Although people's eyes were fixed on He Yu's corpse, their feet subconsciously moved further and further away from it. This strange, unsettling phenomenon felt ominous, as if touching it would force them into the same dimension.
Qin Ci didn't intend to examine the body: "I'm afraid this is beyond the scope of medicine; I can't do anything about it."
The girls' sobs had ceased at some point. In everyone's eyes, the corpse on the bed seemed to have no connection to He Yu anymore.
Everyone tried to check every corner of the room, searching for possible causes of death. Ye Ningchen even carefully examined the walls, fearing that Zhang Tianwei might be "painted" somewhere unknown.
"Are all the windows in your room open?" Zhu Haowen's gaze lingered on the completely open window.
There were no window screens here; once the glass panes were opened, it was completely drafty—although there seemed to be no wind in this world.
The people in the other four rooms denied this; their respective room windows were tightly closed.
So who opened this room's window? Was it Zhang Tianwei, who had "left"? Or the murderer from last night?
No one wanted to stay in the room any longer. After the search proved fruitless, they all closed the door and left, heading to the more familiar lobby on the first floor. A
sumptuous breakfast was laid out on the table, with fresh fruit, delicate pastries, and tempting sausages, but most people had no appetite.
"What's our plan for today?" Shi Zhendong asked first.
Qin Ci swallowed the jam-filled bread in his mouth and took a sip of hot milk: "According to the NPC's requirements, our task today is still storing three large jars of berries. Based on yesterday's workload, if everyone works together, we can finish in two or three hours. So, let's divide the work. One person can stay in each room to work, and the rest of us can go find signatures."
Ye Ningchen added, "And Zhang Tianwei, maybe he's being held captive somewhere."
Although everyone suspected that Zhang Tianwei was probably dead, they still nodded reassuringly.
Qin Ci: "Then each group should discuss the personnel arrangements. We can split the shifts between morning and afternoon."
"I'll stay in the blue group to do the work. Those two kids are clumsy. I can finish in five or six hours by myself." Guo Lixia's words impressed everyone. Then she added, "Everyone, try this fried egg. It's crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, so delicious! I've already eaten four!" "
..."
Wei Dong from the purple group volunteered, "Brother Mu is searching for autographs all day. How about we two take turns in the morning and afternoon?" Wei Dong said this to Ye Ningchen, who was in the same group.
Ye Ningchen nodded: "Then I'll do the work in the morning. Brother Dong and Brother Mu can go find autographs."
After discussion, the yellow group decided that Miao Zipei would stay to do the work, while Qin Ci and Mi Wei would be responsible for finding things.
Shi Zhendong from the Green Group volunteered to stay and work in the morning: "Xiao Zhu has a strong sense of observation; I believe he should be able to find something."
Xin Beibei's expression was a little unpleasant; she wanted to be with her boyfriend: "Your observation skills aren't bad either, why insist on having him find something?"
Guo Lixia interrupted Xin Beibei directly: "Didn't we switch this afternoon? Why don't we switch now?"
"Aunt Guo! Didn't you say you were in charge of all the work in our room?!" Xin Beibei's voice suddenly rose.
Ke Xun looked at his group members: "Working is everyone's duty. Sister Guo taking on all the work is itself a contribution to everyone."
Xin Beibei pouted, speechless, and glanced at Zhu Haowen, who was slowly eating his breakfast.
Shi Zhendong somehow managed to soothe his girlfriend, Xin Beibei, and her expression softened considerably. She even whispered to her boyfriend, "Don't be so silly and work so hard..."
Zhu Haowen wiped his mouth with a napkin, "I advise everyone to eat something; finding autographs is hard work."
The others agreed, forcing themselves to eat some breakfast, and then went about their assigned tasks—Guo Lixia, Ye Ningchen, Miao Zipei, and Shi Zhendong stayed in their respective colored rooms to work, while the others went to find things.
Qin Ci reminded everyone again, "Everyone must remember, never break the rules again. Don't enter rooms that don't match your color; you might be suspected of contaminating your color."
Everyone nodded secretly; no one wanted to become the next He Yu.
Shi Zhendong said to Ke Xun, "Xiao Ke, I'll have to ask you to take care of Beibei and make sure she doesn't wander into places she shouldn't be."
Ke Xun didn't say anything more, just nodded.
The four people responsible for the work went to their respective colored rooms.
Seven people remained in the hall.
"Let's split into two groups, one for indoors and one for outdoors," Qin Ci suggested. "The two girls are relatively less mobile, so it's best to separate them."
Mu Yiran also shared her thoughts: "Right now, we're focusing on the visible areas outside, mainly the pool and the maze. The orchard and river are too far from the center, so we won't consider them for now."
Xin Beibei couldn't help but say, "I want to go outside to look for things!"
Everyone ignored Xin Beibei's whim and continued listening to Mu Yiran: "There are a lot of rooms inside the building, probably over a hundred. This is a huge workload. We need to check each room one by one, so it's best to have more people searching inside the castle."
