Chapter 44

The compartments were very deep, just enough to hold the Items they had obtained from the previous level.

“They should be for placing Items.”

Lu Li analyzed the arrangement of the ten compartments: two in a group, with a connecting line in the middle.

It seemed that placing an Item into one compartment would cause something to appear in the corresponding compartment.

He took out the Items from his Wristband and spread them on the table.

They were:

Two Bills with clear signatures, Mom’s document folder, Dad’s whip, Nuo Nuo’s blood-stained White Dress, and the Clown’s orange Sewing Kit.

The number was exactly five.

Luo Jia Bai said uncertainly, “Maybe they need to be placed in order?”

There were only four Players left. They could use Qi Mingda to test for mistakes, so Lu Li made space for Luo Jia Bai.

“You do it.”

Luo Jia Bai braced himself, picked up a Bill, and placed it into the compartment the Clown was pointing at.

The compartment was just the right size.

The connected compartment sank and rose again, lifting up a Tape Reel.

That movement was clearly a good sign.

Luo Jia Bai was very excited. “We really got it right this time!”

Lu Li praised, “Not easy.”

Several crisp “click” sounds.

Blinding white lights lit up in the four corners above their heads, shining directly down on them.

The lights were so bright that it was difficult to keep their eyes open.

“Why did the lights suddenly come on? It’s so hot, like we’re being roasted.” Zhu Yue complained, shielding her eyes with her hand. “This kind of lighting feels like interrogating suspects at a police station.”

Under the harsh lights.

The Clown moved.

It took the Tape Reel, put it into the Recorder, and pressed the play button.

A strange man’s voice came from inside.

Despicable and manic.

[“I’m not guilty! I leave early and return late, I can make money, occasionally play mahjong, have a drink, get a massage-what’s wrong with that? Isn’t it just natural for men to earn money and women to take care of the family? She complains about being tired all day, but all she does is clean and look after the child-how tiring can that be? Can she be more tired than me!”]

[“Asking for money all day! Where do I get that much money? She just buys groceries every day, does she need that much? I just won’t give it to her! If she wants to spend money, she can earn it herself! Useless.”]

The recording ended, and the Clown put the Tape Reel back.

When it froze, it pointed at the second compartment.

Lu Li let out a soft sigh. “That was Dad’s recording.”

From beginning to end, they had only known Dad and Mom through others’ descriptions and Nuo Nuo’s words.

It was the first time hearing Dad speak.

“Excuses!” Luo Jia Bai couldn’t stand scumbags, furious. “Every sentence is an excuse! No wonder Mom had to work so many part-time jobs-she couldn’t even get living expenses.”

“Keep going.”

Luo Jia Bai put the document folder in.

The Clown took out a new Tape Reel.

[“I really don’t understand how someone as excellent as me could marry such a terrible woman. After getting married, she doesn’t wear makeup every day. I don’t even find her interesting to look at anymore.

I’m under too much pressure, so I go out for massages to relax. The attendants there have a good attitude and are pitiful-grandpa is dead, grandma is bedridden, and there’s a sick brother at home. What’s wrong with swiping my card to buy the attendant some nice clothes?

This is my own money anyway! I didn’t cheat!

Every time I see her lose her temper and make a scene, getting scolded by the neighbors, I feel a sense of revenge. She’s just an emotionally unstable lunatic! Because of her, I was beaten deaf and lost my job. Crazy woman! She deserves to be locked up!”]

Luo Jia Bai picked up the blood-stained whip and placed it into the third compartment.

The Clown also took out the third Tape Reel.

This recording was about Nuo Nuo:

[“I admit to what you’re asking about! I also admit that I had a bit to drink that night and did something wrong. But I hadn’t had any income for a long time, it’s normal to be irritable and short-tempered. Not to mention seeing her awful grades! Bad student, really bad!

I wanted her to improve, I wanted her to be number one! Isn’t that right? If you fall behind, you get punished. That day she was wearing a very thin nightgown, lying on the sofa watching TV… She was deliberately seducing me! What happened to her, she deserved it.”]

Luo Jia Bai gasped, eyes wide in disbelief. He grabbed the unused White Dress Item, pointed at the blood on it, and looked to Lu Li for confirmation. “Although it’s not said directly, is it what I think it means?”

“Yes.” Lu Li clenched his fist.

When reality and truth are cruelly revealed piece by piece,

When he can only view these evils that have already happened from the perspective of recounting memories,

He once again felt anger.

Anger so intense it seemed the temperature around him was rising.

“Fuck!” Luo Jia Bai couldn’t help but curse. He looked up at the enormous, bizarre Nuo Nuo on the ceiling.

Nuo Nuo leaned against the wall, a serene smile on her lips.

As if she was showing these new guests around what was truly her beautiful, happy home.

Luo Jia Bai’s face showed pain and reluctance. He tried to keep his voice down. “She’s only twelve. She’s just a child!”

