Cheng Tingyu found a soft snowdrift and gently placed Zheng Ruinan there, then wrapped him in a snowproof jacket.
The deceased little girl lay in the snow with her eyes closed, her entire being appearing somewhat serene.
After settling her colleague, Liu Xuehong went to the kitchen with Yu Wenran to find some food and distributed it to the others.
Yan Jiayu was still trembling as he sat down: "I-I'm not hungry."
Liu Xuehong urged, "It's so cold, at least eat a little."
Cheng Tingyu also said, "I'll pass for now." Looking at the others, "The hint mentioned, 'You may dine when hungry' and 'Please eat in moderation during meals.' Since we're not hungry yet, there's no need to eat more."
Liu Xuehong sighed and said no more.
Cheng Tingyu reached up to press his temple, closed his eyes briefly, then stood up. "I'll go back to my room to rest for a bit."
Yu Wenran was surprised: "You're alone?"
Cheng Tingyu smiled, "I didn't rest well before, so I'm a bit tired."
For this person who appeared suddenly, it would be a lie to say there wasn't a trace of doubt, yet when the other was present, they felt an unusual sense of peace.
Cheng Tingyu picked up the can and said to Yan Jiayu, "It's still unclear whether leaving food in the living room counts as a violation. If we're not eating it, should we put it back for now?"
Yan Jiayu thought that Cheng Tingyu made sense and stood up as well.
The kitchen was right behind the dining room. Perhaps considering that the house could accommodate up to ten guests, most of the activity areas were spacious enough, with partitions between them.
That is to say, after entering the kitchen, Yu Wenran and the others could no longer see what was happening with Cheng Tingyu.
Yan Jiayu was dutifully putting the cans back when he suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder. He shivered and turned his head, only to find that it was that "Xiao Lu" who had patted him.
Cheng Tingyu made a gesture for silence and lowered his voice, saying, "Actually, I have something to tell you..."
Yan Jiayu was very timid and, compared to others, more easily swayed.
He easily doubted others and was easily influenced by them, unconsciously acting according to their intentions.
——Just like now.
Yan Jiayu stood on the second floor, his face ashen as he looked at Cheng Tingyu.
Cheng Tingyu: "Open your door, and we'll take the same staircase to the third floor."
Yan Jiayu continued to tremble, "Wh-why?"
Cheng Tingyu replied, "I have some ideas."
Yan Jiayu took a step back, then mustered up the courage: "I disagree."
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a sliver of silvery light slip out from the other person's sleeve.
——It was the faint glimmer reflected from the dagger's blade.
Cheng Tingyu smiled, "How about reconsidering it?"
First-floor restaurant.
Liu Xuehong stretched lazily: "Anyway, there's nothing else to do. We were attacked again last night, didn't sleep well. How about we all take a break first?"
Li Junhui and the others agreed. Although everyone except Yu Wenran and Yan Jiayu was still in good spirits, since Cheng Tingyu had returned to the third floor, they didn't really want to stay on the first floor either.
Yu Wenran wasn't sure if Cheng Tingyu really had some plan or simply wanted to rest, but imitating someone experienced was an instinct.
Cheng Tingyu followed Yan Jiayu to the third floor, watching as the other hurriedly returned to his own bedroom. He did not choose to stop him but instead went back to his own room, lying on the bed with his eyes closed to rest.
She rested for a while, then heard a "knock, knock, knock" coming from outside.
"I am Yu Wenran, and there's something I think I should tell you."
The snow outside was falling heavier and heavier, the clouds obscuring the sky, making the view outside the window exceptionally gloomy. It resembled night more than day.
Cheng Tingyu opened the door, leaned against the door frame, and assumed a posture of listening intently.
The person at the door said, "There's something off about this corridor. Be careful of the shadows; monsters are hiding there."
This sentence seemed to reveal a certain secret, causing the shadows in the corridor to grow increasingly restless.
Cheng Tingyu smiled slightly: "Do you remember what I said yesterday?"
