Chapter 207

Chapter 207

Jian Fan’s expression grew grave.

“In a romance game, is it possible for the female lead not to like the male leads?” he asked.

He already had an answer in mind, but he knew little about this kind of game and wanted a firmer confirmation from Mu Xin and Lin Junruo.

“Of course not! People play these games to put themselves in the female lead’s shoes and romance several men. If she doesn’t like them and there’s no chemistry, then what would be the point?” Lin Junruo said, realizing how serious the problem was.

If this was a romance game, yet the female lead didn’t like any of the male leads, could it still be called a romance game?

And yet everything they had found so far–including Little Princess’s behavior–clearly indicated that this was a romance card-collection game. There was no question about that.

Jian Fan interlaced his fingers and rested them beneath his chin as he thought.

“You said the female lead liked them early on, and it’s only in these photos that she doesn’t. Could her feelings for the original male leads have faded, making her want to find someone new?” Yellow Hair suggested.

Lin Junruo shook her head. “Can someone the female lead doesn’t like still be called a male lead? And romance games never have just one male lead. Usually, there are multiple choices. A Player can choose one route or pursue several at once. To satisfy different Players, the game will always make the attraction mutual between the female lead and each male lead.”

“But now that mutual attraction is gone,” Mu Xin said, finishing Lin Junruo’s thought.

There was definitely something wrong.

Something vitally important had to be hidden behind this.

“Could it be… character awakening?” A theory suddenly occurred to Qin Nan.

Jian Fan looked up at him.

Qin Nan continued, “There are plenty of stories like that these days, aren’t there? Given what we know, no one would find it odd that Little Princess is a game character. But if we treated all this as reality, it would feel pretty unlikely–especially five men staying devoted to her and accompanying her for so many years. So Little Princess is a character in a romance game, but her consciousness awakened.”

“Originally, the game’s creators decided whom she liked. Now she has a mind of her own, so she no longer likes those male leads. Couldn’t that be it?” The more Qin Nan spoke, the more plausible his theory seemed to him.

The others nodded as well, finding his idea quite convincing.

Jian Fan shook his head. “No.”

“Why?” Qin Nan asked.

“If that were true, I don’t think Little Princess would cooperate,” Jian Fan said.

Qin Nan paused.

If Little Princess knew she was merely a game character, there was indeed a good chance she would stop following the game’s script and maintaining ambiguous relationships with the other male leads.

But–

“What if she’s restricted and has no choice?” Qin Nan made one last attempt to save his theory.

Jian Fan glanced at him. “It’s possible.” Then he changed direction. “I simply don’t think that’s the reason.”

Qin Nan: “???”

Jian Fan ignored him and returned his attention to the computer.

They uncovered a few more things afterward, but none contained useful information.

Once they had finished checking the computer, the group moved on to the Second Floor.

There was a master bedroom decorated in a mature style, complete with a walk-in closet. It held mature men’s and women’s clothing and presumably belonged to Little Princess’s parents.
Beside it were three guest rooms. The Second Floor also had a study that appeared to be the male owner’s office, a dance studio, and a small sitting room.

They found nothing there.

The group soon returned to the first floor.

They had already searched most of the main hall, so they checked the remaining rooms before heading through the villa’s back door to the row of single-story buildings.

Most appeared to be storerooms crammed with miscellaneous items. One had been set aside specifically for preserved foods.

After completing their search of the entire villa, everyone regrouped in the main hall.

“The greenhouse next?” Yellow Hair asked first.

They had found a few oddities in the villa, such as the problem Lin Junruo had noticed with Little Princess’s feelings, but no other major clues.

It seemed the clue to breaking through the fog before them still lay in the greenhouse.

Jian Fan said nothing. He simply headed outside.

Everyone followed at once.

He didn’t go directly to the greenhouse. After leaving the villa, he took the opposite direction from the route they had originally used and searched the remaining half of the courtyard.

The courtyard was circular, so they eventually arrived at the greenhouse entrance anyway.

After all their wandering, the group had returned to the greenhouse once more.

The sight of it gave Qin Nan a genuine headache.

They had already spent a great deal of time here and had barely managed to discover the significance of the soil, finally breaking through one supposed layer of illusion.

Now they had to continue searching this same place for another exit.

Standing inside, everyone surveyed their surroundings.

“There are only two doors, and we’ve used both of them. We always come out at the same exit,” Yellow Hair said worriedly. “Could the greenhouse’s other exit not be behind a door?”

If it wasn’t a door, what else could serve as an exit?

Could there be an invisible door somewhere?

The thought occurred to everyone. They entered the flower beds, felt their way along the greenhouse’s perimeter, and searched for a way through.

The greenhouse was large, and checking the entire circumference took considerable time.

When they had finally finished–

“Nothing.” Yellow Hair scratched his head, thoroughly frustrated.

Jian Fan considered it. “The key should still be the doors.”

“What could be wrong with the doors?” Yellow Hair asked instinctively.

Qin Nan found it unlikely too. “Opening a door to the left can’t lead to one path while opening it to the right leads somewhere else. Besides, these doors only open one way.”

“Think about it differently,” Jian Fan said.

“How?” Qin Nan asked.

“If the doors can’t change, what about us?”

Qin Nan laughed. “How else are we supposed to move? Don’t we just walk through? Do we need to kneel and kowtow every three steps? Walk sideways? Crawl?”

Qin Nan was plainly joking, but Jian Fan’s expression grew increasingly serious.

Seeing his face, Qin Nan’s heart lurched. “You’re kidding. Jian Fan, you aren’t planning to try every single one, are you?”

Jian Fan looked at him as though he were an idiot. “Which one of us is insane, you or me?”

Kneeling and kowtowing? Crawling through?

Only Qin Nan could come up with ideas like those.

Qin Nan patted his chest. Thank goodness. Jian Fan hadn’t become that obsessive yet.

However–

Jian Fan soon spoke again. “There are a few methods worth trying.”

Qin Nan: “?”