Chapter 5: Rose Manor

Infinite Peculiar Games

The door to the room in the old manor was fitted with the simplest of mechanical locks—the kind a single hairpin could defeat.

Qi Si unlocked the door with the key and was the first to step inside.

The yellowed wallpaper was stained with watermarks and patches of mildew. Black, ulcer-like spots crawled across the decaying ceiling, while blades of grass, pushing through the rot like worms on a festering wound, seemed poised to drip down with pus at any moment.

The room's only light source was a single oil lamp on the nightstand. In the center stood a large bed, easily big enough for two. To its right was a quaint, old desk, piled high with books and notebooks.

Qi Si recalled his limited experience with horror games and suspected that clues were likely hidden among them.

He walked over, his pale fingertips tracing the yellowed parchment cover. He lifted a page, then froze, as if a sudden thought had struck him.

A few moments later, his fingers twitched, but he only ended up casually flipping through the notebook on top, not bothering to read or investigate any further.

He had just noticed that the room contained no clocks, nor anything else that could mark the precise time.

—Trouble was almost guaranteed tonight.

The sky had already grown dim. Through the dusty French windows, he could vaguely make out the sea of roses in the garden below.

The rose bushes were so dense that their flowers and leaves tangled together, creating a tapestry of fragmented, eye-like shadows that seemed to stare coldly at him through the glass.

Fortunately, the room was fitted with curtains. Qi Si drew them shut without a moment's hesitation. Out of sight, out of mind.

Recalling the classic horror movie trope of an ominous breeze blowing the curtains open, he dragged a stool from the desk and wedged it against them.

Next, he checked the door and its frame, confirming that once locked, there was no hidden latch or mechanism to open it from the outside.

Time was short, so Qi Si reluctantly abandoned a more thorough search and returned to the bed.

At first glance, the bed looked perfectly smooth and unremarkable.

He gazed down at it for a moment, then, acting on a hunch, he ripped back the covers.

There, laid flat on the yellowed mattress, was a striking, crimson-red, European-style court gown. Its intricate trim and strings of beads were pressed flat, a clear sign it had been lying there for a very long time.

Qi Si picked up the gown and gave it a shake, but to his disappointment, nothing else fell out.

How dull. If it had been him, he would have at least stuffed a few severed limbs inside to give someone a proper scare.

Lin Chen had followed Qi Si into the room.

He'd never played horror games before; his usual fare consisted of tower defense and open-world titles.

But not wanting to appear useless, he began carefully searching the room, starting from one corner and meticulously checking every inch with the same thoroughness he'd use to clean his dorm room.

The rustle of fabric sounded from behind him, followed by Qi Si's chillingly soft voice. "Lin Chen," he asked, "if you were to kill someone just to possess them, would you call that a form of love?"

A shiver ran down Lin Chen's spine. He straightened up abruptly, turning his head just in time to witness a bizarre scene.

The dark-haired young man stood there, a faint smile on his lips, holding the old-fashioned red gown. Though the action itself was simple, it created the distinct and unsettling impression of a psychopathic killer showing off his victim's clothes.

Lin Chen pointed at the gown, his tongue tripping over the words. "Qi Si, what... what is this?"

"This?" Qi Si's head dipped, his expression unreadable in the shadows. "I fell in love with someone..."

"Huh?"

"She was so perfect. All the most beautiful words in the world couldn't begin to describe her." Qi Si's voice was unnervingly calm, but his words betrayed a deep-seated madness. "I wanted to possess her—humbly, fervently, shamefully. It was a love that the world would never accept, one that was destined to remain unspoken..."

It suddenly dawned on Lin Chen that he didn't really know Qi Si at all.

This man was the only one who had come from outside the manor, his clothes were stained with blood... was it possible he'd already been replaced by some monster?

His offer to share a room might not have been a gesture of goodwill. Perhaps, as a murderous psychopath, he had already set his sights on him, planning to strike without a second thought...

"What's on your mind?"

Qi Si folded the gown, tossed it onto a nearby stool, and clicked his tongue. "I found this under the mattress," he said. "Everything else was just my speculation about this instance's backstory. I could be completely wrong."

Lin Chen breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought..."

"Thought what?" Qi Si countered. "If I were a psycho, you wouldn't be standing there in one piece. You'd either never wake up again, or you'd wake up in... a very unpleasant state."

Qi Si's favorite tactic was to manipulate people's emotions with his words, lowering their guard to make them easier to deceive.

He watched Lin Chen with an unreadable, half-smile, as if he'd just told some trivial joke.

Lin Chen swallowed, feeling a bit awkward. He felt he was being far too paranoid. How could there be so many psychopathic killers in the world? And what were the odds he'd just happen to run into one?

Just then, the young man's tone shifted. "Now, you, Lin Chen," he asked, drawing out the words, "are you really a rookie in your first instance? What do you do in the real world? And how did you end up in this game?"

Someone without interrogation training would find such an abrupt questioning difficult to handle. Lin Chen's life story immediately flashed through his mind.

His father was a factory worker, his mother was unemployed, and his family was saddled with a massive loan from the Federal Foundation. Through sheer effort, he'd managed to get into a prestigious university on a scholarship...

Not long ago, he'd been out tutoring. On his way back, he heard cries for help from a dark alley. He rushed over to find a group of thugs harassing a girl, getting rough with her...

A hot-blooded impulse took over. He stepped forward to confront the thugs, only to be swarmed, beaten, and kicked until his consciousness began to fade...

Lin Chen said whatever came to mind, spilling his life story like tipping over a jar of beans.

"Mhm, not a bad story," Qi Si commented. "At least, it sounds plausible enough."

