The Trial Game of Life

As Tang Cuo was studying the diary, Jin Cheng came over. While keeping himself on guard against the lady’s ghost that might appear any time, he said: “There’s nothing in the piano room, and no key in the bench either.”

That meant the young miss’ room key only turned up in 1936. Every dimension of this dungeon was interconnected, and it wouldn’t work with even just one missing link. This was extremely harsh for players.

At this point, Tang Cuo finally saw some useful information.

[6th June 1924

I see blood in the bathroom on the second floor.

I ask Father. Father says that Dr. Lin had also left, so he changes the doctor for Mother.]

[9th June 1924

I have a nightmare again.

Uncle, I am scared.]

[11th July 1924

I finally steal the key to the attic. But it’s Teacher in the attic, not Uncle.

I won’t tell Mother this.]

The next entry was the last one, written more than half a year later.

[4th March 1925

I never saw Uncle again.]

The diary came to an abrupt end here, but everyone knew that the young miss still lived here for almost another year. What triggered her to pick up those scissors? They didn’t need to look too deeply into this. A child always looked at the world with innocent eyes. Without a doubt, if her world was engulfed in darkness, her heart would suffer the same fate.

The only person who made Tang Cuo curious was ‘Dr. Lin’.

At first, Tang Cuo didn’t know his identity and only regarded him as an unfortunate guest who accidentally discovered the secret. But it would be different if he was a doctor.

This Dr. Lin was treating Lin Wan. Did the poison that Lin Wan consumed come from him? If so, he must have some understanding of things that were happening in this mansion. Perhaps he was the family doctor of the Yu family. So if he was killed, it wouldn’t just be because of him knowing about the master’s marriage going sour.

“What Yu Wangnian really wanted to hide may not be Lin Wan’s personal affair, but his brother’s death.” Tang Cuo said.

“It’s also a possibility.” Jin Cheng stroked his chin: “Lin Wan’s affair was known to everyone in the mansion, but Yu Wangyue’s death was strictly covered up.”

Tang Cuo said: “In December, the young miss said that Uncle was gone, which showed that he was locked up on this day. Just a week later, on 25th December, Yu Wangyue died. Considering that it was such a short time, plus the fact that there was no external wound on his body, there’s a high probability that he died of a heart attack. In other words, it may be that because Yu Wangnian locked him up, it unfortunately led to his death.”

Jin Cheng: “Yu Wangnian just wanted to give him a little punishment but didn’t want his brother to die. Thus, he felt guilty because he couldn’t accept his brother’s death and even preserved the body so that no one would know. Wasn’t this torturing himself and Lin Wan for eternity?”

“In this way, your ‘substitute theory’ makes sense.” Tang Cuo put down the diary: “In the first half of the story, Lin Wan regarded the piano teacher as a substitute for Yu Wangyue. In the latter half of the story, Yu Wangnian also used him as a substitute for Yu Wangyue. He was just a substitute from the beginning to the end and never had his own name.”

Jin Cheng rode along Tang Cuo’s words and continued: “The most interesting thing is that Lin Wan, the first person who regarded him as a substitute, didn’t know the second half of the story. She always thought it was the real Yu Wangyue in the attic all this while.”

As Qi Hui listened to the two of them singing in perfect harmony, the water in his head swayed back and forth so much that it almost evaporated. Just then, the lady’s ghost appeared again, at which point Jin Cheng sprinkled the incense ash and started another fight.

Tang Cuo continued searching, because the gift that the butler obtained from the bank still hadn’t been found.

But they had searched both the young miss’ room and the piano room. Other rooms had also been searched more than once in different dimensions. Could it be that the gift wasn’t anything special and was easily overlooked?

Or was the gift inside the lady’s room, the one room that hadn’t been unlocked yet? 

But the butler took this thing back a week ago. The only dimensions that it could possibly exist were 1926 and 1936. And there was Rong Yi in this dungeon, so they couldn’t linger around too long. They must go to 1916 when the clock hit 12 o’clock.

As the time ticked by, Tang Cuo’s eyebrows furrowed deeper and Qi Hui became more anxious. Eventually, he grew the guts to suggest to Tang Cuo that they should call Zhou Dahai to ask him about the situation there.

