CH 62

(Deduction begins!)

(You drink a bottle of almond water and leave the room.)

(You arrive on the second floor, where your sister is doing her homework in her room.)

(You enter the parents' room next door.)

(You sit in front of your mother's dresser, searching for clues, and find a note in the jewelry box.)

(There are many phone numbers written on it, but no names.)

(You take out your phone and dial each number, but they are all disconnected.)

(You feel puzzled, but you silently jot down all the numbers.)

(You open the drawer of the dresser and find some medications. To your surprise, all of them are for cancer treatments.)

(Could it be that there's something wrong with the mother's health?)

(You put the medications back in the drawer and, turning around, you search the bedside table. Finally, in the bottom drawer, you find a key.)

(You hide the key in your pocket.)

(You haven't found any valuable clues.)

(You leave the room, but you see your sister standing by the door, watching you.)

(Sister: Did you just steal something, brother?)

(You: No, I didn't.)

(Sister: I saw you steal Dad's key. Give it back quickly.)

(You: I didn't steal anything. You must have misunderstood.)

(Your sister's hair starts to float, and her eyes flicker with red light.)

(Sister: Return it now, and I can pretend I didn't see anything. But if you don't return it, don't blame me...)

(You terminate the deduction!)

"Sigh... Another rule added. And it seems like the sister is also a monster. Am I the only normal person in this house?"

Gu Yi took out the lease agreement for the old house and adds a note to it.

[Do not steal anything from parents.]

Gu Yi silently contemplated for a while. The commotion he just caused was too loud, so the sister noticed.

However, all the doors in the old house require a strong kick to open, making it difficult to avoid attracting his sister's attention. He doesn't know when his parents will come back, and once they do, it will be even more impossible for him to get the things from inside.

"Let's try a different approach."

(Deduction begins!)

(You take a sip of almond water.)

(You go to the bathroom and grab a bar of soap.)

(You leave the old house and enter your parents' room through the window from outside.)

(You crouch by the door and listen for a while, but your sister doesn't notice you at all.)

(You take out your father's key and use the soap to make an impression of the key.)

(With the soap in hand, you return to your own room.)

(You wait for a while, and your sister still hasn't noticed you.)

(You go back to the room and take out your student ID card. Using the soap impression as a guide, you cut it into the shape of a key.)

(You return to the third floor.)

(Using the forged key, you successfully open the door to the third floor.)

(You stand at the door for a while, using your phone to confirm the speed of time. When you pass by the unlocked room, the flow of time noticeably accelerates.)

(You try to stay away from the unlocked room as much as possible.)

(With the key in your hand, you successfully open the locked room.)

(You stand at the door and observe for a while. The countdown doesn't accelerate, so you enter the room.)

(The room is empty except for a black box. You open the box, and a giant python jumps out.)

(The python coils around you.)

(You feel suffocated.)

(Your vision fades to black.)

(You're dead.)

(Deduction ends!)

Gu Yi opened his eyes and pondered for a moment.

The danger on the third floor was not just the highly accelerated time flow but also the presence of a hidden monster. The contents of the black box on the third floor remained unknown, and Gu Yi couldn't retrieve them at the moment.

However, obtaining his Dad's key was still crucial.

Following the previous deduction, Gu Yi successfully created a counterfeit key, and the system simultaneously issued a prompt,

"You have obtained [Dad's Key (Forged)]!"

"Your plot exploration has increased!"

"Current exploration progress: 2%!"

Gu Yi furrowed his brow slightly. In the previous dungeon, obtaining an important plot item would usually grant him at least 10% or more of exploration progress.

This time, he could only gain a mere 1%.

"The complexity exceeds my imagination..."

Gu Yi rubbed his temples, deep in thought.

After a while, he heard the sound of unlocking coming from outside.

Quickly, Gu Yi tidied up the table, ensuring that no traces were left for his parents to discover.

His mother entered his room, casting a concerned glance at him.

"Are you doing your homework?"

"Yeah."

"Where's your sister?"

"Upstairs."

"I see."

His mother nodded and went to his sister's room.

Gu Yi put down his pen and observed through the crack of the door.

Both parents stood outside his sister's room, speaking as if deliberately avoiding him. He faintly heard his sister's sobbing, and their conversation seemed to mention something about drawing.

"They must have been informed about the gruesome artwork by the teacher."

Gu Yi returned to his writing desk and sat down.

Clearly, his parents didn't want "I" to die. That's why they reacted so anxiously and even scolded his sister when she created that painting suggesting death.

Now it was almost certain.

His parents were on side of "I", while the anonymous user on the phone was on the opposite side, trying to lead "I" astray with their messages.

The anonymous user was the executioner who exposed the lies.

Knock, knock, knock.

His mother tapped on Gu Yi's door.

"What's up?"

Gu Yi opened the door.

Outside, his mother had changed into her nightwear. She pointed to her empty wrist and said, "It's almost 10 p.m. Time to sleep."

"Huh?" Gu Yi blinked and checked his phone.

[6 days, 9 hours, 23 minutes]

Time had progressed unnoticed again.

"Go take a shower and then go to bed,"

"Um... okay,"

Gu Yi nodded and obediently went to the bathroom to freshen up.

Regarding the countdown rule, one more point needed to be added.

[The flow of time concluded by parents can affect the countdown on the phone.]

This point could actually be inferred from when he picked up his sister from school.

Gu Yi's parents assigned him the task of picking up his sister. They believed that Gu Yi could reach his sister's school in ten minutes, which caused the strange time flow phenomenon he experienced earlier.

"This is a significant discovery. The flow of time in the countdown is actually influenced by my parents will. If they feel it's time to go to bed, then I have to go to bed."

After Gu Yi washed up, he lay on his bed and fell asleep.

The next morning.

Gu Yi's phone suddenly rang, and there was another text message from the anonymous user.

[May 12, 2021, light rain.]

[Big brother is gone, and I feel so lonely. If he were here, he would protect me.]

[There's always a strange person with clown makeup outside the house. Last night, he suddenly appeared at my window.]

[You know, our house is on the 20th floor. How did he climb up to my window?] [1]

[Moreover, I've seen that clown before.]

[This morning, a wedding procession came to our neighborhood. The bride looked like a cat, and the groom looked like a mouse. The clown was there too, giving out balloons to the children.]

[I told Mom and Dad about the clown, but they said it was just a nightmare. But I didn't have a nightmare at all.]

[Dad said there haven't been any weddings in our neighborhood recently. They think I saw the clown somewhere else.]