Chapter 5
Chapter 5
At exactly noon, inside the wooden cabin, the spring bird in the grandfather clock let out a piercing chime.
Wei Sen lay in the rocking chair. On the coffee table sat several green wild fruits that looked like grapes.
In the end, she had still found a spot in the flowerbed to bury Little Red Riding Hood’s body. Afterward, she had searched around the cabin and found these green fruits in a thicket not far behind it.
The fruits tasted bitter and astringent, but after eating a little, she was at least no longer so ravenous.
Wei Sen picked one up and examined it.
Why did the rules say she couldn’t share this fruit with anyone else?
She lived alone all year round. Even if she really were to share it, the only possible person would be Little Red Riding Hood.
The fruit itself wasn’t poisonous, but she couldn’t give it to Little Red Riding Hood?
And why did this wooden cabin have no kitchen?
Could Grandma’s daily food supply only come from what Little Red Riding Hood brought her?
As Wei Sen was thinking, from the corner of her eye she caught sight of a vivid flash of red outside the cabin, hurrying out of the forest mist.
She really came!
Little Red Riding Hood!
From waking up and seeing “her own” corpse, to playing games with Little Red Riding Hood last night, to finding countless Little Red Riding Hood corpses in varying states of decay in the flowerbed today…
Wei Sen could now confirm her guess.
“Grandma” and “Little Red Riding Hood” were both game characters in this Eerie Entity Instance, and participants like them who had been thrown in needed to find the corresponding game character’s Clearance Condition and achieve it before they could leave this place.
If a participant died, then a new participant would be thrown in to continue playing the role of “Grandma” or “Little Red Riding Hood.”
Although the participant themselves changed, the role’s identity was fixed, so the related Identity Rules and Role Clearing Condition would be the same!
///Ding~ (Newbie Hint) Host’s current Story Exploration Progress: 15%!///
Hearing the System prompt, Wei Sen felt that maybe this S-rank Instance wasn’t that difficult after all. She wasn’t the first participant, and the participants before her had already left her more than enough clues.
It was hard to imagine how those earlier participants were supposed to clear this place without rules or hints…
As soon as that thought crossed Wei Sen’s mind, she hurriedly dumped all the remaining green fruits into the burning fireplace.
When the rules said she couldn’t share the green fruit with anyone, “share” didn’t mean “eat.”
It meant “know.”
She couldn’t let anyone else know the green fruits were edible!
“Grandma, I’m Little Red Riding Hood.” Little Red Riding Hood stood politely at the door, carrying a bamboo basket.
Wei Sen sat in her chair and carefully sized up today’s Little Red Riding Hood. Her figure, posture, and voice were exactly the same as the one from last night.
That face was still fused with the Red Hoodie, making her features impossible to see.
“Come in and have a seat,” Wei Sen said, beckoning Little Red Riding Hood inside.
“Okay, Grandma.”
Wei Sen got up and poured Little Red Riding Hood a glass of water. “Little Red Riding Hood, the strawberry pie you brought yesterday was delicious. Did you make it, or did your mother?”
After taking the water, Little Red Riding Hood froze for a noticeable moment, then smiled and said, “Mom made it, of course.”
Wei Sen sat back down without giving anything away.
Although today’s Little Red Riding Hood felt exactly the same as last night’s, they were clearly not the same person. She didn’t even know what kind of pie had been delivered yesterday!
Little Red Riding Hood opened the bamboo basket, took out the apple pie inside, and said, “Today it’s apple pie. It’s delicious too. Try some, Grandma!”
Wei Sen looked at the apple pie. Though she didn’t know which generation of “Grandma” she was, surely no Grandma had been poisoned to death by apple pie, right? After all, this was an S-rank Dark Fairy Tale Instance, and Little Red Riding Hood was the protagonist of the story. Even without any hint, anyone would instinctively be wary of her.
“Little Red Riding Hood, let’s play a game!” Wei Sen looked at Little Red Riding Hood and continued, “If you win, Grandma will eat this piece of apple pie. How does that sound?”
Little Red Riding Hood immediately perked up. “What game does Grandma want to play with me?”
“Hide-and-seek.”
“That sounds interesting. How do we decide who wins?” Little Red Riding Hood asked.
