Bai Youwei bent down, picked up the rabbit, and set it in her lap. She gave it a pat.

She came away with a palm full of grease.

She wrinkled her nose in distaste and grabbed a napkin from the table to wipe her hand.

“Who knows what the system is thinking…” She wiped slowly, speaking unhurriedly. “In any case, these props were given to me as game rewards. Since they were given to me, surely I can’t be forbidden from using them — that would be terribly unfair by the rules. As for whether they disrupt the balance…”

She looked up and gave it a small smile. “Isn’t that sort of thing the Inspector’s responsibility?”

The Inspector: “…”

Bai Youwei stopped looking at it, set down the napkin, and steered her wheelchair in a slow, unhurried arc out of the dining room.

The Inspector watched her retreating figure, its emotions surging through several upheavals.

Other players *used* props. But she—!

She used *props* to use *props*!

Was that really the same thing?!

…But one thing she said was correct — maintaining the balance of the game was every Inspector’s duty!

It took a deep breath. Not that it needed to breathe, but as its datastore of experiences had grown richer, its emotional expressions had increasingly come to resemble those of a human being.

It tapped lightly at the air with one finger several times.

A sphere dropped down from above —

“What do you want?” The sphere looked left and right. “Is this the game instance you’re overseeing? Wow~ you really put a lot of effort into this one, it looks so flashy~”

It was in no mood for small talk and asked the sphere directly: “I just finished checking the data, and I’ve found that one of the players is holding a reward generated by Instance No. 7016 — that’s your jurisdiction. A reward like that would severely disrupt game balance. Why was it issued to a player?! Don’t you know this could affect the normal running of other games?!”

The sphere blinked, then flared in anger: “Hey! Just because your data sample is richer than mine doesn’t mean you can shout at me! You’re just a trainee Inspector! Don’t get smug with me!!!”

The sphere slammed itself furiously against the floor!

The floor caved in with a massive crater.

And the sphere was gone.

The Inspector, head aching, called out for the sphere again:

“Instance No. 7016 is under your jurisdiction! You have to come back and patch the loophole! That player also has a rabbit — I can’t find any record of it in the instance logs!”

The sphere did not appear, but its voice carried back:

“Patch it yourself! I’m not helping you!”

The Inspector gritted out through clenched teeth: “I’m a *trainee* Inspector! My permissions aren’t high enough!”

This time, silence.

Just as it was about to call out again, the sphere’s voice drifted back, dripping with sarcasm: “You deserve it.”

The Inspector: “…”

I deserve it? *You’re* the ones who caused this mess!!!

—

Bai Youwei was washing the rabbit in the bathroom.

The plush paws had inevitably gotten greasy and damp from carrying all those dishes, and scrubbing them clean was quite a chore.

Zhu Shu and Su Man returned from outside, following the sound of running water until they found Bai Youwei in the bathroom.

“Find anything?” Bai Youwei asked, wringing out the rabbit with considerable force — the rabbit’s plump round head twisted into a spiral under her hands.

Zhu Shu and Su Man both shook their heads, their expressions a mixture of exhaustion and deflated disappointment.

“Same as the second floor — the third floor is all gold, jewels, and rare collectibles: clocks, rugs, scale models… not a single locked room.”

Bai Youwei asked, “Did you count? How many rooms are on the third floor?”

The two of them startled.

“What, you didn’t count?” Bai Youwei set down the rabbit and looked at them.

“A hundred-something, I think…” Su Man said hesitantly. “There were so many rooms, and everyone was getting dizzy searching — we counted at first, but then we lost track.”

Zhu Shu murmured in dawning realization: “The layout upstairs and downstairs is identical, so the third floor should also have 128 rooms. If one floor has fewer, it means a locked room has been hidden somewhere!”

Understanding clicked into place. She turned and ran for the door: “I’ll go count again!”

“Come back.” Bai Youwei called out, stopping her. “Have you been to the basement yet?”

—