After returning to her room and finishing her washing up, Jiang Xiuxiu lay on the bed, still thinking about what the long-haired female player’s teammate had said.
It seemed that she wasn't lying.
So, the problem must be with the ghost here.
Earlier in the study, after reading the notes in "The Selfish Gene," Jiang Xiuxiu suddenly thought of something.
No matter if it was the one she met at the door at the beginning or the one she encountered in the study later, there always seemed to be just one ghost.
However, this family clearly had two children.
The encounter in the study could be explained since there's no rule saying the two child ghosts must always stick together.
But at the door, Jiang Xiuxiu clearly saw two white child figures holding hands.
They were even playing ball in the hall.
However, throughout the whole time, she only heard one child’s enticing voice.
There was no dialogue or interaction between the two children.
It's not just that they didn't talk, only one of them spoke.
While thinking, Jiang Xiuxiu took out the girl’s picture book from her backpack.
She turned to the family portrait page she had seen before and paused slightly with her finger.
She noticed that in this picture, both adults had sorrowful faces with tears streaming down.
But the little pink figure held by the two adults was drawn with a big smiling face.
When she first turned to this page, she was drawn to the sentence “When will brother come home?” and didn’t carefully observe the picture’s details.
Now, with deliberate observation, she finally noticed the anomaly.
If the faces in the picture symbolize their respective emotions,
Then the little girl felt happy about the little boy’s disappearance.
Confirming this, Jiang Xiuxiu felt that her previous guess was finally grounded.
Thinking of this, she closed the picture book.
She closed her eyes and listed all the information she had gathered or guessed today.
First, about this family of four, when they moved in, there was only a couple and a little girl, the other child had already gone missing.
Based on the marked passages in "The Selfish Gene," it could be seen that the couple had a biased attitude toward their children.
The relationship between the little girl and the little boy didn’t seem harmonious, there was competition between them.
Moreover, through the sentence “genes that manipulate sibling-killing behavior spread in the gene pool,” Jiang Xiuxiu speculated that the little boy’s disappearance was likely related to the little girl in some unclear way.
To compete for their parents' love, care, and other emotional or material “resources,” the sister probably played a role in her brother’s “disappearance.”
Previously, she had doubts about this.
But now, seeing the little girl’s smiling face in the picture book, she became more certain.
Secondly, Jiang Xiuxiu noticed that the male and female homeowners were very superstitious.
Their choice to move into such a remote and desolate old mansion was not clear in motive, but it was probably related to some paranormal reasons.
Their obsession with the supernatural was driven by their desire to find their missing child, the little boy.
This was all the information she could gather in these few hours.
So, is the ghost that keeps appearing the little boy or the little girl?
And is it the boss of this game round?
For the first question, it’s hard to say, but for the second question, Jiang Xiuxiu's experience told her that the little child was likely just a ghost.
Its harm to players was clearly regulated, unlike the first world's boss Xu Bai, who could act as he pleased.
From the start of the game until now, she knew nothing about this game round’s boss.
The boss never appeared or harmed players.
Thinking of this, Jiang Xiuxiu’s eyes narrowed.
Her task was to dress the boss in a maid outfit.
For this, she needed to find the boss.
She knew nothing about the boss, but neither did the other players.
This game round’s boss was quite reclusive.
Realizing this, Jiang Xiuxiu was slightly taken aback.
Then, she covered herself with the blanket, deciding to sleep first.
The boss would definitely appear, this was certain.
They hadn't shown up yet because the timing wasn't right. Wait patiently, and they will definitely appear.
Thinking this, she closed her eyes.
Maybe she was too exhausted from everything she had experienced, as sleepiness soon overwhelmed her.
Within seconds, she fell into a deep slumber.
That night, Jiang Xiuxiu slept restlessly for some reason.
It seemed like many people were noisy outside, making her faintly aware of the outside situation even in her dreams.
Rustle, rustle.
Some light, fragmented footsteps intermittently came through the wooden door.
Rustle.
Creak.
A sharp, prolonged door-opening sound suddenly echoed in the quiet room.
Half-awake, Jiang Xiuxiu was completely awakened by this sound.
She instinctively slowed her breathing, pretending to be asleep, and after a few minutes, when she confirmed there was no one around, she quietly opened her eyes.
The moonlight outside, at some point, broke through the thick black clouds, illuminating many unclear areas brightly.
Her room was normal, pitch black, no figures, and nothing extra.