By prying into Lin Chen's background and forcing him into a trap where he felt compelled to prove himself, Qi Si had achieved his goal.

He leaned back with a calm, self-assured air. "It's getting late," he announced. "Time to sleep."

Lin Chen opened his mouth to say something else, but saw that Qi Si had already closed his eyes.

Wait, he's just going to sleep? Aren't we going to look for clues first?

He grumbled internally but didn't dare to get on the "veteran player's" bad side, so he sheepishly held his tongue.

With no clock in the room, there was no way to know the exact time. The safest way to avoid breaking the rules was simply to sleep until morning. Seeing that Qi Si had only taken half the bed, leaving plenty of space, Lin Chen carefully slipped off his shoes and climbed in.

He was careful to keep his distance from Qi Si the entire time, as if afraid that the slightest touch might provoke him.

Qi Si noticed, of course. He could read Lin Chen's psyche with perfect clarity.

He was a simple person, someone who hadn't experienced the darker side of the world. Thrown into this bizarre game without any warning, he was understandably lost and disoriented.

In this situation, Qi Si—the only person who had shown him any kindness—had become his lifeline, someone he felt compelled to follow and eager to please.

It was similar to the "suspension bridge effect" in psychology—a kind of pathological, self-inflicted manipulation.

Qi Si was no psychologist; he had no intention of correcting Lin Chen's vulnerable mindset.

On the contrary, events were unfolding exactly as he had anticipated.

He narrowed his eyes, a mischievous smile playing on his lips. "You know, Lin Chen, there's a reason I chose to share a room with you."

Lin Chen froze. "What reason?"

"Probably because your name sounds like a protagonist from some novel," Qi Si said. "I figured you'd be a worthwhile investment."

It was a joke, but against the pale, chilling backdrop of this bizarre game, it felt almost too warm.

Lin Chen had been consumed by the anxiety of being distrusted. But hearing the subtext in Qi Si's words, he realized that Qi Si had finally dropped his suspicions and was accepting him as an ally.

He stared blankly for a couple of seconds before replying, a little flustered, "Uh... you think so? Haha, my parents both love fantasy novels. They probably did get my name from one..."

"Sigh... I'm their only kid. They'll be counting on me to take care of them when they get old... I can't die. I have to make it out of here alive..."

A bit of idle chatter was useful for closing the psychological distance between strangers, but too much would seem forced.

Qi Si rolled over, pulling the sheet up to his shoulders. "Lin Chen, you died because you were 'kind'. This game gave you a second chance, maybe as a reward for that kindness. I have a feeling you're going to survive."

"But it's getting late. If you want to live, you need to get to sleep now and avoid breaking the rules."

It had been years since he'd done something as foolish as praising kindness, but such words were perfect for deceiving a naive, bright-eyed college kid.

Encouraged, Lin Chen nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Thanks, Qi Si! I'll go to sleep right now!"

Qi Si waited for his roommate to settle in, then propped himself up on one elbow and blew out the oil lamp on the nightstand.

The flame sputtered twice before vanishing completely, plunging the room into a darkness so profound you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

In the suffocating darkness, where every shape became a source of fear, Lin Chen's trembling voice soon broke the silence. "Qi... Qi Si... I'm a little scared. I can't sleep..."

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Qi Si replied, his eyes still closed. "I didn't trust the others, so I kept this to myself at dinner. But I can tell you now: I figured something out earlier. Miss Anna is human. You remember the seventh rule, don't you?"

"Uh... only monsters can kill humans. So, Miss Anna can't actually hurt us?"

"Exactly. So relax and get some sleep."

Ten minutes later.

Lin Chen's pitiful whisper cut through the dark. "Qi Si... I still can't sleep... I'm usually still in my evening classes around this time. I'm not tired at all..."

Qi Si replied coolly, "Count sheep to a thousand. If you don't want to die, go to sleep."

Lin Chen: "Okay, okay!"

Half an hour later.

Lin Chen let out another mosquito-like whine. "Qi... Qi Si... I'm sorry..."

Sensing the palpable fear coming off his new tool, bright and obvious as a beacon, Qi Si opened his eyes in the darkness and let out a long sigh.

He fiddled with the bracelet on his right wrist. Tiny tools—a blade, a wire, a silver needle—flickered between his fingertips before he finally settled on a small, blunt-tipped awl.

He commanded, "Roll over. Face away from me."

"Okay," Lin Chen mumbled, confused but obediently doing as he was told.

The next second, Qi Si jabbed the awl into a pressure point at the base of his neck.

Watching the helpless kid finally pass out, Qi Si viciously retracted the tool of the trade and closed his eyes again.

In the pitch-black silence, only the sound of shallow breathing remained.

Within the ocean of Qi Si's mind, four lines of blood-red text slowly began to weave themselves together, taking root in his memory as if alive.

[My chest decays]

[My flesh is spread upon the earth]

[Here the roses dwell]

[To be with me for all tomorrows]

Earlier, when Qi Si had casually flipped through the notebook on the desk, he had only glanced at this four-line verse transcribed on the flyleaf.

As he had habitually recited the lines to himself, he'd suddenly heard the phantom rustle of growing plants. At the same time, the fingertips touching the page had begun to itch, as if something were trying to seep through his skin and into his veins.

He had immediately abandoned any thought of further investigation, acting as if nothing had happened.

Something that seemed this dangerous was best left for daylight—and for his new tool to investigate.

Yes, first he'd trick Lin Chen into handling it. If that yielded no results, he'd lure the other players into being his guinea pigs. And if no one took the bait, he could always resort to a little moral blackmail...

Mulling over these malicious plans, Qi Si drifted into a deep and dreamless sleep.