Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 275, Section 18: Clarifying One's Thoughts
Late at night in the manor.

The servants' room.

The three of them silently opened their eyes and slowly sat up in the pitch black, each movement extremely restrained to avoid making any alarming creaking noises from the old wooden bed beneath them.

Compared to the phased passage of time in the dungeon, time in the manor is basically a full day.

After all, they really had to work, from dawn till dusk, and their workload was only slightly better than that of the black slaves picking cotton outside the manor.

There were more than just these three servants in the manor, but because the area they managed was more important, they had their own small room for three, separate from the other servants, and they were not allowed to have any contact with anyone other than the butler.

The room had no windows and was pitch black. Although there was an oil lamp, they dared not light it after a certain period of time.

I had lit it once in the game before, and it seemed to attract something. The footsteps approached little by little until they extinguished the oil lamp again. The heavy footsteps stopped near the door and remained silent. I didn't hear them leave.

The next day, when they opened the door, they found nothing outside.

The owner of those footsteps seemed to have vanished into thin air.

In the pitch black, the three relied solely on their memories to confirm each other's locations.

"How about I give it a try?" Oshima said in a low voice, prepared to become a guinea pig.

He has never been averse to making sacrifices or taking a loss for the team.

Yui remained silent, awaiting Iwasaki's decision.

"No." Iwasaki took out the delicate oval bottle from his pocket. In this dark room, the golden liquid became its own light source, emitting a dark golden glow that could barely illuminate the few fingers he was holding.

He unscrewed the tightly closed bottle cap, but the dark golden liquid emitted a rather unpleasant odor, almost foul.

Iwasaki first opened the door a crack about two fingers wide, then tilted his head back and drank it all in one gulp.

The only light source disappeared, and the room fell into a deathly silence. Iwasaki did not say a word.

Ten seconds later, Oshima sensed something was wrong and tentatively called out in a low voice, "Hiro?"

no respond.

He hurriedly reached out his hand, but found nothing there.

Iwasaki has disappeared!
Hey.

Yui felt as if a bug was crawling on her face, so she gently removed it and placed it in her palm.

"Hao?"

The insect flapped its wings in her palm.

Yui understood perfectly well that the liquid from the scarab beetle room could turn people into insects.

If we think about it this way, since this thing was found in the room that represented the scarab beetle, does that mean that Iwasaki has become the scarab beetle at this moment, and there are similar liquids in other rooms that can turn people who drink the liquid into different animals?

What is the role?
The twelve animals are all ordinary creatures; there are neither powerful mythical creatures like the Qilin or the Flying Dragon, nor powerful real-world creatures like the Tiger or the Elephant.

Even if all three of them turned into crocodiles, they probably wouldn't be a match for the mysterious entity that was supposedly the owner of the manor; they could only bare their teeth.

The bugs are right; bugs can get into places that are difficult for them to enter.

Her first thought was of a wardrobe in a certain room; if it were opened, a person would immediately lose consciousness.

But before it was opened, there was a crack, and it was this crack that attracted her to open the wardrobe.

Perhaps the insects can enter through this gap without being affected.

While he was pondering, the insect flew away, its destination unknown, while Oshima was still fumbling around in the dark, searching for Iwasaki's bed.

Hey.

"Whoa!"

The insect landed on Ooshima's face.

Oshima thought it was a pair of American twin tails, and his body jolted in fright. His instincts beat his brains, and he slapped her across the face!

Snapped!
With a sharp crack, the bed frame groaned under the strain.

Iwasaki reverted to human form, covering Oshima's mouth tightly with one hand and pressing down on his shoulder with the other. The two froze in place, holding their breath and listening intently to the sounds outside the door.

Dead silence.

Iwasaki slowly released his grip.

"Ugh—!" He suddenly lunged toward the edge of the bed, suppressing a violent retching sound.

Oshima gently patted his back.

After a while, he rubbed his temples and sat up, looking slightly weak.

"That thing can turn me into a scarab beetle, but it's probably not suitable for use at night. I have a hard time seeing my surroundings; my vision is too poor."

"Did you go out?" Yui asked.

"I left for a few seconds, not daring to go too far, worried that I wouldn't be able to find my way back." Iwasaki reached out and closed the door tightly.

Yui nodded thoughtfully: "It seems that for an animal form to move freely in the outside world at night, it must be a nocturnal animal with the ability to see in the dark."

Iwasaki: "Hmm, I need animals like owls and bats."