But the door, which she had tightly closed and even locked, was somehow opened.
It was wide open, presenting an “open door” posture.
The hallway outside was gloomy and dark, with something seemingly rolling in the black mist, bringing a chill.
Rustle, rustle.
Some light footsteps clearly reached Jiang Xiuxiu’s ears through the open door.
It was the same footsteps from her dream, the source of her unease.
Someone was outside.
She instantly realized this.
The rooms available to players were all on the same corridor, with only one entrance, and the other end was a wall.
Jiang Xiuxiu's room was the closest to the corridor entrance.
Others had to pass by her door to enter their rooms or leave their own rooms.
Now, listening closely in the dark, Jiang Xiuxiu noticed the footsteps were coming from somewhere further down the corridor.
They were slowly approaching the entrance, stopping occasionally but resuming after a while.
Rustle, rustle.
Soon, they would pass by her door.
Jiang Xiuxiu made a decisive move, quickly closing her eyes and slowing her breathing.
She pretended to be asleep, lying motionless on the bed.
Rustle.
The footsteps reached her door and stopped.
With her eyes closed, Jiang Xiuxiu focused her attention on her senses.
She could clearly feel someone staring at her through the dark door.
The gaze was intense, almost tangible.
The gaze swept over Jiang Xiuxiu and lingered for about three minutes, seemingly checking if she was truly asleep.
In this long and silent environment, every second felt torturous for Jiang Xiuxiu.
She even smelled a burnt, unpleasant odor, as if something was on fire.
Fire.
The couple and their children in the old mansion seemed to have died in a fire.
In the heightened tension, Jiang Xiuxiu couldn’t help but let her mind wander.
After an unknown period, the eerie gaze finally left her.
It seemed to confirm Jiang Xiuxiu was truly asleep and didn't look at her again.
Rustle.
As the gaze moved away, the footsteps outside resumed.
Jiang Xiuxiu quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
She had seemingly passed the test.
But what was walking outside tonight?
Jiang Xiuxiu was naturally curious, especially after smelling that burnt odor.
She hadn’t seen any signs of fire since entering this mansion.
Let alone a fire, she had only encountered one ghost so far.
This mansion was very strange. If she didn’t take the initiative, she would always be on the defensive.
Thinking of this, Jiang Xiuxiu heard the footsteps outside moving away and quietly opened her eyes, ready to take a look.
Rustle, rustle.
But just as she slightly moved her breathing and opened her eyes, the footsteps outside suddenly stopped.
Jiang Xiuxiu felt a rush of icy air from outside, making her shiver.
The next moment, a white foot appeared outside the pitch-black door.
In a split second, Jiang Xiuxiu realized
The thing outside had never left.
It had seen through her pretense and played along, pretending to leave but staying outside.
When Jiang Xiuxiu finally couldn’t resist reacting, it revealed itself.
What did it want to do? What would happen to her?
Would she be eliminated just like that?
Jiang Xiuxiu's heart raced, her mind in chaos.
She could clearly feel the malevolent gaze from outside fixated on her.
At this critical moment, an unexpected event occurred.
“Clang.”
A clear sound of porcelain clashing came from the second-floor hall.
Then, something fell to the ground, making a series of "thump, thump, thump" sounds.
In the silent, spacious old house where even footsteps were clearly audible, such a noise was far louder than anything on Jiang Xiuxiu's side.
There was a disturbance over there.
Attracted by the noise, the presence outside Jiang Xiuxiu's door hesitated momentarily.
Its gaze swiftly shifted from Jiang Xiuxiu to the direction of the hall.
Seizing this rare opportunity, Jiang Xiuxiu pretended to talk in her sleep, smacking her lips a few times and making some vague sounds.
Then, she adopted a still-sleeping posture, slowly turned over, and slowed her breathing, presenting her back to the door.
This way, she could perfectly mask her earlier change in breathing, making the presence outside the door think she was merely turning over in her sleep.
Noticing her movement, the thing at the door hesitated for a moment.
Soon, it decided to leave Jiang Xiuxiu's door and head toward the hall.
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.
The faint footsteps outside the door resumed.
The sound grew fainter, moving farther away from the room door.
Fearing another mishap, Jiang Xiuxiu stayed on high alert, hardly daring to breathe.
Only after confirming that it wasn't a trick and that it had indeed completely left, did she open her eyes again.
At this moment, she realized she was covered in a thin layer of sweat.