The person at the door recalled, "Are you talking about the one about energy?"
Cheng Tingyu nodded encouragingly and continued to ask, "What exactly did I say?"
The person at the door replied, "You mean 'the linear term in energy without speed, the rotation of the reference frame causes an additional term in energy that depends only on the coordinates and is proportional to the square of the speed.'"
Cheng Tingyu was silent for a moment, then immediately smiled: "You have a pretty good memory." He then added, "I also have something I think I should tell you."
The person standing at the door showed a look of both confusion and anticipation: "What is it?"
Cheng Tingyu moved a little closer to the other person. When she spoke, there was a kind of leisurely gentleness in her voice, reminiscent of the melting ice on the river's surface in early spring: "I am actually a player."
"Guess what, as a player, what do you think I see with my eyes?"
The expression of the person at the door suddenly froze. He looked at Cheng Tingyu in disbelief, staring into the other's unusually deep eyes.
"Eyes" and "seeing" easily remind people of "Mystic Eyes," a type of player who possesses a special pair of eyes that can see things invisible to ordinary people.
Accompanied by a roar akin to that of a wild beast, the limbs of the person at the door twisted, resembling a tangle of water snakes, with one part trying to flee and another part attempting to attack the presence before them.
Cheng Tingyu decisively drew her dagger and thrust it forward. "Yu Wenran" instinctively dodged to the side, but Cheng Tingyu's move was just a ruse. After diverting his attention, she quickly took a few steps to the side and suddenly dashed into Bedroom No. 3.
"Yu Wenran's" face grew increasingly twisted, and he followed closely, waving his limbs that no longer resembled a human form.
The structure of the bedrooms on the third floor was almost identical; apart from the main door, there were no other exits. Cheng Tingyu's act of entering someone else's bedroom could be described as willingly stepping into a death trap. However, the expression on the face of the "Yu Wenran" at the door grew increasingly cautious. It extended its forelimb into the room but did not dare to launch an attack immediately.
"Yu Wenran" did not dare to attack, but Cheng Tingyu had no such scruples.
After the transmigration, Cheng Tingyu's physical condition was actually quite outstanding, possessing excellent combat skills. During the skirmish, the opponent didn't manage to hit her even once, while she left numerous wounds on them.
"Yu Wenran" raised his head and let out a roar full of anger.
This monster, coiled like a tangled mass of venomous snakes, grew increasingly frenzied, smashing through the bed frame with its forelimbs as thick as water barrels.
The enemy's strength was increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye, but Cheng Tingyu did not panic. She felt an unusual calmness in her mind, as if she was already accustomed to dangerous situations. While dodging, she even had the energy to smile at the monster in front of her and said, "This is the third bedroom."
As soon as the words were spoken, the monster blocking the doorway reacted as if it had heard something extremely terrifying, becoming infinitely frantic.
Immediately after, the opponent's massive body twisted into a grotesque posture, tightening more and more until it finally exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
Cheng Tingyu calmly watched as the monster was obliterated by the dungeon, a force different from "Mysterious Eyes," one that stemmed from the rules.
——The dagger has the power to ward off evil, and the guests need to keep the house tidy.
At the moment it was pointed out that it had already violated the house rules, the punishment for the infraction immediately found the monster before it.
Blood mist dispersed, and the terrifying monster's body shrank, transforming into a human figure that Cheng Tingyu found very familiar.
——Liu Xuehong, one of the three newcomers in the Development Zone duty room.
Cheng Tingyu glanced at the other person, stepped around his corpse, and walked out of the room.
The corridor now was vastly different from before.
The snow outside had stopped, and the light had brightened considerably, revealing a rare warmth.
In the same corridor, besides Cheng Tingyu, there were also Yu Wenran and others. They stared at each other in a daze, as if they couldn't comprehend where they were for a moment.
Li Junhui shuddered, unable to believe it: "You, you are Sister Ran, you are not..."
