Cen Yao slowly swallowed the fried chicken, resting her fingertips against the condensation-covered wall of the iced cola cup, feeling the chill gradually seep into her fingers.
Outside the bell tower, the baby's wails continued to drift through the palace.
In the distance, the chaotic noises from Senel's side gradually faded, as if that group of players had finally managed to temporarily escape the ghost baby's pursuit.
Leaning back in the rocking chair, Cen Yao lowered her gaze to look at the water droplets condensing on the cup.
So far, she had gathered quite a few clues.
According to the normal fairy tale storyline, the King steals the Witch's rainbow flower. The gravely ill Queen recovers after drinking a soup brewed from the rainbow flower and subsequently gives birth to the Little Princess.
The Little Princess's hair turns golden when she sings, and she possesses a portion of the rainbow flower's abilities.
For instance, healing.
For instance, eternal youth.
And also, becoming a treasure coveted by everyone.
But what about now?
The Queen, who had consumed the rainbow flower, was eaten by the King.
The Little Princess, who hadn't even reached her full moon yet, had already turned into a pale, bluish-white little ghost baby, chasing and devouring players in the night.
That golden hair was no longer the pure, brilliant gold of fairy tales, but mottled and dull, as if polluted by some kind of filth.
Pollution.
The word surfaced in Cen Yao's mind almost instantly.
So, something must have happened.
Or rather, someone had appeared.
That person had made the King believe that by eating the Queen, who had consumed the rainbow flower, he could obtain some even more astonishing transformation.
Not just eternal youth.
Not just curing illnesses.
But some kind of temptation powerful enough to make the King violate human morality and devour his own wife.
As for the Little Princess...
The look in Cen Yao's eyes grew colder.
She hadn't escaped the misfortune either. In fact, she was even worse off than her mother.
Cen Yao recalled the rules posted at the city gates.
The first few rules were meant to maintain the outward decency of the King and the palace.
Do not speak ill of the Little Princess.
Do not mention flowers and theft.
Please believe every word the King says.
Those were the dungeon's way of shaping the surface order of the fairy tale kingdom.
But the fifth, sixth, and seventh rules were clearly different.
Do not approach the old western garden of the palace.
Close your eyes and do not respond when you hear a baby crying.
Do not believe the words of the wizard.
Previously, Cen Yao had always assumed that the seventh rule was directed at her.
After all, she was currently a Witch, and a Witch whose treasure had been stolen.
The royal capital did not welcome Witches, and the palace was wary of them.
But what if there was another wizard in this dungeon?
A wizard who truly hid in the shadows, guiding the King and polluting the Little Princess.
If so, then the seventh rule wasn't targeting her.
It was targeting that person.
The orb listened, completely dazed.
“Host, do you mean that besides your role as the Witch, there is another wizard in this dungeon?”
Cen Yao gave a soft grunt of assent.
“Very likely.”
“The paper talismans, cinnabar, peach wood sword, and all those chaotic suppression items in the palace's secret chamber aren't things the King could have come up with on his own.”
“There must be someone guiding him from behind.”
“Furthermore, that person's level isn't very high, or rather, they don't belong to a pure metaphysical system.”
“They patched together a bit of everything. It looks like they wanted to create some kind of suppressing environment but didn't want others to easily figure out their actual system.”
Cen Yao paused, recalling how Senel's group of players had reacted when they encountered the ghost baby last night.
“And then there's the Little Princess.”
“The rules say that after the bell tolls twelve times, one must close their eyes and not respond upon hearing a baby's cry.”
“At first glance, it seems like closing one's eyes is a way to avoid danger.”
“Senel and the others probably survived last night because of this, which is why he was so shocked when the Little Princess attacked them tonight.”
The orb instinctively chimed in, “Because they clearly closed their eyes.”
“Yes.”
Cen Yao picked up a french fry and dipped it in ketchup.
“But they overlooked the bell tolls.”
“Closing one's eyes might not necessarily be to protect the players. It could also be to restrict them.”
“The bell tolls represent mealtime.”