Zhou Dahai was in 1923, but his time there was already past 12 o’clock, so he could only wait for dawn. But his dimension had been exposed to Rong Yi. The year 1923 might have some important clues that had been missed, so if they couldn’t shift there now, they could only call Zhou Dahai.

Qi Hui thought of this, so he looked at Tang Cuo expectantly, hoping that the big boss would agree.

Tang Cuo looked at him for a few seconds before saying: “Don’t say anything extra, follow my instructions.”

Qi Hui nodded obediently.

After a while, the phone was connected, and Zhou Dahai’s anxious yet happy voice came from the phone: “A Hui, is that you? How is your situation? It’s already past 4 AM here, it’ll be dawn soon. What should I do?!”

Hearing this, the rock in Qi Hui’s heart couldn’t help but feel a little heavier.

It was still more than 4 hours before the clock hit 12 o’clock in 1926. By the time they could shift to 1923, it would already be dawn on Zhou Dahai’s side. In this way, there was no doubt that Zhou Dahai would die. Once Zhou Dahai died, the time of 1923 would be reset, then Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng could shift there without any difficulty.

But Tang Cuo still agreed to Qi Hui’s suggestion to call. This finally allowed Qi Hui to feel some warmth in his heart.

At this time, Tang Cuo took out a pen and paper and wrote down what he wanted Qi Hui to ask. Qi Hui read it and stared at Tang Cuo in astonishment, but Tang Cuo only responded with his usual nonchalant demeanour.

Before he could think carefully about it, Qi Hui quickly followed the writing on the paper: “Dahai, don’t worry, listen to me carefully. We have no way to shift there now, nor can we clear the game in an hour or two. If you want to avoid dawn, there’s only one way ― seek help from Rong Yi.”

Zhou Dahai: “How is this possible? Why would he help me?!”

Qi Hui: “It depends on what information you have in your hands.”

Zhou Dahai: “This… I, I ―”

Qi Hui: “You stop talking for now first.” 

After that, Qi Hui cleared his throat and shouted: “Rong Yi, are you listening? You haven’t found the way to clear this game, right? There are also the [Twelve Movements]. If you still don’t know where the movement is kept, even if you clear the game, it’s meaningless. How about another exchange?”

There was no answer on the other end of the phone.

Zhou Dahai wanted to speak up a few times, but he also knew that this was his only chance to stay alive out of this, so he didn’t dare to interrupt. As Qi Hui continued to shout, the corner of his eye kept looking at Tang Cuo, as if he could calm down by looking at the big boss being so composed.

After Qi Hui shouted for ten minutes and Zhou Dahai almost reached the point of losing all hopes, Rong Yi finally appeared.

“Where’s Jin Cheng?”

Qi Hui subconsciously looked at Tang Cuo. Tang Cuo remained expressionless, his remarkably clear eyes looking straight back at Qi Hui, as if that gaze could pierce Qi Hui’s heart and see through everything.

“There’s no Jin Cheng.” Qi Hui gritted his teeth. “This is a deal that Dahai and I want to make with you. We want to live.” 

As Qi Hui’s words fell, Tang Cuo raised his pen and continued writing something.

Rong Yi seemed a bit surprised. It took two or three seconds before he replied: “What do you want to trade?”

Qi Hui: “We can give you some information, so in exchange, you’ll help Dahai turn back the time to before 12 o’clock.”

Rong Yi: “What information can you give me?”

Qi Hui: “The piano room. You haven’t opened the piano room yet, have you?”

Before Rong Yi answered, Jin Cheng walked over. Tang Cuo and he moved far away from the phone and started whispering to one another. The two stood so close that even Qi Hui couldn’t hear what they were talking about.

When Rong Yi spoke again, Tang Cuo’s instructions also came.

“I agree.”

“Good. But you have to help Dahai change the time first. I’ll give you the information only when he confirms with me that the time has changed.”

“Are you sure that you have the right to set conditions with me?”

“I don’t, that’s why I’m here talking. If I give you false information, you can easily kill both of us. But if you go against your own words the moment you get our information, we can do nothing to you.”

As Qi Hui spoke these words, his palms were sweating profusely, fearing that he might accidentally anger a big boss and bring death upon himself.

Rong Yi remained silent, but he wasn’t angry. Tang Cuo dared to let Qi Hui say all this because he had already grasped Rong Yi’s personality. Rong Yi could make a move at Jin Cheng and use sly tricks, but that was normal competition inside a dungeon. In fact, he could be considered quite a good-tempered player of Zone A.