"And be careful, if you get hit, you will revert to human form, accompanied by a very strong feeling of dizziness and headache."

Oshima roughly understood what had just happened: "Shadowcat might also work; that name should give it better night vision than a regular cat."

"Insects also have their uses. The wardrobes and drawers I encountered that died as soon as they were opened all had a crack."

Yui loves to open boxes and drawers and stick her head inside without any precautions to see what's inside, thus identifying the deadly items in the two rooms.

Before they even peeked out, the moment they opened the door, they were blinded by the light.

Once, they decided that even if they died, they had to see what was inside, so the three of them went into the room at the same time. Before they could even open the drawer, everything went black and they all died.

They've come up with a new rule: anyone not assigned a task to this room (excluding public spaces like the lobby and corridors, and rooms opened through angelic prayers) is not allowed to enter.

With each of us contributing our thoughts, we gradually pieced together our ideas.

the next day.

The three of them didn't sleep all night, and got up to go to the butler to receive their tasks for the day.

The butler handed them the three badges respectively.

It has different Roman numerals on it, representing different regions.

Iwasaki glanced around; everything was in their favor. He was the clean hall's artifact, and the angel and demon statues were there, separated by a wall.

The octopus is the dressing room, where the wardrobes that cannot be opened are located.

Yui sweeps and mops the hallway, which is the most free job.

As is customary, he drew an animal card.

【goat】

Iwasaki's expression shifted slightly.

In the first five rounds of the game, no matter how he drew the cards, he always got nine different animals. He even suspected that the butler had tampered with the animal cards, only giving them the cards he wanted.

But what's going on now? For two consecutive days, they've been giving out animal cards that they haven't given out before.

If we're just talking about probability, the probability is too small.

However, as a butler, he shouldn't have the same memories of reincarnation as the player; it can only be understood that the probability of drawing cards has changed.

Iwasaki dared not show too much thought. As usual, he bowed respectfully to the butler and left with the card.

“This isn’t exactly an implication.” After the three of them had walked away, Higashiyama Shin smiled and flipped over the nine animal cards, all of which were goats. “It’s just a little bit of whimsy with power.”

He did this on purpose, to draw the player's attention to these three animals.

This is the key to breaking through the barrier.

Unaware of the danger, the three players entered the deserted corridor and began to discuss their actions for the day.

“I will pray to the angel to open this door. If this door cannot be opened, we will move on to the next one.” Iwasaki pointed to the door in front of them, which was next to the scarab room from yesterday. “Then, Yui, go in and, based on my experience yesterday, look for the potion. Carefully check the mechanisms. If you still can’t find it, come back to me. I will try to see if I can observe from outside the door.”

"After finding the potion, if it's a tarantula, rat, or snake, restore the room to its original state, rush to the door of the room where the island is located, drink the potion, and let the island lead you in to check the wardrobe."

"If not, then put it away and finish today's task."

The two nodded and went their separate ways.

Iwasaki first went to the closed-eye demon statue and put the animal card in.

Then they came to the angel statue separated by a wall and began to pray for the room they wanted to open.

"accepted."

Iwasaki felt a slight stirring in his heart; his prayer had been answered.

Hey.

Yui, who was kneeling on the floor scrubbing, heard a faint sound like a door lock opening, but she remained calm and continued scrubbing.

After cleaning the entire floor area, she listened quietly to the sounds around her for a while, then carefully wiped her hands clean before pulling down the handle.

The first thing that catches the eye in the room is the countless gray mouse skins hanging down.

A putrid stench permeated the surroundings, and the huge emblem that Iwasaki had mentioned was not on the walls.

Boxes were piled up on both sides of the room; you could guess what they were related to without even opening them.

However, she did see a device that looked like an experimental table, covered in bloodstains, as if it was refining something. It had several small empty bottles, exactly the same as the one Iwasaki had taken out yesterday.

There was a bottle without a cap, pointed directly at the spout of the essence.

The color was murky, a grayish-black, the same color as a mouse's fur.

Also like
Yui casually grabbed an empty bottle, went back to the corridor, filled the sewage bucket with it, and then returned to the lab table for comparison.

Almost identical.

She pulled out that bottle and replaced it with the one containing sewage.

She found a lid on the table, covered it up, cleaned up the traces she had left behind, and left the room.

Back in the hallway, she picked up the bucket and headed toward the cloakroom where Oshima was.

