Chapter 294 Next Move

Chapter 294: Next Move

A bride in a vibrant red wedding gown, applying crimson lipstick under the moonlight—such a scene in a nightmare game certainly felt unsettling. What made it even stranger was that the last time the players had encountered the West Courtyard Bride, she was a young girl weeping inconsolably from sorrow. Now, she sat there, meticulously making herself up.

However, Wen Wen and the others soon realized the West Courtyard Bride seemed oblivious to their presence. She set down the lipstick container, let out a long sigh, and then began to weep and sob plaintively, a look of sorrow etched on her face.

The crying bride was still crying. Had they overthought things?

Despite their lingering unease, Wen Wen and Sha Linghai exchanged glances and then cautiously approached the bride.

But just as they took a step forward, the West Courtyard Bride, still seemingly unaware of them, rose from the stone table. She slowly walked into the room, sat back down by the bed, and continued to weep softly.

"Bride sister, that bowl of broth earlier…"

After all, Wen Wen and the others weren't truly servants bound by strict social hierarchies. Their very lives depended on successfully navigating the nightmare game. Thus, eager for more clues, Wen Wen and Sha Linghai wasted no time and quickly entered the bride's room.

Before Wen Wen could even finish her question, she noticed the bowl on the nearby table was already empty.

The West Courtyard Bride had drunk the broth but hadn't fallen into a deep sleep, nor did her physical condition show any abnormalities. Could their earlier suspicions be entirely wrong? Was the broth truly just ordinary, with no hidden effects on the brides?

"Bride sister, it's getting very late. Perhaps you should rest early." The four players stood in the room, momentarily at a loss for words. They could only offer a casual remark, hoping to find an opportunity to leave.

"If you were marrying such an utterly wicked man, or if you married an utterly wicked woman, could you sleep?" The West Courtyard Bride lifted her head, tears streaming down her face, looking first at Wen Wen, then at Sha Linghai and the others.

Perhaps it was the crimson on her lips, but the bride's appearance seemed subtly different from before.

And… what was this about "utterly wicked"?

"Utterly wicked?" Wen Wen caught the scent of a clue and immediately pressed on, "Are you referring to Master Wang?"

But upon hearing Wen Wen mention "Master Wang," the bride by the bed began to weep sorrowfully once more, her cries even more mournful than before, gradually resembling the ghostly wails often heard in horror films from the real world.

The group of players had no choice but to leave the West Courtyard. Apart from the increasingly clear, mournful weeping emanating from that direction, only the four new players remained in the backyard. Though the mansion didn't seem to house many "people," the secrets hidden within were enough to give anyone a headache.

"Could it be that the broth really isn't a problem?" Although Wen Wen had initially raised the suspicion about the broth, Sha Linghai found her reasoning equally compelling after hearing her speak.

As he pondered this, Sha Linghai suddenly noticed that Huang Qi was still carefully holding the bowl of broth they had brought from the East Courtyard.

"Why are you still carrying that thing?" The moment Lin Wenhua saw the broth in Huang Qi's hands, he was reminded of the eerie vision he had seen earlier—the mud and white bones inside that bowl.

"I…"

"Sigh." Sha Linghai sighed. "If the senior who trained us were here, he'd probably suggest one of us try drinking the broth. But Brother Lin mentioned earlier that the broth he saw was strange, and Wen Wen also said there might be something added to this broth. If it's just a sleeping drug, that's one thing, but if it's something else… we can't afford the consequences of drinking this broth."

"Although the clue has temporarily hit a dead end here, we still have things we must do." Wen Wen rubbed her temples, trying to calm herself. "My suspicion about the broth isn't over yet, and the West Courtyard Bride still strikes me as strange. But what we need to do next is take inventory of all the suspicious 'people' in this mansion!"

"Take inventory?"

"Yes. The task is to identify the culprit, and the culprit is naturally in this mansion. So we should at least know how many 'people' are here. For example, the kitchen maid who brought us the broth earlier, or the odd-job worker that the suspicious Butler Zhao claimed had already gone to sleep. We have to search this entire mansion thoroughly!"