“Hurry up and place the Items! Finish all of them, I want to clear the level!” Qi Mingda woke from his dazed state, as if he’d had a long, arduous dream.
For a while, he dreamed that everyone had left the Instance, and he became the last one.

For a while, he dreamed that Lu Li was using a knife to pry open his skin.

Then he dreamed that, in each Instance, the people he had killed all turned into vengeful ghosts, coming for his life.

Qi Mingda was somewhat hysterical. He clutched his injured eye. “I want to get out, let me out!”

In a panic, he grabbed the Item from Luo Jia Bai’s hand and tried to stuff the White Dress into the fourth slot with all his might.

But the connected slot did not reveal the Tape Reel.

Nuo Nuo rested her chin on her hand and said regretfully, “Oh no, you put it in the wrong place.”

The Clown raised its Axe, aiming at Qi Mingda.

Qi Mingda’s face turned deathly pale. Just before the Axe came down, he threw himself to the floor, dodging the blow.

But the Clown also changed direction, left the table, and started chasing him.

Lu Li was studying the two remaining slots.

Luo Jia Bai suggested tentatively, “Maybe we need to change the order?”

The orange Sewing Kit was placed in a slot, but still, nothing happened.

Instead, the Clown’s pursuit of Qi Mingda became even faster.

Lu Li glanced over all the Items on the table. “The Tape Reel contains the father’s descriptions of every Family Member. Among the Family Members is Buck, but there’s no related Item here. In the clues you found earlier, there was a piece of Denim Cloth.”

Luo Jia Bai clapped his hands. “I remember now!”

He put the half piece of Denim Cloth into the fourth slot.

The connected Tape Reel slowly appeared.

The Clown put away its Axe, returned to the table, and began to play the tape.

[And that damned dog! That mad dog! It chewed my leg to shreds! When the dog bit me, I was briefly lucid.

But so what? She’s my daughter! What’s wrong with me doing this to her? Her life was given by me, her body is also mine!

I chopped the mad dog to pieces so it wouldn’t dare get in my way again!]

Lu Li murmured, “So that’s the reason Buck cannot rest in peace.”

To protect Nuo Nuo, what Buck bit down on before dying was a piece of cloth from the father’s clothes.

Qi Mingda was drenched in cold sweat, struggling with all his strength to crawl back to the table.

He saw Lu Li raise his hand and place the orange Sewing Kit into the last slot.

The man’s voice sounded out, cruelly:

[Fine, I admit I killed someone! Even if I killed that woman in front of Nuo Nuo, would she dare say a word?

A cowardly woman gave birth to a cowardly daughter.

She just hid on the stairs, watching as I stabbed that woman again and again. I used the Axe she brought into the house to smash the Family Portrait and the wall where it hung. I sealed that woman into the wall, bought cement to pour in, and suffocated her alive! That feeling was truly wonderful.

Nuo Nuo wanted to come downstairs, but I warned her not to.

Now the wall without the Family Portrait is finally perfect. Mom will be with us forever. Nuo Nuo, weren’t you always making a fuss, wanting Mom to come back? Now I’ve fulfilled your wish-aren’t you happy? Would you dare rebel against me? The ‘Nuo’ in your name actually stands for ‘cowardice.’ ]

Luo Jia Bai’s worldview was shattered, his hands itched to punch something. “He killed the dog, and he killed a person too?!”

Lu Li said, “And he was proud of it.”

When the Tape Reel finished playing, the table disappeared.

Only the last Item in Lu Li’s hand remained:

The blood-stained White Dress.

Cold drops of water began to fall from the ceiling, as if it were raining.

“What’s going on?” Luo Jia Bai was a bit flustered. “We solved all the puzzles-shouldn’t we have cleared the Instance? Why are there still no doors on these four walls?”

Zhu Yue looked worried. “The water is rising, soon it will flood this place.”

The Clown stared at them motionlessly, never saying a word.

Lu Li stared at the last Item in his hand, lost in thought.

The rain soaked the White Dress.

The blood on it spread, turning into bloody water, mixed with sticky white liquid, and dripped down.

So close to him, the Clown suddenly recalled what Nuo Nuo had said earlier, and stepped forward, asking, “It’s Early Morning now, can we play together?”

The statue-like Clown moved, turned around, and made an inviting gesture toward him.

A normal-sized Swing appeared behind the Clown.

It was inviting Lu Li to sit on the Swing.

Standing to the side, it gently pushed.

Lu Li sat on the Swing, placing the White Dress on his lap. The blood water overflowed, staining his clothes and the wood of the Swing.

The Clown’s swinging stopped.

It first felt the object on the Swing, then turned its head, staring at the bloody and dirty White Dress.

It reached out with trembling hands and embraced Lu Li’s shoulders.

For the first time, it spoke.

A woman’s voice, broken and painful, with a sobbing fury:

“This wasn’t done by the whip… What else did he do to you? Tell Mama.”