Su Man was unconvinced. “What if we end up being the ones who get everyone out? How would that be calculated?”

“How would it be calculated? How about… you get my puzzle pieces?”

Bai Youwei reached into her bag and pulled out the puzzle pieces. She extended her hand and spread them open in front of the group — three nearly identical puzzle pieces resting in her palm.

Silver-grey metallic sheen, catching the dancing firelight from the fireplace, gleaming brilliantly.

One was hers, one was Shen Mo’s, and the third had been taken from Old Zhao.

Su Man, Yan Qingwen, and Li Li all froze for a moment.

Su Man especially.

She had only said it offhandedly just now — she hadn’t actually meant to take Bai Youwei’s puzzle pieces.

She was just about to refuse, when Bai Youwei suddenly drew back her hand and tucked the puzzle pieces back into her bag.

“Giving them to you is out of the question,” Bai Youwei said coolly. “I didn’t even charge you a fee for leading you through that last game.”

Su Man: “……”

Li Li: “……”

Yan Qingwen couldn’t help laughing. “You’re that confident you can clear this one? You should know — the purpose behind the coin the inspector gave out is surely far from simple. The difficulty of this game is anything but ordinary.”

Bai Youwei curved the corner of her lips and narrowed her eyes, watching the leaping flames in the fireplace. “That’s true — whether we can clear it or not…”

Without realizing it, she had begun to look forward to it…

Things that came too easily left her feeling empty.

Standing on the razor’s edge between life and death — that was the only thing that let her feel the value of being alive.

So…

She was very, very much looking forward to it.

……

The late-night conversation stretched on until midnight.

Afterward, everyone drifted back to their rooms to rest.

Bai Youwei fell asleep by the fireplace.

Shen Mo was on the middle watch, so he simply stayed in the living room to keep her company. By around three in the morning, when the shift change came due, Bai Youwei’s hair had dried completely. Shen Mo carried her upstairs to rest.

Bai Youwei murmured something in her sleep, then sank back into deep slumber in his arms.

That night, Shen Mo only slept two or three hours — yet he slept with an unusual soundness. This house seemed to hold some kind of magic, able to make a person set down every guard and wariness and sleep peacefully, quietly, until morning.

The next morning, the first thing Shen Mo felt when he opened his eyes was astonishment: to sleep so deeply in an unfamiliar environment was genuinely strange.

His second thought was: the rain had stopped.

Beyond the window, the sky was a pristine blue, clear for miles. Bright sunlight poured in, gilding the dim wooden floor with a layer of gold. The wood grain shimmered like rippling water.

Bai Youwei was nestled in the crook of his arm. In the sunlight, her hair caught a faint glow, and even the fine down on her skin was visible — soft and rosy. Her features, too, were gentle in the light, stripped of their usual sarcasm and arrogance, leaving behind only a youthful tenderness.

She lay on her side in his arms, one small hand resting on his chest, sleeping peacefully.

Shen Mo watched her for a while. For some reason, he found himself thinking of what she had said the day before.

— *Would you secretly… kiss me while I’m asleep?*

When he’d heard it yesterday, he’d only thought her mind worked in baffling ways.

But recalling it now, his breathing had imperceptibly grown quieter and slower.

He glanced at the fine morning light beyond the window, then swept his gaze across the still room before it drifted back down to settle on her face.

His heartbeat was clearly audible.

He leaned down slightly. The tip of his nose grazed the loose strands of hair at her brow — a faint tickle.

Her lashes trembled, and she slowly opened her eyes. Her light-brown irises were hazy with the drowsiness of someone not quite awake, as if they might fall shut again the very next second.

Shen Mo waited quietly for a moment, watching as those clear eyes gradually came into focus.

He exhaled softly, then reached over and lightly pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. The fever had already broken.

Bai Youwei murmured drowsily: “Do you hear that… sounds like music?”

Music?

Shen Mo furrowed his brow.

He hadn’t noticed it just now — but now, it seemed he really could hear something…

A faint, distant strain of music, very soft, barely perceptible — a tinkling, chiming sound… like a music box.

—