Sharon was shaken awake.
"Aaahhh!" She screamed and kicked out wildly, overwhelmed by terror. Eric and the others rushed to restrain her, trying to calm her down.
"I—I don't know anything! I just woke up like this! I—I…!" Sharon burst into hysterical sobs, desperate to faint and escape this nightmare. She didn't even want to think about how she had spent the entire night in bed beside a decapitated corpse. It was enough to drive her insane.
Upon examining Laura's body, it was confirmed that her head had been severed with an extremely sharp weapon.
"A Tang sword? A machete?"
"Or an axe? A chainsaw?"
"But with such force, how is it the bed is completely undamaged—not even the sheets are torn?"
"A ghost's killing methods defy scientific explanation…"
The players speculated about the murder weapon, and why Laura had been chosen. That part was easier to guess: last night during Tiantian's wish ritual, the dining room had gone pitch black. Something touched the players in the darkness, which was terrifying enough—but only Laura screamed aloud. Miss Tiantian had shown clear displeasure at that moment.
Sharon sat slumped on the corridor floor, leaning against the wall, eyes wide with disbelief as she listened to the players calmly analyze the situation. It was as if no human had died—only a pet, or some cold, clinical case for study.
"What kind of place have I come to…?" she murmured.
After the discussion, the players began heading downstairs.
Eric passed by Sharon, then paused and turned back, bending slightly and extending his hand. "Want to come help search for clues?"
"I—I…" Tears welled up in Sharon's eyes. "I'm so scared…"
"Everyone's afraid. I'm afraid too," Eric said earnestly. "But if you want to survive, you can't let fear paralyze you. We all have to push through it."
Gritting her teeth, Sharon took Eric's hand.
After helping her up, Eric let go, and Sharon, legs still weak, followed behind her.
Downstairs in the living room, they found the front door tightly shut. Sunlight filtered in through the glass windows—it was a bright, beautiful morning.
But the players' moods were far from bright. They inspected the living room first, then moved on to the dining room.
It was spotless—not a single crumb remained.
"Don't you all feel… something strange?" one player asked.
Another chuckled. "When is a supernatural copy *not* strange?"
"What about the NPCs?"
"Haven't seen them. Let's search."
"I'm starving…"
Cautiously, they began exploring the villa.
To the left of the living room were the kitchen and grand dining hall. To the right, two servant rooms and a shared bathroom. Past the stairway and through a ground-level hallway, they reached the back garden.
They soon realized the players were the only ones left in the villa—the NPCs had vanished.
"Where are the butler and Miss Tiantian?"
"We can't get out. Doors and windows won't open, and we can't climb over the garden wall."
Some players attempted to scale the wall, but an invisible force stopped them. Though the scenery beyond was clearly visible, there was no way to leave.
"We're trapped."
"There's only the third floor left to check. Are we going or not?" Steven asked impatiently.
Eric ignored him.
She deeply resented Steven after last night's banquet, where he had raised a toast without warning, nearly forcing all the players to follow suit. She found his reckless, self-serving behavior intolerable—someone to keep at arm's length.
Miss Tiantian's room did pique her curiosity, but something about the third floor unsettled her deeply, like it was Pandora's box—ominous and dangerous.
"I need to sleep. I didn't rest at all last night and my head is spinning," Eric said, heading upstairs.
Donald and Rebecca, who had been to the third floor the previous evening, exchanged a glance and also announced they were going to sleep.
"Hey, didn't you two already go up there yesterday? Did you find anything?" Steven pressed.
Donald shook his head. "We couldn't make it to the third floor. We were stopped at the staircase."
Steven was skeptical. "We're all in this together. If you've found clues, share them so we can work through this."
Rebecca replied, "We really didn't. If you don't believe us, go check for yourselves."
With that, she led the way upstairs.
Some players followed her up to the second floor, while others stayed behind, still contemplating whether to explore the right staircase to the third floor.
Amy went up silently. Cynthia hesitated. She shared a room with Eric—if she found something and didn't tell her, it'd be awkward. But if she risked going up for clues while Eric slept peacefully, it made her uneasy.