“Before the bell tolls, the Little Princess is merely patrolling. She will crawl into rooms, cry, and test the waters, but as long as the players close their eyes and don't respond, she won't trigger an attack.”
“But once the bell tolls, it's feeding time for the Little Princess.”
“Closing one's eyes at this point is simply turning oneself into food that won't run away.”
The orb's round body stiffened.
“So, closing one's eyes is actually the players delivering themselves on a silver platter?”
“Not entirely.”
Cen Yao slowly ate the french fry.
“The act of closing one's eyes might also mitigate some kind of influence, or prevent one from seeing the Little Princess's true form.”
“So the rules are real.”
“But there is a major catch.”
“If you only follow them literally without thinking about the triggering conditions, you will still die.”
She lightly tapped her fingers against the side of the cola cup.
“Therefore, rules five, six, and seven are highly likely to be true, but they need to be dissected.”
“The fifth rule warns players not to approach the old western garden because core clues and dangers are hidden there.”
“The sixth rule warns of the baby's cry but deliberately couples it with the bell tolls. It seems to protect the players, but in reality, it's also training the Little Princess's feeding habits.”
“The seventh rule, warning not to believe the words of the wizard, is likely a warning against the hidden wizard.”
“As for the remaining four rules, they are still questionable.”
The orb stared at her, its black bead-like eyes gradually sparkling with admiration.
“Host, you're so amazing!”
It felt as though its host had completely transformed the moment she entered the dungeon.
When she was outside, she was as terrified as a hamster ready to dive into a hole at any moment.
Yet, once inside the dungeon, she became frighteningly calm.
She was still cowardly.
And she was still genuinely afraid of death.
But her mind was clear, her hands were steady, and she could even dissect the dungeon's rules with absolute clarity while eating fried chicken.
Hearing its praise, Cen Yao didn't think she was anything special.
She took a bite of her burger and said indistinctly, “It's not that I'm amazing. It's just that there are already plenty of clues.”
“And if I didn't have magic, it would have been impossible for me to discover so many clues.”
This wasn't her being amazing.
It was simply because she had confidence.
If she didn't have the System or magic, let alone analyzing rules, she probably wouldn't even be able to leave the high tower.
So even if her deductions were wrong, she had the confidence to escape safely.
But those without confidence didn't even have the chance to make mistakes.
Thinking of this, Cen Yao felt another headache coming on.
Her main quest was to retrieve the Witch's treasure.
Originally, she thought that according to the logic of the original fairy tale, she just needed to bring the Little Princess back to the high tower.
But now, it seemed it wouldn't be that simple.
The rainbow flower had already been eaten.
The Queen was dead.
The Little Princess was clearly polluted, turning into something neither human nor ghost.
This dungeon had been forcibly twisted into a completely different form.
Was the "treasure" she needed to retrieve the Little Princess, the residual power of the rainbow flower, or perhaps whatever that hidden wizard had obtained from the King's family?
It was so convoluted.
She still had to drag that hidden wizard out of the shadows first.
But how to find them?
Cen Yao leaned lazily against the rocking chair, looking at the livestream chat with a smile in her eyes.
“Do you know how to catch the attention of an artist?”
The bullet screen paused for a brief second before flooding the screen in unison:
【How?】
The orb also asked simultaneously, “How?”
Aside from that, there was a bunch of highly conspicuous comments:
【!!! Lady Witch, are you seducing me?】
【Heaven knows how I managed to see a sort of sultry energy in Lady Witch's lazy posture!】
【Ahhhh, Master, Master! I am your dog! Please slap me!】
【I don't care about the artist, I just want to know how to catch your attention, Master!】
【Can I soul-transmigrate into that rocking chair for just one second, please?】
【I want to soul-transmigrate into Lady Witch's hand, thank you!】
【Move aside, everyone! Isn't the main point that Lady Witch is actively speaking to us?】
【She's smiling, she's smiling! Does she have some bad idea in mind?】
Cen Yao: “...”
She silently averted her gaze, pretending she hadn't seen those chaotic comments.
“By destroying the masterpiece they are most proud of.”
Rate on N.U.
