who can take hits for the team. In the beginner stages, teammates’ lives are meant to be sacrificed for clues, which speeds up the process of finding them..."

The lives of teammates were a resource, not to be wasted by suffocating in a cell.

Upon hearing this, Xia Qi frowned. Cha Gong must have known this rule.

That’s why last night, the Red Side chose separate rooms without making any noise.

Watching Xia Qi descend the stairs, the old man scratched his chin, "After letting her out, our progress might increase again. There are quite a few minor villains among the newbies in this round of the game, including a cripple and a big chicken. Once they’re all dead, hehehe..."

The Red Side deliberately pushed the clueless newbies towards the Blue Side, then caused division within the Blue Side. However, what the Red Side didn’t understand was that the Blue Side also had experts.

Whenever the Red Side made a move, they would inevitably leave a flaw.

Once the greediest newbies were eliminated and the Red Side became complacent, it would be the Blue Side’s chance to rise.

Using this method, the old man had already cleared many games.

Therefore, he enjoyed watching the drama unfold in one game after another, treating it as a form of relaxation.

"Wah, Sister, I don’t want to die." After Xia Qi went downstairs, the sister clung to her sister’s hand and broke down crying, "I know I was wrong. I’m still young, I don’t want to die..."

Her sister sighed silently. This time, an old man had given the sister a ticket to enter the game, telling her that participating would earn them a lot of money.

Who would have thought that not only did they not make any money, but they also encountered such trouble.

The sister regretted it deeply but consoled her, "I will save you."

"Okay..."

As the sisters spoke, Xia Qi returned with the axe and first asked the sister to move away. Then, he raised the axe and swung it at the iron lock on the cell door.

With a loud clang, sparks flew from the lock.

It seemed, perhaps just a hallucination, that the entire Corner Tower dimmed after the blow.

Xia Qi gripped the axe tighter, thinking, no matter, it’s already done.

Another series of clangs followed until, after swinging until his hands ached, the lock finally cracked open with a snap.

"It’s open!" Her sister exclaimed as she pulled the cell door open.

The sister smiled and happily rushed toward the door—

At that moment, a heavy footstep echoed from downstairs, causing the entire Corner Tower to tremble slightly.

The sound was so abrupt that everyone immediately noticed it.

Since no one was speaking, the silence of the tower made the footsteps even clearer.

"Thud, thud, thud."

His steps were slow, as if he was deliberately pacing himself, yet Xia Qi felt that the person below was getting closer.

Slow rhythm, but large strides—

This indicated that the approaching figure was very tall.

Xia Qi’s mind buzzed—could it be... him?

The old man shuddered, then glanced at Xia Qi in terror before hiding behind a box.

"Ugh."

The sister let out a nervous whimper, and her sister quickly covered her mouth and pulled her behind a cabinet.

Xia Qi chose to hide behind several large boxes nearby.

Though these boxes weren’t large, they were just enough to conceal him. Through the gaps between the boxes, Xia Qi could see the stairway entrance.

"Thud, thud, thud."

As the sound of leather boots grew closer, Xia Qi’s heart raced, and he gripped the axe tightly with his right hand.

The candlelight flickered, casting the Corner Tower into a sinister atmosphere. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew out all the candles, plunging the world into darkness.

In that instant of darkness, Xia Qi’s pupils contracted sharply.

He saw him.