Cheng Tingyu's choice was correct. After tidying up the heart, in just the blink of an eye, the pervasive sense of unusual activity around him diminished significantly.
She nodded slightly.
After Wei Heng's death, her power would leak out, creating a copy. Similarly, when a player dies, their own power might also leak out.
Thinking of this, Cheng Tingyu felt a bit subtle again.
The danger level of the clone created by Wei Heng, no matter how low, was still enough to cause the death of a flesh-and-blood player.
If a player's death inevitably results in a [reality-oriented] instance, then the orderly city of F0631 should impose restrictions on those with special abilities, requiring them to live in designated areas to avoid affecting others.
However, there are no such rules in F0631 City.
Cheng Tingyu thought, since that was the case, she had reason to suspect that turning into a copy after death was not the inevitable fate of players.
The corpse, having lost its heart, finally stopped bleeding, and a layer of crystalline frost swiftly covered its surface.
This room is excessively cold.
The cold-resistant ointment applied to his skin was dutifully performing its function. Although it couldn't stop his life force from dwindling, it allowed Cheng Tingyu to maintain the flexibility of his limbs, preventing his mobility from being impaired by the extreme cold.
She didn't rush into the hallway but instead put on her gloves and started going through the other person's clothes.
Cheng Tingyu put on his gloves, briefly checked the other person's pockets, and successfully found a black key.
[Black Key: A black key, originally belonging to the owner of the house.]
Cheng Tingyu slightly lowered her eyelashes.
Although she could see the information about objects, she couldn't guarantee that she would always see the useful parts. More often than not, it would be like now, "listening to a conversation, as if just listening to a conversation."
In the parlor shrouded by an [unusual chill], Cheng Tingyu exhaled a breath of white mist.
The most direct cause of death for the deceased was naturally the physical wounds on his body. In addition, there were very noticeable frostbite marks on his arm.
As a true flesh-and-blood player, the deceased's defense and health points were clearly higher than those of Cheng Tingyu.
In that case, the deceased must have stayed in the corridor for a much longer time than Cheng Tingyu.
The reception room also had a mirror. Cheng Tingyu glanced at her personal information in the mirror. Her current health was only 91%, which had dropped quite a bit, but it was still a very safe distance from the danger line. Especially after the heart, whose true name was [Flesh and Blood: Life Overload], was sealed, the rate at which her health decreased had further slowed down, and there were no signs of frostbite on her skin.
From the moment she entered until now, she had stayed for nearly ten minutes. For such obvious frostbite marks to appear on the deceased, the time spent must have been at least half an hour.
In that case, the other party must have already entered the outer study, so the key belonging to the owner of the house in his hand was most likely taken from the study.
Cheng Tingyu looked at the black key and couldn't help but smile.
According to normal logic, all she needed to do now was pick up the key, walk to the end of the corridor, open the bedroom door, and take away Wei Heng's remains. The entire scenario would then be declared complete.
But even such a simple task, the deceased on the ground could not accomplish.
He collapsed silently in the corridor, his heart laid bare in a physical sense.
As someone adept at making hypotheses and courageous enough to test them, Cheng Tingyu stared at the corpse for two seconds, and a vague suspicion immediately arose in his mind.
"Click."
The outer study door was not locked.
In the room dominated by wooden furniture, there was a desk so wide that one could lie down on it, but this was by no means the most captivating feature of the entire room.
Cheng Tingyu looked around and for a moment suspected that the owner of the house was an artist.
She felt her thoughts were quite reasonable, as the walls of this outer study were covered with all sorts of decorative paintings. The subjects of these paintings were all beautiful things, including flowers, stars, springs, and so on. The most prevalent among them were various black butterflies.
Cheng Tingyu withdrew his gaze from the decorative painting, quickly walked to the desk, and reached out to open the drawer.
The situation was exactly as she had anticipated. A brass key that appeared perfectly normal from any angle lay quietly inside. In Cheng Tingyu's eyes, a line of description emerged on the brass key, including the phrase "can unlock the bedroom door."
"..."
Cheng Tingyu gazed at the open drawer, then silently smiled.
——If the key in front of me is for the bedroom door lock, then what is the key in the hand of the deceased in the hallway for?
The deceased had a sealed box with them, which means they were likely commissioned by Wei Xu to handle Wei Heng's remains. However, the bedroom key was still in the drawer, proving that the commission was just an excuse to infiltrate the scenario.
He had his own purpose, and he died because of it.
Cheng Tingyu carefully examined the decorative paintings on the wall and noticed that several of the butterfly-themed oil paintings bore traces of having been previously removed.
——So that black key was the crucial item the deceased found behind the butterfly painting?
Wei Xusheng didn't give Cheng Tingyu any clues related to the decorative painting—so long as the cooperation between the siblings was above the passing line, they would definitely communicate with each other about their aunt's house before the task was released. That means the information the deceased knew did not come from this pair of siblings.
