Xiazhi trembled all over, but under Aige's threatening gaze, she had no choice but to pick up her plate and hand it toward her. "Here you go—ah!!"
Just as Aige was reaching out to take it, the knife in her hand slashed hard across Xiazhi's hand.
Everyone knew she did it on purpose. But from a third-person perspective, it looked like Aige had just accidentally cut Xiazhi while taking the plate.
She just used a bit too much force, that's all.
Neither Xiazhi nor Aige managed to hold the plate steady.
With a loud crash, it shattered on the floor.
When Aige saw the blood dripping from Xiazhi's hand, her eyes lit up with excitement. "Ah, my guest, you're injured! Let me take you to get that wound dressed."
With that, she suddenly stood up.
"N-no!" Xiazhi frantically tried to retreat, her voice trembling. "It's fine! It'll heal quickly on its own!"
But Aige didn't stop. She grabbed Xiazhi's arm with such force that there was no way for her to break free. "How could I let that happen? You're my guest, and you got hurt in my castle. Of course I have to—take. Good. Care. Of. You."
She pronounced each word slowly and deliberately, then yanked Xiazhi up and dragged her toward the door.
"No, don't! Help! Somebody help!!"
Xiazhi's screams echoed through the ancient castle as Aige dragged her away.
But no one dared to help her.
Everyone could see it clearly—Aige was angry because no one had died the night before, and now she had to pick someone to make up for it.
Xie Mingchi figured Xiazhi hadn't broken any rules beforehand. Aige had likely just picked the nearest unlucky soul on a whim.
But regardless, Aige had guided Xiazhi into breaking some rule. A rule that probably came from the new conditions created by the lack of a death last night.
Once Xiazhi's screams finally faded into silence, someone couldn't hold back anymore and burst into tears.
It was Janna.
"Xiazhi's dead… Xiazhi's really dead…"
She broke down on the spot, sobbing uncontrollably. "I can't do this anymore… I can't go on…"
It seemed Xiazhi had been Janna's ghost puppet.
Newcomers were fragile to begin with. And now, on only the second day, her puppet was gone. It was enough to crush anyone.
At a time like this, even the kindest words sounded hollow.
Even Xiao Xiao, the one with the worst temper, didn't say a word. He just gave Janna a look filled with sympathy.
Because Janna really was miserable. And Xiazhi's death had been humiliating.
But not everyone had the patience to sit around and let her cry. Lu Meng shot her a look of disdain and grumbled, "Women are so annoying. All they do is cry."
Then he turned and scolded Xiao He. "I told you not to team up with a girl! Goddamn it, it's such a pain."
That comment sparked instant outrage.
Xiao Xiao was the first to stand up and shout, "If your brain's full of shit, go wash it out! Who says girls can't cry? What the hell did a woman ever do to you? Did your mom ever hear you talk like that? Dumbass!"
Xie Mingchi sneered, "You hate women so much—Aige's a woman too. Why don't you go say that to her face?"
Wan Wuqiu still kept a touch of formality: "Filthy toads don't belong in polite company."
Shen Feinian said with perfect enunciation, "Idiot."
Feng Yu: "..."
Feng Yu cautiously spoke up, "Um, senior… swearing isn't very nice…"
He was immediately met with three icy stares.
Feng Yu instantly changed his tone. "...Right! You're absolutely right, seniors!"
Scared out of his mind. QAQ
Lu Meng had already pissed people off earlier that morning. Now he'd angered everyone in the room. He couldn't show his face in the dining hall anymore and quickly fled, with Xiao He hurrying after him.
"Thank you… thank you all," Janna whispered through her tears, rubbing her red eyes. "Do you think… do you think we still have a way out?"
Mu died yesterday. Xiazhi today. And now Lu Meng and Xiao He had broken off from the group.
Their team was falling apart.
"Don't overthink it," Xiao Xiao said. "We take it one step at a time."
That was the truth. No one could guarantee they'd find the soul thread and escape this puppet realm.
Even in the lower-level realms, many puppet masters had already met their end. Let alone in the intermediate or advanced ones.
Janna tried to come to terms with the situation. Xie Mingchi glanced at Zhen Jia beside him.
She looked shaken. Ever since Aige had barked at Xiazhi to hand over the plate, Zhen Jia's face had looked terrible.
Xie Mingchi didn't say anything. He wasn't good at comforting people, especially girls. Better to let her deal with it herself.
After that, Xie Mingchi and Feng Yu recounted everything that happened to them last night. Xiao Xiao, Chu You, and Janna all said they hadn't encountered anything strange—they'd slept soundly till morning.
So only Xie Mingchi and Feng Yu had been chosen.
Once again, Xie Mingchi was left speechless.
What was it about him? Was he some kind of ghost magnet?
