四人退至門口,給白牧留出了足夠的空間.
The four retreated to the doorway, giving Bai Mu plenty of space.
Bai Mu reached out toward the cloth teddy bear. The mont he picked it up, he felt it tremble slightly. Other than that, there were no anomalies—no curses triggered, and no monsters suddenly appeared. He smoothly stored the stuffed bear in his inventory. "Are you alright, Brother Bai?" Great Northern Wilderness asked.
"I am fine, nothing happened," Bai Mu replied, picking up the candlestick from the table.
"Let us go, then. On to the next place," Yan Yu said.
The five players backed out of the corridor, returned to the main hall, and approached the second door. Inserting the key, they easily unlocked it.
Behind the second door lay a kitchen. A fire crackled in the hearth, with an iron pot hanging over the flas, bubbling and releasing a steady stream of steam. The rich aroma of at stew wafted from the pot. They noticed a kitchen knife chopping back and forth on an empty cutting board, as if an invisible person was wielding it.
Blood-red words surfaced on the wall once again. This ti, the ssage read: "The kitchen is a place short on hands."
Bai Mu pulled out his Night Vision Camcorder and aid it at the cutting board. Through the lens, he could see a blurry figure standing there.
The quintet did not rush blindly into the kitchen. Instead, they lingered by the door to discuss this new puzzle.
"Short on hands... Does that an we have to leave soone behind to help out in the kitchen?" Great Northern Wilderness guessed.
"Given the usual tropes of horror movies, I bet he literally wants human hands," Yan Yu pointed out. "See how his cutting board is empty? We most likely need to find sothing for him to chop."
"That cloth bear..." Scattered Fireflies murmured. "I feel like the bear's hand might be useful."
"A bear's hand?" Great Northern Wilderness frowned. "But the bloody text clearly asks for human hands. What does that have to do with a bear's paw? There is no logical connection between the two."
"Brother, I also think we need to give the bear's hand to the chef here," Nancheng Port chid in.
"You think so too?" Great Northern Wilderness still could not quite wrap his head around it.
"That cloth bear might not actually be just a bear," Yan Yu explained. "Do not forget, this is a witch's house. Plus, the first diary ntioned that the price she paid to beco a witch was to help so entity kill humans and collect their souls. Perhaps the cloth bear is a human transford into a doll by magic."
"That actually makes a lot of sense," Great Northern Wilderness admitted.
Scattered Fireflies added, "Furthermore, ever since we entered the mansion, these bloody ssages have been guiding us."
"If we treat it as a quest guide, it made us enter the first door first because there was an item we would need for the second door. It wanted us to grab the key and the 'hands' there so we could solve the puzzle of this second door."
"That makes sense in theory..." Great Northern Wilderness glanced at Bai Mu, who was holding the Camcorder. "But we still need to pick soone to hand the cloth bear over to the chef." At those words, the rest of the group fell silent.
Judging from the information they had, they could almost be certain that the cloth bear was the answer to this puzzle.
However, if they guessed wrong, whoever went up to complete the task would suffer a terrible fate.
It was just like the suit of armor; as long as they figured out the trick and placed the oil painting in its hands, any of the five could easily handle it. But if they made a mistake, they would never be able to withstand the blow from that axe.
Now, another invisible chef stood before them. If the cloth bear was useless, the person stepping forward would undoubtedly bear an incredibly high risk. The obstacles in this mansion were more like supernatural urban legends than zombies or vampires that could be defeated with brute force. No one wanted to take that risk. After all, this was not just a ga; if you died here, you died for real.
"How about we draw straws?" Great Northern Wilderness suggested. "Whoever gets the short straw goes."
"That works." Seeing that Bai Mu remained silent, Yan Yu nodded in agreent with Great Northern Wilderness's proposal. "Whoever is chosen, the rest of us should pool so defensive gear or healing items for them."
Drawing straws relied entirely on luck, making it the fairest thod. Everyone had a one-in-five chance, ensuring the chosen person would not harbor any resentnt, save for cursing their own bad luck.
"I agree," Nancheng Port said.
"I... have no objections either," Scattered Fireflies said, pursing her lips.
Bai Mu was the only one left who had not voiced his opinion, prompting the other four to look his way.
"There is no need to draw straws," Bai Mu declared. "I will handle this task."
"Brother Bai, we cannot let you shoulder all the risks alone," Great Northern Wilderness said, patting Bai Mu on the shoulder. "We are a team, after all. Everyone should do their part, right?"
Great Northern Wilderness wanted to claw back so impression points. He believed both Bai Mu and Yan Yu were reliable teammates for the long haul. Besides, he felt the risk of this task was relatively low. Even if he drew the short straw, it would not be a big deal; they would most likely pass it smoothly.
Moreover, with a two-in-five chance, the odds were in favor of him and his brother not getting picked anyway. He was quite shrewd when it ca to social dynamics, adept at using low-risk situations to earn goodwill.
"I am not trying to hog all the glory," Bai Mu explained. "I want to see if we can pass this using a different thod."
"A different thod?" Great Northern Wilderness asked in surprise. "Do not tell you can actually get your hands on human hands?"
"I will only know if I try," Bai Mu replied.
He was reluctant to hand the cloth bear over to the chef. Although he agreed that the bear was likely the solution to the bloody ssage, a snippet of small text revealed by his Appraisal Mirror indicated that soone had painstakingly stitched the doll back together.
It was currently unclear who that person was. However, consuming the doll here might affect future events. It was entirely possible that the doll was tied to other Hidden Quests or secret storylines.
Furthermore, the fact that an oil painting could masquerade as a shield ant these puzzles were not rigid. There had to be multiple solutions. For instance, if soone had entered the Script already carrying a large shield, they probably would not have needed to search for anything; they could have just used their own item to pacify the armor. "Alright then, Brother Bai. We will leave this challenge to you."
Great Northern Wilderness suspected that Bai Mu actually had a severed human hand sitting in his inventory. If it were Bai Mu, it was genuinely possible.
After their brief discussion, the group relegated themselves to being spectators at the door, leaving the stage to Bai Mu.
They stood by the entrance, nervously watching his back as he walked in.
Bai Mu stepped up to the chef. Only after getting close did he hear a voice muttering to itself.
"So short on hands."
Once he closed to a certain distance, the kitchen knife suddenly stopped chopping and turned to face him.
"Who are you? Are you a new hand?" the invisible chef asked him.
"Are you really that short on hands here?" Bai Mu inquired.
"Yes, extrely short," the chef replied. "You ca at just the right ti."
Bai Mu felt a sudden rush of air reaching toward his right hand. Reacting with lightning speed, he reflexively dodged the grasp. "Why are you dodging?" the chef demanded. "Are you not a new hand?"
"Of course not," Bai Mu stated. "However, I might be able to bring you a lot of hands. The question is, just how many do you need, and will you even want the hands I bring you?"
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