Quickly wiping her forehead, she quietly got out of bed. Without hesitating for long, she bent down and slipped out of the room.
After playing one game and participating in several other escape games in real life, Jiang Xiuxiu had some understanding of the rules regarding ghosts and such in the game.
Ghosts harming people must have conditions and time limits.
Like in the first world she encountered, those ghosts would leave the players after a while at night and wouldn’t stay until dawn.
The time she was observed just now was likely when the ghost outside her room could act against her.
Now that the time had passed and the ghost left, she was safe.
This allowed her to venture out to investigate.
Yes, even though she had just narrowly escaped the ghost outside, Jiang Xiuxiu was still determined not to give up.
The sound from the hall not only attracted the ghost outside her room but also her.
If she continued to play dumb and sleep, she would be safe, but she would miss a lot of information.
When it's time to be brave, one must not back down.
Fearing the noise her shoes might make on the floor, Jiang Xiuxiu gritted her teeth and walked barefoot.
Fortunately, many places in the old house had carpets, so walking quietly on them wasn't particularly cold.
Following the direction the footsteps had gone, Jiang Xiuxiu sneaked and hid along the way.
Soon, she crouched in a corner, peeking out to see what those walking things really were.
The footsteps were too chaotic to be produced by one person.
Jiang Xiuxiu hid well, peeking out for a moment and then ducking back in to avoid being seen if they turned around.
Before long, she saw what those things were.
The ones walking past her room were actually the players who had entered the game with her.
Jiang Xiuxiu counted and saw there were two players walking in the hall.
In front of them was a ghostly white figure with a very vague outline.
She recognized it. The white ghostly figure was the same one that had been observing her earlier.
Behind it, the two players seemed to be entranced, staggering as they walked, their footsteps making a "shuffle, shuffle" sound.
They walked very slowly. It took about two minutes for the ghost and the players to reach the hall.
Earlier, a strange noise had come from here, saving Jiang Xiuxiu’s life by drawing the ghost away.
But now, the hall on the second floor was empty, with nothing in sight.
Clear moonlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, falling on the ghostly figure and the two players.
Through the moonlight, Jiang Xiuxiu was startled to see that the two players were the male player and the long-haired female player who had been taken by the ghosts earlier.
At this moment, they no longer had their previous lively expressions, their faces unusually pale.
Their eyes stared blankly ahead, empty and lifeless, wandering the house like ghosts.
Seeing this, Jiang Xiuxiu’s heart sank slightly.
Those two players indeed had something wrong with them.
What kind of existence were they, and why were they following the white ghost at night?
What were they going to do?
And why did the hall make that noise earlier?
As Jiang Xiuxiu pondered, she suddenly felt a cool breeze behind her.
Then, something lightly tapped her on the back.
"Shh, it's me."
A voice whispered in her ear.
The voice was so low it was almost inaudible.
However, upon recognizing the voice, Jiang Xiuxiu was momentarily stunned and turned around. She saw the new player standing behind her, smiling gently.
The dim moonlight on his face gave him a kind expression.
Like her, he had snuck out tonight.
Although this new player didn’t understand the game well, he had always been quite brave. It wasn’t surprising to Jiang Xiuxiu that he would come out at night.
Jiang Xiuxiu looked at him, then at the white ghost in the hall. A thought flashed through her mind.
She pointed at the white ghost and looked back at the newcomer.
"Was it you?" she mouthed silently.
Had he been the one to make the noise in the hall and save her?
The newcomer nodded at her.
Indeed, it was him.
Seeing the ghost staying too long at her door, he had made some noise in the hall to attract its attention, causing it to leave.
Realizing this, Jiang Xiuxiu felt a surge of unspoken gratitude.
She had silently criticized this new player for wanting to team up with the male player, thinking he was too foolish.
Yet now, he had risked being discovered to help her.
Feeling a mix of embarrassment and guilt, Jiang Xiuxiu solemnly thanked him.
“No problem,” the newcomer replied, blinking and smiling at her.
Only then did Jiang Xiuxiu notice that the newcomer’s eyes were a deep, deep black.
At this moment, his eyes were half lit by moonlight, half engulfed in darkness, giving them an eerie appearance.
Meanwhile, the white ghost, finding nothing unusual in the hall, continued leading the two players around.
Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.
Hearing the footsteps, Jiang Xiuxiu was momentarily startled.
She refocused her attention on the hall's movements.