One second ago, what she saw was still a mass of black, tar-like monster that could only roar. However, a second later, that terrifying monster had transformed into the familiar appearance of a colleague.
As for Yan Jiayu, his reaction was different from everyone else's.
Whether it was before or now, Yan Jiayu never saw the "asphalt-like monster." What he saw was just a colleague with a crazed expression, wielding a weapon and swinging it at the other person.
Cheng Tingyu looked around and also breathed a sigh of relief: "The illusions in the corridor should be lifted."
——Just like yesterday when we went to the basement to get fuel, as long as a death occurs, the illusions within a certain area will temporarily dissipate.
At this moment, Yu Wenran finally recovered a bit from his confusion: "Do you know what's going on?"
Cheng Tingyu smiled, "I wouldn't say I know, just have some guesses."
The corridor still retained that terrifying sense of eeriness from just moments ago, especially within Bedroom No. 3. Yan Jiayu and the others merely glanced inside and almost vomited—Liu Xuehong's body had only partially returned to human form, but the twisted parts had clearly transcended the realm of humanity, resembling more of a monster that defied common understanding.
Cheng Tingyu seemed oblivious to how horrifying Liu Xuehong's corpse was. He gathered the limbs, took them to the first floor, and placed them in the snow outside the door.
She carried the pile of half-human, half-monster corpses outside, all the way to the spot where Zheng Ruinan had originally been placed.
The little girl's body still lay there, unchanged from the morning.
Cheng Tingyu's eyes flashed with a hint of contemplation. She walked a bit further before carefully laying down Liu Xuehong's body.
Yu Wenran is the most experienced employee in the duty room. Although she has never actually participated in the solving of a copy, she has entered several safe copies under the guidance of the inspection team, so she has some experience. At this moment, she put forward her own guess: "When we are on the third floor, we will see our companions as enemies." She continued, "Xiao Liu, he is..."
Cheng Tingyu smiled, "Do you know about Werewolf?" Seeing Yu Wenran nod, he continued, "This game requires both villagers and werewolves to be played—if I'm not mistaken, Liu Xuehong is the werewolf hiding among the villagers."
Yu Wenran: "Will there still be danger after that?"
Cheng Tingyu thought for a moment and said, "As long as we don't break the rules of the cold-proof house again, we should be able to get through the remaining three days smoothly."
Although Cheng Tingyu did not provide more direct evidence, as long as she said so, Yu Wenran and the others felt much more at ease.
After returning to the insulated cabin, everyone stayed on the first floor, chatting idly. During this time, Yu Wenran quietly asked Cheng Tingyu, "Sister Lu, do you think there will be ghosts in the bedroom again tonight?"
Cheng Tingyu, who had been promoted from "Little Lu" to "Sister Lu" in just one day, looked up at the note on the coffee table in the living room and smiled, "I don't think so."
In this house, it's not easy to see illusions.
Cheng Tingyu summarized the common points between the basement and the third-floor corridor, confirming that his guess was correct.
"I believe that the prerequisite for seeing illusions is having once stepped on the staircase where you can't see your companions."
Participants successfully deciphered the hidden rule of the cold-proof house: When walking on the stairs, please make sure to always have a companion within your line of sight.
Cheng Tingyu always felt that the hint on the first floor was hiding something, as it didn't mention anything related to the second floor at all.
Behind every door on the second floor, there is a staircase. Guests use the stairs to reach the third floor, where they can meet again in the hallway.
——Is it to separate the guests?
Cheng Tingyu quickly dismissed his own speculation. The bedrooms on the third floor were all single rooms. To achieve the condition of separation, they only needed to wait until the guests went to rest at night.
This is why she asked Yan Jiayu to walk up to the third floor with her.
——The hint paper did not strictly prohibit doing so, so Cheng Tingyu boldly speculated that it might not be a certain death option.
Therefore, the werewolf's disguise never fooled Cheng Tingyu from the beginning. In his eyes, the person who claimed to be "Yu Wenran" always had Liu Xuehong's face.