Chapter 403

Familiarize with the villa, master the layout, search for suspicious clues, and look for potentially existing supplementary rules.

'Knock, knock, knock...'

Another round of knocking sounded in the parlor.

'Click...'

The parlor door slowly opened.

The silver-haired maid Lisa appeared. She walked into the parlor carrying a tray and poured tea for everyone.

"Please taste this, honored guests. This is the tea the Master likes best; we use this tea to entertain honored guests."

'Swish...'

A faint, refreshing fragrance of tea permeated the air.

Even the Gao Zhongsheng, who didn't understand tea, felt the preciousness of these tea leaves.

"Lisa, is this really okay?"

This one sentence left the silver-haired maid stunned; she didn't understand the purpose behind Lin Ye's inquiry.

"What do you mean, guest?"

"Master Carter isn't even in the villa. Isn't it bad to use his tea without his permission?"

The silver-haired maid blinked in astonishment, but soon revealed a brilliant smile. "It won't be. The Master won't be angry. If we used ordinary tea to entertain guests, that's when the Master would be angry."

"I see."

Lin Ye nodded and said.

"These are the keys to the second-floor rooms. Please distribute them among yourselves, honored guests."

Lisa placed the three keys on the table, her hands clasped, holding the tray. She bowed respectfully and spoke again, "Lisa will take her leave for now. If you need anything, you can call me at any time. Lisa will definitely try her best to satisfy the requests of all honored guests. I hope all honored guests have a pleasant three days here."

After speaking, seeing that no one else had anything to say, she took her leave.

When the figure of the maid in the black-and-white uniform disappeared from the parlor, silence permeated the scene once again.

"Did you analyze any information?"

Leng Shuang didn't believe Lin Ye hadn't obtained useful information.

"Currently, it's just that the 'Master' mentioned in the rules and by the characters has a high probability of having met with an accident. The maid likely knows about this matter."

The gazes of several veteran players focused on Lin Ye, waiting for Lin Ye's further explanation.

"It's just a guess. Even if honored guests arrive, without the Master's prior instructions, the maid shouldn't arbitrarily use the expensive tea the Master likes, even if the Master uses this expensive tea to entertain guests daily. Unless similar incidents have occurred more than once and the maid has become accustomed to this operation."

It made some sense, but it wasn't enough to make a complete judgment.

However, for Eerie players, having this possibility was enough.

"The black shadow we encountered in the forest couldn't be this Master, could it?"

Asuna associated something and immediately proposed this conjecture.

"That's actually a possibility."

The Passerby, who had just wiped his glasses, echoed, "The Master who left, as mentioned by the maid, and the black shadow that appeared in the forest to attack us could very well be the same entity."

"If that's the case, how do we deal with the Eerie that this 'Master' has transformed into?"

If it were purely relying on force, Leng Shuang had already dealt with it, but it was very difficult to handle. Relying on the methods she had already used, she couldn't cause effective damage.

Without finding a method, they couldn't efficiently solve that 'Eerie'.

This topic was temporarily set aside; with insufficient clues and information, discussing it further didn't have much meaning.

"In the afternoon, let's disperse and act individually! Pair up in twos; the teams should follow the room distribution arrangements!"

Leng Shuang said.

Others had no objections, except for the Passerby, who let out a sigh of lament. "Hey, hey, I clearly wanted to act with Brother Ling. I believe Brother Ling will definitely bring me more surprises."

Lin Ye couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart upon hearing this.

This guy, his orientation couldn't be abnormal, right? Or is this a disguise for this player? Using this to confuse others to achieve the goal of protecting himself?

Lin Ye thought of himself; he would also perform some exaggerated behaviors during dungeon phases to avoid being linked to his real-life self by other Eerie players.

This probability was very small, but it had to be guarded against.

"Ms. Asuna, should we swap?"

The Passerby proposed proactively, but was ruthlessly rejected by Asuna. "No interest."

"I'll confirm the situation outside the villa with Ling!" she continued.

"Leave it to me." The Passerby said immediately. "Then the 2nd floor and 3rd floor..."

"The 2nd floor is left to me. For the 3rd floor, we'll see based on our search situation. As for the fourth floor, we'll discuss it in the long run," Leng Shuang answered.

The fourth floor and the basement belonged to dangerous areas, and exploring them required full preparation; otherwise, it would be easy to attract danger.

The task distribution was complete.

The six people chatted and exchanged thoughts and information in the parlor for a while before beginning their actions.

Lin Ye and Asuna were the first to leave the villa to determine the situation around the villa.

In the afternoon,

the azure sky, the sun hanging high, the warm sunlight spilling down, and the gentle breeze blowing, made one feel comfortable and relaxed.

Lin Ye and Asuna walked side by side in the garden in front of the villa.

Red and yellow vibrant flowers were competing to bloom, their beautiful colors refreshing the heart.

Arriving here and admiring the flowers in this garden, Asuna's expression gradually eased and relaxed quite a bit.

From the beginning until now, her nerves had been taut. In a long-term state of vigilance, no matter how good one's spirit was, one couldn't avoid a trace of fatigue.

"The flowers here are quite nice, very beautiful."

Lin Ye walked over and squatted down, looking at the chrysanthemums swaying slightly with the breeze.

"Do you like flowers?"

"I wouldn't say I like them, but I definitely don't hate them. Seeing beautiful things always makes one's mood a bit better."

Lin Ye sniffed, and a faint floral fragrance lingered.

"How many dungeon tasks has Mr. Ling participated in?"

Lin Ye looked at the blue-haired girl beside him from the corner of his eye. "If it's an invitation task, this should count as the second time!"

This also matched his level.

"I'm also on my second time."

Asuna also squatted down, admiring the swaying flowers at close range.

"I have a question, I'm also a bit curious. Ms. Asuna doesn't have to answer."

The girl didn't answer, which also meant she was willing to listen to Lin Ye's inquiry.

"Why did Ms. Asuna choose to accept the invitation of the Eerie game and become an Eerie player?"

The girl's peripheral vision looked toward Lin Ye. The two met eyes, and time seemed to fall into a stagnant state at this moment.

"What about you? Why did you choose to accept?"

"Compared to the Eerie game, reality will appear a bit boring. Eerie events will only increase in the future, and their impact on reality will only grow larger. I don't want to encounter an Eerie event again one day in the future and be unable to do anything, only able to accept it passively."

Asuna suddenly felt a trace of identification with Lin Ye. "I want to experience a different life."

She didn't want to be passively controlled by her mother anymore, listening to her mother's arrangements, steadily continuing her future life like a robot.

She didn't want this; she wanted to live out her own appearance and embrace her own future.

This was also probably why, even though she knew the 'Eerie game' was very dangerous and she could die at any time, she still chose to accept the invitation after clearing the 'Trial Game' that one time and became an official Eerie player.

"The sorrows of a young lady from a wealthy, prestigious family, hahaha."

Asuna almost thought Lin Ye had recognized her real-life identity, but thinking that this sorrow of hers was indeed the most common among young ladies from wealthy families, she understood.

"Alright."

Asuna stood up and dusted off her clothes. "Where to next?"

"Let's check the situation around the villa first, then go to the forest to take a look!"

"Eh!"

Asuna completely didn't expect Lin Ye to still have thoughts of entering that forest.

"Afraid?"

"I just didn't expect you to still attempt to enter the forest. That black shadow is very dangerous."

"With Ms. Shining Asuna here, I'm very reassured."

"Please don't give girls nicknames casually."

But she felt unexpectedly good about the title 'Shining Asuna'. ===== CHAPTER 404 =====