“Let me try!”

Su Man’s impatient nature got the better of her. She took the key from Yu Yaqing’s hand and shoved it into the keyhole repeatedly, twisting left and right —

Still it wouldn’t turn.

“Could this key… be a fake?” Zhu Shu asked uncertainly.

The color drained from Yu Yaqing’s face in an instant. “He tricked me!”

“No need to panic — maybe there’s a restriction on when it can be used.” Bai Youwei said, her voice even. “Let’s wait until daylight and try again.”

“That’s possible.” Zhu Shu nodded when she heard this. “Just like Bluebeard’s punishment room — we can’t get in at night, only during the day. Let’s not lose heart. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

Hearing their explanation, Yu Yaqing’s expression eased somewhat, and she nodded and said, “All right. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

At this point, Bai Youwei said unhurriedly, “Besides the restriction on conditions, there’s actually another possible reason.”

Yu Yaqing looked at her with suspicion. “What reason?”

Bai Youwei said mildly, “You just said… the fewer players who survive, the richer the reward. If only one bride remains at the end, she will receive a sevenfold reward. Setting aside whether what Hua Jiang said is true or false — as long as someone believed it, they would very likely conceal the real key and keep the rest of us from clearing the game.”

Yu Yaqing froze. “You mean… among us here, someone… is hiding the real key?”

She looked at the people around her… Su Man, Zhu Shu, Bai Youwei, and… Hu Ya.

Hu Ya caught Yu Yaqing’s gaze and immediately panicked. “I didn’t — I don’t have any key! Maybe it was one of them!”

She pointed at Zhu Shu, then pointed at Bai Youwei!

“Those two are scheming deeper than anyone! It’s definitely one of them who hid the key!”

“All right, stop making noise.” Bai Youwei raised an eyebrow, a touch of irritation in her voice. “All this noise is giving me a headache. In any case — whatever is really going on, we’ll know by tomorrow.”

Yu Yaqing thought for a moment and said, “You all go back to your rooms. I want to make one more trip to the basement.”

“On your own?” Su Man said. “I’ll come with you.”

Zhu Shu hesitated for a moment. “Then I’ll go too…”

Bai Youwei was exasperated. “Fine, fine — if you’re going, we’ll all go.”

The group of women headed for the basement.

Hu Ya chewed her lip, and followed after them.

……

The basement was dim and cold.

They lit the torches mounted on the wall and made their way to the far end of the cell block.

The passageway was still there.

Warm air pushed outward from within it.

Yu Yaqing crouched down and crawled inside. After a moment, Su Man followed her in.

It had seemed like it might take a long time, but in no time at all both women had come crawling back out, their bodies damp with sweat, cheeks flushed red.

“Too hot. We can’t get through,” Yu Yaqing said, shaking her head at them. “The original exit is blocked by an iron brazier — someone has lit a fire in it, and it’s full of glowing red-hot charcoal.”

“We’ll have to wait until the fire in the brazier dies down in daylight before we can get through.” Su Man sighed. “All right. Let’s go…”

A harrowing shriek suddenly came tearing through the passageway.

Everyone flinched.

They all instinctively looked toward that dark opening, and thinking of Cheng Qian’s situation at this very moment, a cold wave shot up from the soles of their feet through their entire bodies, leaving every hair standing on end.

Scream after scream, rising and falling, horrifying and chilling — and faintly woven within it, the sound of Zhao Lanfen’s sobbing…

At the other end of the passageway, it was as though a living hell awaited.

“Stop listening.” Su Man’s face had gone a bad color. “It’s all fake! Cheng Qian and Zhao Lanfen are already dead — the Duke is deliberately trying to frighten us!”

Zhu Shu’s face had gone pale as well. She said slowly, “This is a women-only session. Every difficulty it presents is aimed at women’s weak points. We mustn’t fall into its trap.”

Softness. Timidity. Sensitivity. Suspicion and paranoia!

Those were weaknesses that seemed trivial and irrelevant — but here and now, they could take their lives.

—