“I’ll count to fifty. During that time, you can hide anywhere in the room. We’ll go by the grandfather clock. Once I finish counting to fifty, I’ll start looking for you. If I can’t catch you within three minutes, then I lose.”
Little Red Riding Hood thought it over seriously, her gaze sweeping around the wooden cabin as if considering where she could hide.
But the cabin only had two floors, and its furnishings were sparse. There were hardly any places to conceal herself.
“Grandma, you’re sure that as long as you don’t catch me within three minutes, you lose, right?” Little Red Riding Hood asked again, confirming the rules of the game.
“Mm.” Wei Sen gave a solemn nod.
Little Red Riding Hood’s shoulders shook. “Heeheehee. All right, Grandma. Let’s start the game!”
Wei Sen rose with a smile and walked out of the cabin. “Then I’ll start counting.”
Standing inside the doorway, Little Red Riding Hood showed no hurry to run. She nodded and said, “Okay, Grandma!”
“One, two, three, four…” Wei Sen began to count.
Seeing this, Little Red Riding Hood shut the door and locked it from the inside.
“Grandma, if you don’t catch me within three minutes, you lose!” Little Red Riding Hood’s slightly smug voice came from inside the cabin.
Standing outside the door, Wei Sen’s lips curved faintly upward.
She had deliberately said “catch.” And in a wooden cabin like this, where there was nowhere to hide, the best way not to be caught was to stay inside the room and not come out.
So Little Red Riding Hood confidently locked the door from the inside. As long as Wei Sen couldn’t get in within three minutes, Little Red Riding Hood would win.
But the one who had proposed this game was Grandma.
And Grandma had never made a rule saying she had to play fair.
“Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…” As Wei Sen counted, she removed the iron lock from the warehouse door outside the cabin.
From inside the cabin came the sound of Little Red Riding Hood’s footsteps heading upstairs.
Even though she had locked the door from the inside, she still went to the second floor to find a hiding place, just in case.
Wei Sen returned to the front door and used the heavy iron lock to seal it shut.
After that, she placed the iron lock’s key on the steps outside the cabin, making sure anyone who came from outside would be able to see it. But from the inside, because the key lay below the vertical line of the steps, it fell perfectly into a blind spot. The person inside would have no idea where the key was.
“Little Red Riding Hood, are you hidden?” Wei Sen called out, raising her voice.
There was not the slightest sound from inside.
Wei Sen lifted the bamboo basket she had hidden in the flowerbed beforehand.
Inside were a Little Blue Flower, a pair of dried Wolf Eye, a Blood-stained Axe, some green wild fruits, and the half of a Poisoned Apple Pie left over by Little Red Riding Hood on the first night.
The Little Blue Flower had also been carried by the previous Little Red Riding Hood when she arrived. Wei Sen did not know why Little Red Riding Hood would carry a Little Blue Flower on her, but fortunately, Little Red Riding Hood had not left it by the door.
Otherwise, Wei Sen probably would not have made it through last night so peacefully.
And yet now, she was going to place this Little Blue Flower by the door herself.
Then she was going to head south through the forest in search of the answer!
Before night fell, she had to get out of the Misty Forest as quickly as possible. She had to go to Little Red Riding Hood’s home and meet, in person, the mother who made the Poisoned Apple Pie!
Wei Sen had searched the wooden cabin carefully several times already, but she had not found a single clue about how to clear the role of “Grandma.”
It was very possible that the role of “Grandma” could not clear the Instance at all!
And the Clearance Condition she now had in her hands belonged to Little Red Riding Hood: complete Mother’s task.
Since both “Grandma” and “Little Red Riding Hood” were roles, perhaps a participant could change their role identity!
The reason Wei Sen had imprisoned today’s Little Red Riding Hood inside the cabin was that once Little Red Riding Hood died, a new Little Red Riding Hood would appear.
So before midnight, before the Big Bad Wolf came to the cabin, found the key, went inside, and ate the original Little Red Riding Hood, she had to find a way to become the new Little Red Riding Hood!
Once she figured out exactly what Mother’s task was, she would be able to use the role identity of “Little Red Riding Hood” to successfully clear this Instance!