Back in their room, Eric ate a little. She was famished—she hadn't eaten since entering the game the previous evening.
With her stomach full, she finally lay down and fell asleep.
Though the villa stood on a mountain, not once had she heard birdsong. Even the air felt heavy, stifling. It confirmed her suspicions: despite the apparent calm, they were far from safe.
Would the third floor become the turning point?
She silenced her thoughts and forced herself to sleep. She needed the strength for whatever crisis awaited.
In the last room, Donald and Rebecca locked the door behind them. Their expressions had lost the composure they displayed downstairs.
Rebecca looked uneasy. "Donald… should we really not stop them?"
"And how exactly would we stop them? Tell them our secret?" he countered.
Rebecca faltered, lowering her head. "But… they might be in danger up there…"
"They didn't stop us yesterday when we went up, did they? Now they want to go—we'll do the same. Everyone minds their own business. No point overthinking it."
She knew he was right and fell silent. Donald made a bed on the floor, letting her take the bed.
The reason they shared a room, despite being of opposite sexes, was twofold: they had gone upstairs last, and only one room remained. More importantly, they now shared a secret. Staying together benefited them both, and neither felt the need to squeeze in with others.
Lying on her side, Rebecca couldn't resist opening her player interface again. She stared at the newly appeared "Items" tab, cheeks flushed with excitement.
An item—something she'd only heard rumors of—and she'd actually gotten one!
Thinking back on their third-floor excursion, it still felt like a dream.
She and Donald had lied. They had not been stopped at the staircase. In fact, they'd gone up with ease.
The third floor was nothing like the second. After ascending, they first saw a small lounge. Beyond it was a single large room, luxuriously remodeled into a princess's chamber—canopy bed, walk-in closet, vanity, dressing room… An overwhelming display of decadence.
In a side room, a plush carpet was piled high with birthday presents.
The third floor had no NPCs then. The two had swiftly searched the area and, curious, picked up two open birthday boxes on the vanity.
The moment they touched them, a voice echoed in their minds:
**\[Item detected: Tiantian's Birthday Gift – Diamond Watch. Bind for 444 points?]**
**\[Item detected: Tiantian's Birthday Gift – Hair Clip. Bind for 444 points?]**
They were overjoyed—until a ghostly figure began forming in the mirror.
Panicked, they fled to the second floor, changed clothes quickly, and pretended nothing had happened. At dinner, they realized the ghostly figure was Miss Tiantian herself. Now that two players had already died—Paul for offending her, Laura for screaming during the ritual—it was clear: Miss Tiantian was no sweetheart. She was a vengeful killer in disguise.
Neither of them wanted to return to the third floor.
Donald refused to warn the others—not because of shared risk, as he told Rebecca—but because he hadn't bound the item yet. It wasn't that he lacked the points; 444 was within reach. But once bound, he wouldn't have enough left for a 22-point healing kit. What if he got seriously injured?
And an unbound item couldn't be used. But once bound, it couldn't be unbound—even if it turned out to be useless.
Most items could defend against ghosts, some even kill them. But others were practically worthless. His guild leader at the Dawn Society had an item—a recording pen—that could literally only record sounds. No combat use whatsoever. She used it as a lullaby player.
Torn between choices, Donald finally decided to wait. Both the item and the healing kit were survival tools—he would see how things developed. He'd bind it just before leaving the game.
That meant someone could steal it. Which was exactly why he hadn't told the others about the third floor. If they went up and found items as easily as he had, they'd suspect he and Rebecca already had one. If the number of items was limited, he could be targeted.
Meanwhile, players returning to the second floor gradually drifted off to sleep. Those in the living room agreed—it was time to go upstairs.
They ascended the stairs slowly, alert to every sound. But the staircase was only so long, and before long, they reached the top.
Andrew reached forward, feeling no barrier.
"We can go up."
"Let's keep quiet."
One by one, they stepped onto the third floor, ready to flee the moment they saw Miss Tiantian.
Fortunately, she was nowhere to be seen.
Relieved, they split up to search.