chapter 37

“Oh my, what happened?” The Queen was startled by the sudden noise.

Tu Nan immediately crouched down to help Bella up, her voice heavy with sorrow as she said, “Bella must be too heartbroken, she’s become absent-minded.”

“Poor child.” The Queen sighed, not pursuing Bella’s loss of composure.

But ahead, their father shot them a vicious glare.

Now, in the Palace, he was suppressed by the Rule and couldn’t do anything to them, but Tu Nan feared that as soon as they returned home, he would immediately make his move.

She had lingered in the Instance for too long, and he could no longer restrain himself.

Bella’s body was stiff as she numbly thanked her.

Tu Nan supported her arm and took the opportunity to pinch it.

Just as she expected, the sensation was exactly the same as that of the corpse.

She glanced at the people ahead, who were engrossed in conversation, then resolutely turned and quickly walked toward the room where Cinderella’s body had been stored.

Tu Nan dared not run, but fortunately, they hadn’t gone far, and she soon returned to that room.

The door she had seen closed was now half open. She walked to the entrance and, sure enough, saw Bella inside, leaning over the coffin, doing something unknown.

“Sister, what are you doing?” Tu Nan suddenly asked.

Bella’s body paused slightly. She straightened up and turned to look at Tu Nan, her face showing no surprise. Instead, she smiled and said slowly, “Sister, why are you here?”

“If I hadn’t come, how could I have witnessed this scene?” Tu Nan walked toward her step by step. “Should I call you Bella, or Cinderella?”

Bella’s smile didn’t change. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“At this point, is there any need to keep pretending?” Tu Nan looked coldly at the person before her. “The one who died was always Bella, wasn’t it?”

Bella didn’t deny it. She tilted her head slightly. “How did you figure it out?”

“The day Cinderella died, I already felt something was off. At first, I didn’t suspect you-I thought she had broken the Rule herself. But your behavior was just too strange. The real Bella could never act like you.”

Bella-or rather, Cinderella-sighed helplessly. “Even with a new skin, I must maintain my character as much as possible.”

“Exactly.” Tu Nan looked at her. “The real Bella would never have volunteered to feed the Birds. She would have wished to kill them, because she hated Cinderella.”

“Just based on that, you concluded I was Cinderella?” Cinderella asked curiously.

Tu Nan shook her head. “I also have to thank those Birds.”

Cinderella looked puzzled.

“They didn’t refuse your feeding, and after you fed them, they actually stopped making noise. Isn’t that suspicious? So I deliberately tried feeding them too. They were extremely hostile to me, yet didn’t reject you-even though you, as Bella, also hated Cinderella… In this house, the only one who truly loves animals is you. Only you can make them obedient.”

Cinderella smiled and applauded. “A brilliant deduction.”

“How did you do it?” Tu Nan couldn’t help but ask. “The corpse in the coffin, and the Bella outside.”

“Just Puppets,” Cinderella said casually. “In the Instance, who doesn’t have a few tricks up their sleeve?”

“So, you’re the Mouse, aren’t you!” Tu Nan stared at her, questioning sharply.
“Bingo!” Cinderella didn’t deny it at all. Instead, she admitted it openly. “Congratulations, you guessed right, but I don’t have any prize for you.

Seeing her so calm, Tu Nan actually hesitated a little.

“You must be curious why I’m not afraid of you at all, right?” Cinderella smiled.

Tu Nan watched her warily.

“My task has already been completed,” Cinderella said, relaxed and at ease. “The reason I haven’t left yet is because I want to take something out with me.”

“What?”

Cinderella turned around and took something out of the coffin.

-Cinderella’s Glass Slipper.

“That night, when I was switching bodies, time was too tight. I couldn’t take this out, so I had to find another chance to come to the Royal Palace. Luckily, you arrived in time, otherwise I would have had to leave the Instance.”

Looking at her, Tu Nan was even more confused.

Why did Cinderella look as if she wasn’t afraid at all of being caught by her?

Cinderella seemed to see what she was thinking. “We are the same kind, never opponents. The real adversary standing against us is this game.”

“But the Rule says I can’t reveal my identity directly, so I could only hint to you.” She smiled. “Fortunately, you’re smart enough.”

“…” Tu Nan was stunned by these words, momentarily speechless.

“Aren’t you going to ‘catch’ me?” Cinderella reminded her. “I’m about to leave the Instance.”

As her words fell, Cinderella’s body really began to turn transparent before Tu Nan’s eyes.

Tu Nan was startled. If Cinderella disappeared, she would never be able to leave the Instance.

At the last second before Cinderella vanished, Tu Nan grabbed her hand and loudly declared, “I’ve caught the ‘Mouse’!”

[You only have one chance, do you confirm?]

“Confirm.”

[Congratulations, you have successfully caught the ‘Mouse’. Do you wish to leave the Instance?]

“Yes.”

[Congratulations, you have successfully left the Instance ‘Cinderella’. Looking forward to seeing you again next time.]

Thank you, she wasn’t looking forward to it at all.

Tu Nan closed her eyes, and in the next moment, she was already in the familiar Dimensional Space.

This was the boundary between reality and the Instance world, a place for a brief stay.

This time, Mr. Crow didn’t appear. It seemed he wasn’t present for every Instance.

She chose to return to reality. The familiar room appeared before her eyes, and only then did Tu Nan finally feel that she had truly left the Instance.

She was exhausted.

She collapsed heavily onto the bed and closed her eyes.

After several days of mental tension, she quickly fell asleep. When she woke up again, it was already night outside.

Her stomach was growling with hunger. Tu Nan climbed out of bed, made herself a bowl of instant noodles, and sat down on the sofa with the noodles in one hand and her phone in the other.

She lifted a chopstickful of noodles and blew on them, then tapped into the Forum and refreshed the page.

As the noodles cooled, Tu Nan stared at her phone screen, about to eat, but suddenly stopped.

-She saw a post.

[Players who have recently cleared the ‘Cinderella’ Instance, please enter]

She didn’t know why, but a strong intuition made her click in.

[Dear sister, if you see this post, please contact me immediately.]

Posted by: Must Sleep Early Tonight.