CH 92

Chapter 92: Castle Cry (XIX)

{cw: discussion of miscarriage, suicide, gore}

Qi Leren hesitated and guessed who Su He was talking about. He had also doubted this person, but he still regarded him as a “witness” rather than a puppet master behind the scenes: “The doctor?”

Dr. Lu gave a cry: “You called me?”

“…I mean Dr. Flajser,” Qi Leren said quietly.

Dr. Lu scratched his head: “Oh, when I was in the hospital, I was called for as ‘doctor’ every day. I was more habituated to hearing this title than to hear my name.”

Su He smiled to show his understanding, and said: “The game’s copy tasks are very logical - in contrast, the tasks in the Nightmare World sometime seem out there, probably because the Nightmare World is relatively real and sometimes reality is illogical. However, in the copy world, ‘illogical’ situations rarely happen. The game may give you a useless clue to confuse you, but there will never be such a thing as the puppet master being an NPC that has never been mentioned.”

Dr. Lu hesitated: “I have a little understanding of your meaning. You mean that the copy world tasks are like novels, movies, or games. They’re logical, just like how a culprit in a mystery novel must be a figure who has appeared before. It’s impossible to reveal that the prisoner is a pair of twins at the last minute without paving the way for it, because this violates the logic of a story.”

“Yes, at present, the copy task should be coming to an end, and the plot is beginning to finish, so no new characters should be added. We can analyze the characters who have appeared at present: four plot NPCs, two players, the crazy lady Sarah, the male host John, the maid Nina, Doctor Flajser, the late Adeline, and perhaps the devil’s will. The plot of the simple ending should be that the crazy lady lost her mind and killed all the people in the castle. As long as you killed the crazy lady in the castle, it could be over, but we are now on the route of the true ending, so we must solve the ghosts in the outer world. The crazy lady is also solved, and the truth of the year has been investigated as much as possible. The plot will be much more complicated, and many things may not be as we’ve seen.”

Su He said easily, “Nina’s problems need to be further investigated by her later. Let’s talk about Dr. Flajser first. From Johann’s correspondence with him asking him to come to the castle to treat the crazy lady—and more than once—it can be seen that he was also in China at that time. Considering that many foreign doctors did come to provide medical services to their employers at that time, this fact that he came to China cannot be used as evidence to question him, but it can be used as evidence that he has the conditions to commit crimes. The key point is that the letter also mentioned contraceptives. What are the ingredients of this medicine? Is the wife’s miscarriage related to him?

"We can reverse it. First assume that Dr. Flajser is the murderer who let the crazy lady miscarry and go crazy, and whether he had any way to do it. Yes, he is a doctor, and he is familiar with and trusted by the couple. He has the conditions and ability to do such things, especially to drive the crazy lady mad. He should be aware of this genetic psychosis in her family, and that it’s only a matter of time before she goes crazy with a little hallucinogens. For motive, does he have a motive? I think he does.”

Qi Leren listened attentively to Su He’s analysis and kept up with his thinking: “Is it because of Adeline?”

Su He nodded and looked at Qi Leren appreciatively. “Yes, do you remember the paragraph in Johann’s diary about him and Sarah sweeping Adeline’s grave? He said they met Dr. Flajser on the way back from the cemetery visit. This clue was given for a reason. Dr. Flajser was probably going to sweep Adeline’s grave.”

“Hey, it seems that Dr. Flajser had a good relationship with Adeline. Did he know that Adeline’s death was odd? Then why didn’t he sue the crazy lady?” Dr. Lu asked.

Qi Leren said, “Don’t forget Mrs. Sarah’s identity. Her family should be powerful aristocrats.”

“Oh oh, that makes sense. Mrs. Sarah murdered Adeline, and Dr. Flajser, who was closely with Adeline, saw that it was wrong but he couldn’t get Mrs. Sarah to be brought to justice, so he decided to kill her and make a revenge drama,” Dr. Lu snorted.

“But this is completely speculative, and there is no substantial evidence. Maybe we will find negative evidence in the future.” Su He smiled. “If we change our thinking, maybe Nina is behind poisoning the crazy lady, or maybe Johann is the real murderer. Who knows?”

There were too many possibilities. From another angle, maybe the truth is that Johann and Nina had hooked up. Johann was greedy for his wife’s wealth, and got all kinds of medicines from Dr. Flajser, which made Mrs. Sarah crazy and made people think that her genetic disease had broken out. Then he waited for an opportunity for her to “accidentally die” in order to get her inheritance.

What role did Nina play in it? Was it that although she had hooked up with the male host, she still sympathized with the crazy lady? Or did she secretly let the crazy lady go just to further stimulate her and even kill her?

“It’s 4:43 now. We have to go to Nina quickly, otherwise we’ll enter the other world,” Su He looked at the time and said.

On the way to the first floor, there was silence all around, and the creaking of shoes on the floor and the incessant thunderstorm outside the window made people uneasy. Qi Leren thought this kind of castle building was too dark, and people who stayed here for a long time would be prone to mental problems and become suspicious of everything.

