“Beautiful brides, did you sleep well last night?”

The Inspector stood smiling beside the dining table, its refined composure identical to the day before.

Bai Youwei wheeled her chair past it and said flatly, “Didn’t sleep well. The soundproofing is terrible — ghosts wailing and wolves howling all night long.”

She said this without any sarcasm. It was simply the truth.

Her mind had been churning over every possible clue hidden within the game, and she had no patience to spare on trading barbs with the Inspector.

The Inspector, however, hung on her every word with unusual attentiveness.

“In that case, shall I arrange a different room for you?” The cartoon-handsome face curved into a sinister smile. “The third floor is the quietest — would you like to be moved up there?”

The third floor.

That was where Zhao Lanfen had vanished.

Cheng Qian, Hu Ya, Yu Yaqing, Zhu Shu, and Su Man all changed color at once, their eyes fixed on the Inspector with sharp wariness.

Bai Youwei’s wheelchair came to an abrupt halt as well.

She furrowed her brow and turned to look at it, her tone displeased. “Are you missing a brain? Do me a favor and look at my legs. Exactly how am I supposed to get to the third floor? By flying?!”

The Inspector: “……”

Bai Youwei paid it no further mind and wheeled herself to the dining table in a sour mood. She ate a few bites, her expression growing increasingly irritable.

“No appetite. I’m taking these back to my room.”

Without any ceremony, she scraped several plates of food onto a single plate and balanced it on her lap. She picked up a platter of tropical fruit with her other hand and glided unhurriedly back to her room.

Seeing this, the others followed suit one by one, all claiming they had no appetite and wanted to eat in their rooms.

They all understood clearly that there would be no dinner tonight — so they each took double, even triple the food, to guard against going hungry later.

Before long, the dining room was empty.

Only the Inspector remained.

It watched the direction the women had gone, its courteous smile frozen at the corners of its mouth, its expression growing colder and colder…

Then, suddenly, it smiled.

No need to get angry.

Even if she had obtained such an unbalanced item — so what? As long as she died here, the mistake would naturally be corrected. And its game would continue to generate value for the system.

The other Inspectors were right. It had become a touch too invested. Games should be played in moderation. In moderation…

The Inspector slowly left the dining room.

……

The women ate lunch together in Bai Youwei’s room.

Bai Youwei wasn’t entirely sure how it had come to this.

Perhaps it began because Zhu Shu and Su Man had wanted to eat with her. Then Yu Yaqing came looking for Su Man. Hu Ya and Cheng Qian followed Yu Yaqing. And somehow, that had all snowballed into everyone gathering in her room for a meal.

Yu Yaqing said, “The lighting was too dim last night — we didn’t find any clues. Once we’re done eating, we should go up to the third floor again and see if we can turn anything up.”

“We’re going again?” Bai Youwei ate at a leisurely pace and asked, “We’ve already searched it several times. Shouldn’t we try somewhere else?”

“Try where?” Hu Ya cut in. “The Duke’s trail vanishes on the third floor — we saw it clear as day!”

“I know.” Bai Youwei said mildly. “My point is, should we look for clues elsewhere? We’ve been to the third floor so many times — a few more trips won’t necessarily change anything.”

She had always kept herself composed, so even though Yu Yaqing couldn’t stand her, she never underestimated her either. Yu Yaqing asked earnestly, “Where do you think we should search?”

Bai Youwei said, “I’m thinking of checking out the basement. I heard there’s a cage down there.”

Yu Yaqing frowned. “There is a cage, yes — but it’s completely empty. The rest of the basement is stacked with junk: empty wine bottles, rotting wood, rusted iron cans. We’ve already combed through all of it.”

“I want to look again.” Bai Youwei said calmly. “I’ve been thinking about the locked room — where could it be? And then it occurred to me: a locked room could just mean a prison cell, couldn’t it? Since nothing’s turned up on the third floor, we might as well go down to the basement and try our luck~”

—