Qin Ci nodded: "I'll stay inside the castle. Who else wants to join?"
Mu Yiran said, "Count me in."
Ke Xun's voice followed closely: "Count me in too."
Wei Dong: "Ke'er and I can't be separated."
The only others left were Zhu Haowen, Mi Wei, and Xin Beibei.
Xin Beibei stared at Ke Xun: "You promised Zhen Dong you'd take care of me! I want to check the pool!"
Ke Xun really wanted to kick this annoying girl, but then he heard her say, "Also, I don't want to be in a group with this person!"
The person Xin Beibei was referring to was Zhu Haowen.
Zhu Haowen smiled faintly: "You're best suited to stay in the lobby and eat and drink."
"What did you say..." Xin Beibei trembled with anger.
The usually calm Mi Wei stepped forward and said, "Dr. Qin is right, it's best for the two girls
to separate. My idea is that Brother Ke and Brother Wei take Beibei outside to search, and the rest of us will be responsible for the castle." "Let's do it that way." Mu Yiran glanced at Ke Xun, "If you find anything, come back and we'll discuss it together."
Ke Xun tilted his head and looked at Mu Yiran, pouting his upper lip, as if making a silent kiss, or a silent whistle, or perhaps reciting a word, smooth? Or maybe something else.
Mu Yiran's expression was indifferent, but not as cold as before.
Miwei's arrangement was actually quite reasonable; the five men present were all experienced "old hands," and it wasn't appropriate to group them too closely together.
So, the group split into two teams to search separately.
Xin Beibei was very interested in the pool and quickly walked over. As if sensing someone's approach, the pool suddenly sprayed out bright silver water, splashing everyone with droplets.
"Look! There are so many coins in the pool! It really is a wishing well!" Xin Beibei called out to everyone.
Ke Xunwei went over to look, and sure enough, the bottom of the pool was covered with glittering coins, their surfaces displaying unique patterns.
Wei Dong teased Xin Beibei, "Did you forget what Mi Wei said yesterday? Don't easily make wishes about things you don't know the details of. There's no such thing as a free lunch."
Xin Beibei sat by the pool, splashing the cool water with her hands, "I have everything. I'm very content! As long as we get out of here, I'll be the happiest person in the world~"
Wei Dong felt embarrassed for Xin Beibei and looked at Ke Xun, who was carefully examining the coins by the pool, "What, are these coins signed? Can't be that lucky?"
Ke Xun stared intently for a long time, "Dongzi, come and look!"
Wei Dong squinted his slightly nearsighted eyes and looked for a long time, "The patterns on these are all different. Look, this one has leaves on it, that one has dots on it, and the one closest to it has crescent moons on it..."
At this point, Wei Dong also sensed something was wrong and hurriedly looked down at his clothes. The white background was embroidered with triangular purple patterns. After searching around the pool, he found that several coins had triangular patterns on them.
"These coins match the patterns on our clothes, what does that mean?" Wei Dong found the pool increasingly strange. Perhaps because everyone's clothes had different patterns, these patterns seemed like unique textures belonging to each person. "This pool is definitely suspicious; it feels like it knows our birth dates."
Xin Beibei was completely oblivious: "There are countless patterns in the world. Does this triangular pattern only belong to you?"
Ke Xun stroked his chin and circled the pool twice: "Since the pattern representing Zhang Tianwei is still there, it proves that the coins in the pool don't indicate anything—if this really is a wishing well, then these patterns should represent various elements."
"Elements?" The other two clearly didn't understand.
"Just like some people worship the Five Elements, some people worship things like wind, rain, thunder, and lightning. People in this world probably worship these elements, which is why they engrave them on coins and throw them into the pool when making a wish. It's probably like how people in our world pray for good weather." Ke Xun shared his thoughts, but he still couldn't figure out how these elements were related to the main theme of the scene.
Xin Beibei observed the fountain sculpture in the center of the pool: "It's really strange. What do you think this stone sculpture is trying to express? I really can't tell if it's a person or an animal."
Ke Xun and Wei Dong's gaze was also drawn to the fountain sculpture carved from black stone. It was indeed shapeless and indistinct, and they couldn't tell what it was.
"It's really strange. Even abstract things should be easy to understand, and in my experience, the more abstract something is, the clearer its meaning is." Xin Beibei finally showed her professionalism as an art student.
The stone sculpture in front of them seemed to be deliberately telling you that it was a strange, incoherent mess, a figment of chaos.
Ke Xun suddenly remembered the black band of varying width that he had seen by the window last night. If you had to connect the two, the two things were indeed somewhat similar.
"Let's go take a look at that green maze again. I especially like these fluffy mazes made of green plants. It seems like you can only see them in foreign fairy tales!" Xin Beibei turned her gaze to the maze again.
"Come back! Something's happened!" A loud shout came from above the castle.
Everyone looked up and saw Qin Ci waving down from a window above.