“Just ahead.” Once again entering the corridor on the first floor, Qi Leren pointed to the room in front and spoke.

Miao Bo’s body wasn’t present in this world. This old room smelled unpleasantly musty. The wall near the window and the ground nearby had rotted to the core. The small door locked from the outside in the inner world was still in the same position, and it looked inconspicuous.

“It’s this lock. After you engage it, you can’t open the door from the inside. Obviously, this lock was added later.” Inspired by Su He, Qi Leren pointed to the door lock and spoke.

“But you don’t need a key,” Su He said.

“Then I can open the door?” Qi Leren suggested.

Dr. Lu went hide behind Su He and said with great righteousness: “You can do it.”

Qi Leren looked at him contemptuously, took Dr. Lu’s flashlight, opened the outer lock, and then turned the door handle - the dusty wooden door was pushed open, a strange smell invaded their noses, and the flashlight shone in the dark room. On the wall facing the door, there was a corpse hanging under a mounted goat’s head!

“!!!” Qi Leren took a step back and looked at the hanged body nervously. After a long time, the body had turned into a skeleton and, dressed in a maid’s clothes, her identity could be clearly seen.

Qi Leren immediately understood who she was.

But why was Nina hanging here?

Su He also walked into the room. His eyes stayed at Nina’s feet, and his voice said coldly: “She didn’t commit suicide, she was hanged here.”

“Huh?” Dr. Lu also came in and snorted strangely.

Su He pointed to the tea table at the feet of the skeleton with his cane - Qi Leren remembered that he had picked up this tea table in the inner world to deal with the armor that broke the door - and the tea table was placed a few meters away from the feet of the skeleton. It did not seem to have been kicked away by the hanged woman at all, but seemed to be neatly placed away from her feet.

Qi Leren frowned and looked at the skeleton. The room was also filled with demonic power, and the smell of smoke made the seed in his body stir.

“There should be another devil sacrifice here,” Qi Leren said with certainty.

“Indeed, look at the wall.” Su He pointed to the wall.

Qi Leren looked down in the direction he pointed out, and there were some traces on the mottled wall… He stepped forward and scratched the wall with his fingers, and the moldy wallpaper peeled off like an egg shell. Some strange totems were faintly visible on several clean walls nearby…

[Obtained the Devil’s Sacrifice 5/6]

“Is there no iron box this time?” Qi Leren looked around and asked softly.

“I’m afraid this room is an 'iron box’, and the sacrifice is probably Miss Nina.” Su He sighed.

“The phantom is coming, switch to theatre mode.” Dr. Lu snorted, waiting for the show to start.

Sure enough, with the discovery of the devil sacrifice, the phantom appeared again.

“Are you afraid, dear?” the crazy lady asked softly.

Her phantom appeared in the middle of the room. Her face was blurred, but it could be seen clearly that one of her eyes had been gouged out and was still bleeding.

Nina, standing under the goat’s head, held a hanging rope in her hands, stepped on the tea table, then sobbed and shook her head. She tried her best to suppress her crying, but she couldn’t hide her deep fear when she faced death.

“Didn’t you say you would do anything for me? Why are you afraid?” The crazy lady stood in front of her, looked up at Nina, who was frightened and helpless, and giggled.

“I, I am willing to help you escape… I… but I…” Nina couldn’t help crying. “I don’t want to die, madam, I don’t want to die!”

The crazy lady’s facial expression changed and she stared at her fiercely. Nina’s crying came to an abrupt end, and she dared not speak out, shaking and holding the rope with her hands.

“Good child.” The crazy lady held out her bloody hand and stroked her cheek. “Yes, just put your head in. I just need a little help, and you’re willing to help me. You’re a good child…”

Nina’s face was covered with blood. She looked at the crazy lady in fear, trembling and sobbing, but she stuck her head into the rope’s loop under the crazy lady’s guidance.

A twisted smile appeared on the crazy lady’s bloody face, and she suddenly leaned down and took away the tea table under her feet!

Nina’s body fell, and the noose around her neck tightened immediately. She struggled painfully, kicking the wall and scratching the rope around her neck, but it was useless. The pain of suffocation made her eyes pop out, and they bulged. The sounds of crying and choking overflowed from her throat as if they could expire at any time.

The crazy lady looked at her struggling with the tea table, looking cold and cruel, without guilt or fear. She watched quietly until Nina gradually stopped moving and was hanged in front of her eyes.

The crazy lady took a step back, admiring the goat head in her head, and let out a sigh of relief. She put the tea table back in place, singing and pushing her finger into her empty eye socket. The stirring noises of the sour viscous liquid sounded, and she dug a pool of fresh blood from the eye socket and painted on the wall.

Her tone was so strange that the original lyrics became creepy: “Will you love me? I love you. Even if you change your mind, it doesn’t matter. I have prayed to the Devil to let us be together forever. My love bird, don’t try to escape me, dear Johann, you will love me as one.”