Aside from the basent, there were no other doors on the first floor that required a key.
This key could only be used on the second floor. Bai Mu had already learned from the chef that the master of the manor was in the second-floor bedroom, which ant the likelihood of an upcoming boss battle was extrely high.
"Defeating the boss should clear the Script, right?" Great Northern Wilderness asked. "Brother Bai, what do you think? Should we explore the first floor a bit longer to see if we can find the basent key, or maybe complete so Side Quests?"
The kitchen door was tightly shut, clearly inaccessible now. However, there were likely still unexamined nooks and crannies in the drawing room, the study, and the cage. If they wanted to aim for a high clearance rating, it would be best to spend a little more ti thoroughly exploring the map.
However, Bai Mu's mind was not focused on exploring the map. Instead, he threw a question at Great Northern Wilderness. "Brother Dahuang, have you ever wondered why you found the key to this manor inside a village girl's house?"
"That..." Great Northern Wilderness paused for a mont. "Maybe that family just picked it up by chance?"
"That would be way too coincidental," Yan Yu remarked. "I don't believe the key to this manor would just fall outside for anyone to casually pick up. It was most likely planted by design."
"Are you saying the key was deliberately left for that family to find?"
Great Northern Wilderness was no fool. With a little nudge from the two, he quickly grasped their aning.
"True, that makes sense. Isn't this witch trying to sacrifice human souls to a demon? Maybe she used the key as a dium to sacrifice everyone in that village."
"But based on the information we have, the witch's power should be severely restricted outside the manor," Scattered Fireflies pointed out. "If she could kill people outside, why would she bother setting up so many traps in the drawing room and luring people here? From that perspective, the witch shouldn't have the ability to kill from a distance. Or at the very least, if she kills soone outside, she can't offer their soul to the demon."
"Then the origin of this key is very strange," Yan Yu said. "But Bai, why are you asking this? Did you spot another blind spot?" "I believe the boss of the Village of Mist is the witch," Bai Mu replied. "She is the one who brought the manor's key to that place." "Are you saying the witch left the manor and went to that village?" Yan Yu asked. "But if the witch left, why did the chef tell you that the master of the manor is in the second-floor bedroom?"
"The chef was referring to the current master of the manor," Bai Mu explained. "According to the diary, this house existed before the witch signed a contract with the demon. There has been more than one master. The witch that Brother Dahuang and the others encountered was very likely the previous master of the manor." "But that doesn't really have anything to do with our current situation, does it?" Great Northern Wilderness asked. "Even if that village girl was the previous master, we already hacked her to death."
"Physically, she might indeed be dead," Bai Mu said. "But I don't think her existence itself has perished. To put it bluntly, I believe she is the one who wrote the bloody words on the wall."
"Huh?" Great Northern Wilderness couldn't quite follow Bai Mu's train of thought. "But what would be her reason?"
"According to the background setting, we are a group of 'villagers' who escaped from the Village of Mist, and one of us was 'lucky' enough to find that key," Bai Mu said. "From the villagers escaping the village to getting lost in the forest and finding this Ancient Manor, it all seems carefully orchestrated." "Even our progression after entering the house was by design," Bai Mu continued. "From the very beginning, only one door was open. If we hadn't opened that door and instead went straight to the second floor, we would have likely found that all the doors there were locked shut."
"We were practically forced to follow a fixed sequence, obtaining the keys one by one to proceed to the next area."
"Everything we could do was arranged before we even entered the front gates, but these arrangents did not include 'us getting killed.' The purpose of the person guiding us was not to murder us, but to fulfill her own wish."
"With all that being said, don't tell you've already guessed what she wants to do?" Yan Yu asked.
Bai Mu nodded. "I'm afraid she wants to reclaim her position as the master of the manor. Or rather, if she cannot beco the master again, her soul will truly shatter and dissipate."
Great Northern Wilderness scratched his head. "Brother Bai, just give it to us straight. What do you want to do? My brother and I will follow your lead."
Great Northern Wilderness had given up on thinking. He actually had no obsession with achieving a high clearance rating. After all, he knew one thing very well: the higher the rating, the greater the danger.
He had always pursued a steady approach. Getting a high rating was great, but it depended entirely on whether he had the capability to survive it.
He considered himself soone with limited skills, so he was perfectly content playing the role of a reliable tool.
"I'll listen to you too, Big Brother Bai," Scattered Fireflies said, becoming the second to voice her support.
Seeing her teammates completely willing to be led around, Yan Yu also gave up resisting. "Minority obeys the majority, then," she sighed.
"When we encounter the 'witch' on the second floor later, I want you all to refrain from attacking her," Bai Mu instructed. "She will probably initiate the attack, but just focus on defending yourselves. I estimate she won't be able to stay active for long. If we can stall for a bit, she will lose her ability to inflict harm."
"That... but we might not be able to withstand the boss's damage," Great Northern Wilderness hesitated. "We can't just stand there and get beaten to death." "If you feel like your life is in mortal danger, then it ans my deduction might be wrong," Bai Mu replied. "At that point, feel free to counterattack without holding back. But if it's just a minor scratch, I hope you can all stay calm and stick to our plan of only playing defense." "That's not a problem," Great Northern Wilderness agreed.
"I'm a little curious. Where did you get the idea that the boss won't go in for the kill?" Yan Yu asked.
Bai Mu pulled out the stuffed bear and answered, "Soone who couldn't bear to kill a zombie, and who would use a needle and thread to sew an arm back onto a stuffed bear, probably isn't a homicidal maniac."
"Actually, I think if she understood our situation, she would most likely open the door imdiately and let us out. But in her eyes right now, we are probably a group of dangerous criminals who not only smashed her drawing room to pieces but also burned the friends she kindly took in to ashes."
"The good news, however, is that this stuffed bear is completely intact, so I feel there's still room for negotiation."
As Bai Mu spoke, he took out Lucy's Candy Box and distributed six pieces of Blood-Restoring Candy to everyone.
"From the perspective of completing the Main Quest, doing this is completely unnecessary. Killing the current master will definitely clear the Script for us. As for the task of collecting diaries, it's entirely optional."
"I can't guarantee that I'm one hundred percent correct. We'll have to rely on our own judgnt when the situation unfolds."
"But since this is my suggestion, I will make sure you don't die because of my miscalculation. At the very least, I won't let you die before I do."
At this point, Bai Mu stopped holding back and also opened the Survivor's Supply Bag.
Inside was exactly what he wanted: five bottles of painkillers in total, a healing consumable worth around eight hundred Points.
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