“What if you’re wrong?”

Bai Youwei repeated Hu Ya’s question, and her tone carried a baffling quality.

“Then we’re wrong. He’s only an NPC — so what if we kill the wrong one?”

Su Man added her agreement, “Exactly. It’s not a real person. Just a virtual game character — killing it is no big deal.”

“You two — !” Hu Ya was growing frantic, and a touch of anger crept into her voice. “What do you mean ‘killing it is no big deal’?! Hua Jiang is an NPC — he may well have important clues! If you kill him, the clue dies with him!”

Bai Youwei narrowed her eyes and looked at Hu Ya. “Oh? And have you gotten any clues from him?”

Hu Ya froze for an instant, then stammered, “I… of course I haven’t…”

Yu Yaqing noticed her expression was off and pressed her brows together, demanding sternly, “Hu Ya — have you or haven’t you?”

“I haven’t!” Hu Ya denied it with everything she had. “I only think her approach to clearing the game is flawed! How could a game like this possibly be cleared just by killing one person? There must be some method we don’t know about hidden in it! We have absolutely no need to risk attacking the Duke — the people he takes can’t be saved anyway, so going is just wasted effort!”

“So that’s why you didn’t come with us just now?” Yu Yaqing’s brow creased. “We weren’t attacking the Duke only to try to save someone — we were also testing his strength, seeing if he has any weaknesses. Yes, he becomes incredibly dangerous when enraged, but if the rule that he only kills one person per night holds, then we were actually safe. We needed to try.”

She paused and looked at Bai Youwei. “Now, after two attacks — last night and tonight — I can confirm that our attacks are ineffective. At least the bladed weapons in this manor do nothing to him.”

Bai Youwei turned this over for a moment, then said mildly, “Everyone go rest. When it’s light, we’ll have a look at the punishment room.”

She turned her wheelchair, preparing to leave, when Yu Yaqing stopped her:

“Wait.”

Bai Youwei halted and looked at her with curiosity.

Yu Yaqing pressed her lips together for a moment and said, “Actually — I did get a clue from Hua Jiang.”

Su Man and Zhu Shu both looked up in surprise.

Hu Ya also startled, and stared at Yu Yaqing.

“What clue?” Bai Youwei asked.

“Earlier, Hua Jiang said that to leave this place we need to find the key to the manor’s main door. But afterward… he told me that among the keys there are real ones and false ones, and the one I have is real.”

As Yu Yaqing spoke, she produced the key, and then continued:

“Hua Jiang also said that the fewer players who survive to clear the game, the richer the reward. If only one bride remains at the end, she will receive a sevenfold reward.”

…A sevenfold reward!

They stared.

Some of them felt their breathing grow rapid.

Every gaze converged on the key in Yu Yaqing’s hand — including Bai Youwei’s.

She reached out to take it, her hand hovering midair — then she stopped. She held it there for two seconds, then withdrew her hand, and said in an untroubled tone, “Well then, let’s go try.”

Yu Yaqing closed her fingers around the key. “Let’s go try.”

All five women made their way to the front entrance of the hall.

The door was closed tight.

Elaborate scrollwork spread along the corners of the door frame. An ornate lock mechanism stretched across the middle like a work of art, set against all the gold and brilliance around it, making the whole place look even more like a magnificent cage.

Yu Yaqing drew a deep breath, aligned the key with the keyhole, and inserted it —

She turned it.

Click…

Yu Yaqing’s brow furrowed. She tried again in the opposite direction. The key locked in place inside the keyhole and refused to move.

She extracted the key and looked at the others, her expression slightly bewildered.

“This key is wrong,” Yu Yaqing said. “It won’t open.”

—