He had a special purpose and an unusual understanding of the house's condition.
Cheng Tingyu sketched an image of the deceased in his mind.
That flesh-and-blood player was probably looking for something important in the house.
Since the deceased had some understanding of Wei Heng, what about Wei Heng? Did she know that someone would come looking for something?
Cheng Tingyu instinctively believed that Wei Heng should also be aware.
Living alone in a house without neighbors is a perfect setting for hiding one's secrets. If it weren't for his financial constraints, Cheng Tingyu would have liked to find a similar house as his residence for the foreseeable future.
Moreover, among the decorative paintings in the room, only those with a butterfly theme showed signs of having been moved.
If the deceased received the additional information that "there is a key behind the butterfly painting," then upon entering the study, they would realize that a significant portion of their life force would inevitably be consumed.
Because there were simply too many butterflies drawn.
It was as if the abundance was deliberately making it difficult for the subsequent seekers, like the owner of the house.
However, under normal circumstances, this kind of difficulty is unlikely to have any real impact. It is only under the condition that "prolonged stay will cause harm to the seeker" that such arrangements hold sufficient value.
Cheng Tingyu's mind flashed with another thought—Wei Heng not only knew that someone would come looking for something after his death, but he also anticipated that a copy would appear in the house.
The brass bedroom key in the drawer and the back door that leads directly out of the scenario are part of the Normal Ending route reserved for the siblings Wei Xusheng and Wei Xujing, while the black key behind the butterfly painting is for the deceased's Bad Ending route.
Cheng Tingyu smiled and muttered to himself, "It's a good thing I'm a cautious person."
She was somewhat relieved that she hadn't been foolish enough to take the black key straight to the bedroom door; otherwise, the outcome would likely have been far from pleasant.
Cheng Tingyu took one last look at the densely packed decorative paintings on the wall, then left the outer study without looking back.
As for the phrase "ability improving," Cheng Tingyu thought, perhaps it was because she was already on the right path. Although she hadn't truly completed the level, she had gained an improvement in her abilities.
The moment she re-entered the corridor, the chill around Cheng Tingyu intensified, and several lines of small characters flashed in her eyes—
[Stamina data open.]
[Ability enhancement in progress, detected item pending analysis, identification possible.
Remaining identification attempts: 2/3
Cheng Tingyu assessed his condition and felt that he had about 60% to 70% of his stamina left. If each appraisal consumed roughly 30% of his stamina, he could manage exactly two more attempts.
The black key emitted a red glow that only Cheng Tingyu could see.
[Tail-Biting Key: Flesh as the door, blade as the key.]
This is a prop.
The deceased wanted to use this key to open a certain door, but what ended up being opened was their own chest.
Cheng Tingyu, having gained a general understanding of the anomaly in the copy, felt a slight sense of regret— the client had not given her any incorrect information. Wei Heng's room was indeed a very simple copy that could be resolved swiftly and neatly as long as one's physical condition was up to par. The part that brought her danger was purely the personal action of the additional task on the ground, lacking any reasonable basis for a temporary price increase from any angle.
The research on the deceased had consumed a lot of time, and Cheng Tingyu's life value was down to 78/100. She quickly walked to the end of the corridor and opened the bedroom door.
The moment the wooden door was opened, a wave of cold air, almost solid in its intensity, surged outward.
Just the act of opening the door caused Cheng Tingyu's life value to drop by ten points.
Cheng Tingyu glanced at the ceiling and felt that she hadn't thought things through thoroughly. She hadn't brought a helmet when she came in. If it had been one of those game designers from before she traveled through time, they would definitely have set up a challenge where "as you walk towards the bedroom, icicles fall from above, and each one that brushes against you reduces your health by ten points."
Icicles hung from the ceiling of the bedroom, which was filled with a chill.
Cheng Tingyu murmured to himself, "The person who entered the bedroom door is most likely either the Wei siblings or someone entrusted by them to collect my aunt's body. If the appearance of the copy was indeed within Wei Heng's expectations, she probably wouldn't make things difficult for the person coming in at the last moment."
In the bedroom, aside from the unbearable cold, there were no other hidden dangers.
Her judgment was correct.
The enhanced vision of the "Mystic Eyes" allowed Cheng Tingyu to immediately see the skeletal remains lying on the bed.
Cheng Tingyu had no choice but to examine it. She put on gloves and gently lifted Wei Heng's body.
As a deceased person, Wei Heng's expression was very serene. Apart from the absence of breath, he looked as peaceful as if he were merely asleep.
[Ability enhancement in progress, detected item pending analysis, identification possible.
Remaining identification attempts: 1/3.
Her limbs and even the flesh on her torso seemed to have lost all their weight, while in contrast, her bones felt as heavy as if they were filled with mercury.
This corpse gave off a very strange feeling.