It was better to deal with him than with Lin Yandong, who seemed all gentle and elegant.

If it was the psycho Miao Qi, Leng Miao, Yao Qing or any other person, Qi Hui would be looking for death if he said those things he told Rong Yi just now.

In the end, Rong Yi agreed to Qi Hui’s condition and helped Zhou Dahai change the time in just ten minutes. Qi Hui revealed to Rong Yi the information about the scissors and the key at the young miss’ waist.

Rong Yi knew that the young miss had a key, but he couldn’t stop her from setting the fire. He avoided the fire by constantly changing the time, so naturally he didn’t get the key. Listening to Qi Hui, he was almost certain that this information was true.

When both parties hung up the phone, Qi Hui was so thrilled that his tears almost fell down, then he cast an enormously grateful gaze at Tang Cuo. Although Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng didn’t say anything, what they did was equivalent to surrendering their own information to help save Zhou Dahai.

They were good men!

Very very good men!

Ashamed of his fear and suspicion towards them earlier, Qi Hui thanked them again and again. Tang Cuo remained completely indifferent and kept staring at the clock in the living room, still whispering to Jin Cheng.

About twenty minutes later, Tang Cuo looked at the phone again: “Now we’ll call Zhou Dahai one more time.”

Completely entrusting his life to Tang Cuo by now, Qi Hui readily bowed to whatever the big boss said. As the call went through, Zhou Dahai on the other end sounded very excited, his tone full of rejoice after surviving a disaster.

“Dahai, quickly tell me what else you’ve found in 1923. Be sure not to miss anything, we’re running out of time.” Qi Hui urged.

Zhou Dahai spoke with seriousness: “I checked the basement again and found that someone has been held in the basement. There seems to be a small bed at the corner of the wall, because the bed leg’s drag marks are still there. There’s some hair on the floor but it doesn’t seem to come from Yu Wangyue’s body.” 

Hearing this, Tang Cuo immediately said: “Ask him if it’s curly hair that’s slightly long.”

Qi Hui asked, and Zhou Dahai gave an affirmative answer.

Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng glanced at each other. The answer was obvious. The person locked up in the basement was the same person locked up in the attic. On 16th December, the man in the attic was locked up in the basement, while Yu Wangyue was locked up in the attic. At this time, even though Yu Wangnian was enraged by his wife’s adultery, he wasn’t crazy enough to carry out murders and just locked both of them up.

A week later, on the 25th, Yu Wangyue died, so Yu Wangnian switched their positions.

Zhou Dahai continued saying: “There are some traces of writing on the walls of the basement. It’s very vague, almost unreadable. I stared at it until my eyes almost went blind but could only read out some crooked lines. It should have been red ink, likely written a few years ago. “

Lines? Was it a music score?

On the other side, in 1936.

Rong Yi quickly adjusted the time and met with the young miss through the floor-to-ceiling window. Following the clues given by Qi Hui, he successfully got the scissors to talk to the young miss, but because of his lack of acting skill and trickery, the process wasn’t as smooth-sailing as Jin Cheng’s.

The young lady either refused to exchange the key with him, or she went angry and ignited the fire. Rong Yi had to rewind the time again and again to start over.

But time manipulation had its restrictions. Rong Yi had to pay a big price if he used it too many times. If he exceeded the original limit, he would be substantially weakened and could only admit defeat once he met Jin Cheng again.

As a drop of sweat rolled down Rong Yi’s temple, the phone rang, but he couldn’t pick it up in time.

Tang Cuo had calculated this move. The piano room didn’t have the [Twelve Movements], so he wouldn’t suffer any loss if this information was leaked. On the other hand, this could temporarily stall Rong Yi.

Even if Rong Yi smoothly got into the piano room and obtained the key to the young miss’ room, he still had to go back to 1926 to get her diary. And if he wanted to call the bank, he also had to go back to 1926.

Let’s see if he had the guts to play till the end.

“Are you sure there’s a limit to Rong Yi’s time manipulation? He looked at Jin Cheng.

“Of course.” Jin Cheng kept smiling: “Do you know that Rong Yi has a very famous motto?” “

“?”

“Rong Yi, my life isn’t easy.” [T/N: Rong Yi’s name, 荣弋,is homophonous to the word 容易, which means ‘easy’]