chapter 53

“Based on my guess…” Tu Nan’s face was grim. “It seems to be something made from a mixture of flesh and hay.”

Jenny fell silent.

“By the way…” Tu Nan suddenly asked, “Have you noticed anything unusual in this Manor?”

“You noticed too?” Jenny replied quickly. “I was just about to talk to you. I think this place is really strange. Many times, things seem perfectly normal, but then suddenly they twist in my eyes. When I look closer, it’s as if nothing happened…”

Her tone grew heavy. “I asked a few others, and it seems this kind of thing happens to everyone, more or less. Weird things happening in an Instance isn’t rare, but what’s odd is that this doesn’t seem to pose any danger to us.”

Tu Nan fell into thought.

So many people had noticed something strange, which meant the oddities of the past two days weren’t just her imagination.

But she couldn’t figure out why.

“Since it doesn’t threaten us for now, it’s best not to dwell on it,” Jenny sighed. “Maybe it’s just a puzzle set up by the Instance to confuse us, without any real significance.”

“Maybe,” Tu Nan couldn’t make sense of it, but she felt it wasn’t that simple. Still, with no clues at all, she had no choice but to set the matter aside for now.

Her gaze inadvertently fell on the table, and only then did she notice that the Potted Plant Jenny had placed there seemed to have grown a lot.

“Your Peashooter is almost grown, isn’t it?” she asked.

Jenny glanced at the Potted Plant and nodded. “It should mature by tomorrow. With it, at least we’ll have some means of self-defense.”

Tu Nan lowered her head in contemplation.

So far, the Fairy Tale Compendium hadn’t been much help to her. Its conditions for generating Skill Cards were too harsh. In the Instance, where was she supposed to find so many fairy tale characters’ personal items to feed it?

Although Fu Zhixing hadn’t told her about his abilities, judging by his endless supply of Skill tools, his self-preservation was extremely strong.

But she didn’t even have a single Skill to protect herself.

In a critical moment, throwing the Fairy Tale Compendium out to devour a Weird-she wondered if that would work.

“It’s midnight,” Jenny suddenly said.

Her heart leapt.

Time seemed to slow down, each tick of the second hand dragging on.

She didn’t know how long had passed before she finally heard movement outside.

It was similar to the sounds of the first night-the scraping of footsteps, gradually approaching.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

It was knocking on the door outside.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

As long as they didn’t open the door, it didn’t matter how long the Weird knocked outside.

Tu Nan covered her ears, trying to block out the annoying sound, but it was useless. The knocking seemed to echo directly in her mind, affecting her brain so she couldn’t shut it out at all.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

An uncontrollable irritability welled up in her chest.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

“Annoying-” She couldn’t control her agitation and blurted out.

Halfway through speaking, she suddenly snapped awake.

What was happening? She wasn’t the type to lose her composure so easily.

But every time the knocking sounded, the agitation felt like a thin veil settling over her heart. At first, she didn’t notice, but layer after layer, it became suffocating.

“Why am I suddenly so irritable?” Jenny said beside her. “Is it ever going to stop out there, knocking nonstop.”

As she spoke, she actually started to move toward the door, as if to open it.

Tu Nan was so startled that she quickly hugged her.

“Jenny, snap out of it,” she said urgently.

“Knock, knock, knock.”

Even she felt a cloud of frustration gathering in her chest, making her want to open the door and beat up whatever was outside.

“What’s going on?” Jenny came to her senses in Tu Nan’s arms, a chill running from head to toe. “Just now, I suddenly got really angry… wanted to go out and beat those things up.”

“It’s their scheme,” Tu Nan said with difficulty, struggling to suppress the uncontrollable irritability inside her. “We have to watch each other and make sure we don’t get drawn in.”

No sooner had she finished speaking than she felt herself wanting to go outside.

“Snap out of it!” Jenny mimicked her earlier action and hugged her, but Tu Nan was too strong. Jenny had no choice but to elbow her hard.
Tu Nan suddenly snapped awake, the spot where she had been elbowed faintly warm.

“Thump, thump, thump.”

It was happening again.

Jenny’s gaze grew momentarily unfocused.

Tu Nan repeated her earlier trick.

Jenny quickly came to her senses as well.

The two of them simply stared at each other. Whenever one showed signs of being confused, the other used pain to snap her back to reality.

“This can’t go on,” Tu Nan calmed herself. “We can’t just keep staring at each other and hitting all night.”

“So what do we do?”

As they pondered their options, the Weird thing outside, seeing that this tactic wasn’t working, began to change its approach.

“Lita, we just met,” it said in Fu Zhixing’s voice. “I’ve made a new discovery, open the door quickly.”

It sounded almost convincing.

“Didn’t we agree not to open the door before dawn, no matter what?” Tu Nan replied loudly.

There was a brief silence outside, then the voice grew agitated. “It’s urgent, this discovery is important, I must tell you right now!”

“Then say it outside the door,” Jenny chimed in.

“…I’m afraid someone else might hear.”

“I’m not afraid.”

The Weird thing finally realized they were playing with it.

It let out a sinister laugh.

“Do you think keeping the door shut will help?” Its voice was especially hoarse and eerie in the night. “I’ll break down the door soon and rush in to eat your hearts.”

Hearts again.

Tu Nan frowned. What did hearts mean to them, anyway?

“Why the heart? Wouldn’t other parts do? Are you not interested in hands or feet?” she asked.

“…”

There was a long, weird silence outside, then another sinister laugh.

“Are you scared?”

“Are you the sheep in the Sheep Pen?” Tu Nan retorted, refusing to back down.

“…”

It was about to speak when the annoying voice inside the room sounded again.

“Why aren’t you laughing now?”

What business is it of yours!

For the first time, it suffered such humiliation. It glared fiercely at the door, but knew that the people inside would not open it tonight.

Dragging heavy footsteps, it went to knock on the next door.

“Drip.”

“Drip.”

Outside, the sound of water dripping began again.

The sound seemed to grow more distant.

“Did they leave?” Jenny pressed her ear to the door, listening.

“No.” Tu Nan shook her head, her expression grave. “They’re going to find the next person.”

Next door was Fu Zhixing. With his experience, he wouldn’t fall for it so easily.

With Bob’s earlier mishap, perhaps everyone would be more cautious tonight.

A sleepless night.

It wasn’t until dawn approached that the sounds outside finally faded away completely.

The heavy footsteps gradually receded, and Jenny and Tu Nan both breathed a sigh of relief.

They had barely slept all night, constantly alert for any movement outside. It seemed no one had opened their door.

Taking advantage of the remaining time, the two hurried to catch up on sleep.

But they couldn’t sleep for long before they were forced to get up again.

Tu Nan, as usual, picked up the Blanket that had fallen from the bed and covered the Mural once more, then got up to wash.

The Faucet once again released a milky white liquid. Tu Nan blinked, and it returned to normal.

She was already used to these little bugs popping up from time to time in the Instance.

So far, none had been dangerous.

After washing up, Tu Nan went downstairs with Jenny.

Outside, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

The others came down one after another, all looking exhausted.

Except… Alan.

He showed no signs of having stayed up all night, his complexion rosy and his spirits high.

Qin looked especially worn out; she had slept alone and faced greater challenges.

They entered the Dining Room and were surprised to find a Woman already seated there, dressed in a white suit.

She looked sharp and capable, with gold-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, eating breakfast.

“Who are you?” Rose asked in surprise.

“Hello,” the Woman looked up, adjusted her glasses, and spoke coolly, “I am Miss Lilith’s family doctor. You may call me Tang Yuan.”