He rubbed his temples and said with difficulty, "Okay… then let's think about how Aige picks her targets."
They all gathered together. It would be easier to pinpoint what made him and Feng Yu different from the others.
Chu You offered a suggestion: "Why don't we each go over everything we did since we entered the castle? It's a bit of a hassle, but it might help us figure out the rules."
Everyone nodded in agreement. To show good faith, Chu You went first, followed by Xiao Xiao, Xie Mingchi, Wan Wuqiu, Feng Yu, Shen Feinian…
All the while, Xie Mingchi listened and analyzed, trying to memorize each person's movements.
Their actions followed a pattern—entering the castle, waiting on the first floor, following Aige to the dining room for lunch, introductions, checking their rooms on the fourth floor, eating dinner, then going to bed.
A simple path, with almost no differences.
If there *was* a difference, it was that while waiting downstairs, Feng Yu had approached Xie Mingchi and called him "senior."
But that couldn't be it. There was no way Aige would choose targets based on some random conversation.
So what else had been different?
Xie Mingchi thought back to a previous realm, where selection was based on age. He began to consider everyone's age, appearance, identity…
He quickly ruled out the first two. As for identity—yes, in the real world, he and Feng Yu were in the same college, same department, senior and junior. But there was no tie to that in the Bloody Mary story, so he ruled it out.
In this realm, everyone was a puppet master. So there had to be another rule in play. Otherwise, why weren't Zhen Jia or Janna chosen?
Ruling out internal factors, he circled back to their actions *inside* the castle.
He let his mind wander further—what about Aige herself?
Aige was a gatekeeper ghost puppet, but a special one. She clearly knew that all these "guests" were outsiders—puppet masters and ghosts alike.
Because she knew, she also understood her goal: protect her soul thread, and make sure every one of these intruders died in her castle.
When a puppet master died, their puppet ghost died too. Xie Mingchi believed Aige knew this. What she didn't know was which of them were masters and which were puppets.
So she had to experiment. Yesterday it was Mu—she found out Zhen Jia was a puppet master. Today it was Xiazhi—Janna was exposed.
By this logic, last night she was testing Xie Mingchi and Wan Wuqiu, and Shen Feinian and Feng Yu, trying to figure out who the puppet masters were.
But neither group took the bait. Her plan failed.
But then why didn't she pick Lu Meng or Xiao Xiao's group? Was it random?
Xie Mingchi wasn't ready to draw that conclusion. It didn't feel right.
Maybe from another angle—Aige needed to protect her soul thread. The real threat to her came from powerful puppet masters, the kind who had solved many realms before and could quickly detect anomalies in a mid-level realm like this one.
Wait—!
Xie Mingchi abruptly lifted his head.
Aige couldn't afford to let powerful puppet masters live. If she could, she'd want them to die first!
Yes. That was it.
It wasn't just about identifying the puppet master—Aige *knew* Xie Mingchi and Feng Yu were threats. So she went after them.
But among all their similar behaviors, how did she judge their strength?
There was one possible difference—self-introductions.
Their actions were nearly identical, but their words weren't. Especially during the introductions.
Xie Mingchi suddenly recalled that during his intro, he'd validated Chu You's theory about the first death condition, saying "That's exactly the clue I got in the last realm."
That one line revealed to everyone that he'd recently obtained a gatekeeper's soul thread.
Aige didn't know if the others had succeeded in any realms, but now that she had a confirmed one, her attention would naturally lock onto him.
The other one was Feng Yu.
A newbie. Nervous and timid the whole time.
The one time he really spoke was when explaining the Bloody Mary game—its lore, rules, and how it worked.
Yes—that.
Aige had been goading them into making wishes in front of the mirror, saying she could grant them.
But she never said that she only grants harmless wishes—and kills those who summon the harmful side.
Feng Yu, however, did say it. Loud and clear. To everyone.
If Xie Mingchi were Aige, he'd be pissed.
He'd set a perfect trap, only for Feng Yu to rip off the disguise.
He'd be ready to kill.
And if Feng Yu knew more about Bloody Mary than he let on, the threat would be even greater.
So Aige chose Xie Mingchi and Feng Yu.
Two birds, one stone—she could eliminate her biggest threats and identify which of them were puppet masters.
If she guessed right, their ghosts would die too. Less work for her.
If not, no big deal—at least the pressure on her would be gone.
That reasoning held up. But there was still one thing Xie Mingchi couldn't figure out.
During their introductions and when Feng Yu told the Bloody Mary story, Aige hadn't been there. She'd even been far away.
So how had she heard what they said?
Xie Mingchi suddenly looked up and scanned the dining room.
Something red flashed in his eyes.
A shard of mirror on the table.
He followed the reflection—
And saw something gleaming inside the frame of a painting on the wall.
A pinhole camera.
She'd been watching them all along.