Inside the dressing room, Oshima nervously arranged the clothes on the hangers, his eyes constantly glancing towards the door.

Footsteps sounded outside the door, followed by the soft scraping of a bucket being dragged, and then the rustling of a damp cloth being wiped on the floor. Oshima saw Yui's figure vaguely appear at the edge of the door, and his tense shoulders relaxed slightly.

Yui silently wiped the corridor floor outside the cloakroom, while Oshima casually finished tidying up the last hat he was holding, strolled to the door, and glanced at both ends of the corridor.

Without saying a word, Yui took out the bottle of grayish-black viscous liquid from her sleeve, uncorked it, and tilted her head back to gulp it down without hesitation.

puff!

A slight cracking sound rang out, and Yui's figure instantly collapsed and deformed, turning into a gray-black rat in the blink of an eye.

The empty bottle fell from the spot where she disappeared. Oshima's eyes widened, and with lightning speed, he lunged forward and narrowly caught the bottle in his palm before it hit the ground.

Without pausing, Yui, in her rat form, ran on all fours as if it were instinct. She transformed into a gray shadow and darted quickly toward the wardrobe. Her sharp claws gripped the gap that wasn't closed properly, and with a quick movement, she squeezed inside like a rat.

Oshima leaned against the door frame, holding his breath and listening intently to the faintest sounds in the corridor and room.

Light filtered through the gaps, casting faint beams of light inside the wardrobe, barely providing any visibility.

The air was filled with the slightly worn smell of the wooden cabinet, and there seemed to be a hint of perfume and tobacco.

Her gaze swept across the area, her claws hooking onto the heavy wool coat as she quickly climbed upwards, trying to find out why she died in the light.

Soon, she saw a red cross pattern on the top of the wardrobe.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yui pounced on it, her sharp teeth tearing fiercely at the wooden board.

"Sizzle! Squeak squeak squeak!"

Oshima's urgent coded signal came from outside.

This point was not discussed; it was simply Oshima's instinct.

Yui decisively released her grip, letting her body fall freely and crash heavily into the wooden cabinet. Without pausing, she sprinted out through the gap in the cabinet door.

After Oshima and her reached the corridor, he stomped down hard.

Paji.

Yui instantly reverted to human form, curled up on the floor, her face ashen, biting her lower lip hard to suppress the nausea churning in her throat and the intense headache.

She struggled to sit up, grabbed a rag from the floor, knelt down, and mechanically and forcefully wiped the floor, her movements stiff but trying her best to maintain the posture of working.

After a good ten seconds or so, she still hadn't heard any sound. She frowned, her face covered in cold sweat, and looked at Oshima with a puzzled expression.

?

Oshima gave an awkward smile: "Just now... there seemed to be no sound of someone approaching."

Yui twitched the corners of her mouth and, without hesitation, leaned over the sewage bucket and started vomiting.

Oshima could only wait for her to calm down before asking somewhat awkwardly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. Um, did you find any clues in the closet?"

Yui raised her head from the sewage bucket expressionlessly and pointed to the wardrobe door: "Try opening the door now."

Upon hearing this, Oshima carefully approached the door and slowly opened it.

It's alright, he's still alive.

He breathed a sigh of relief and then began searching for clues.

Soon, he found three keys in the pocket of an aristocratic coat, but they were not marked.

He put away the key and looked towards the door; Yui had already left.

In the evening, the three of them gathered in the hall, picked out three question sheets and handed them to the angel statue, and then began to prepare dinner.

The dinner setup here is quite peculiar. They are responsible for receiving a batch of fresh meat, then washing it according to the butler's instructions, and chopping it into different pieces.

However, their meals were prepared by other chefs.

Another day has passed.

As night fell, the angel closed his eyes.

With a click, the door that had been opened during the day was locked again.

After the three of them had their pea porridge dinner, they wondered how things were going in the dungeon. Anyway, Iwasaki was in a good mood, and the mystery was finally making progress.

Oshima gave him the keys, but the three keys were identical in design and indistinguishable from each other on the surface.

The group discussed it for a long time but couldn't reach a conclusion. It wasn't until around midnight that the Roman numerals that appeared on the key provided the answer.

This clearly represents the room number.

“It’s three of the locked rooms.” Iwasaki followed the problem-solving approach. “Since they gave us the keys, it means we can’t open these three doors by praying.”

"It only shows up after midnight, which means it can only be opened at that time," Oshima added.

If that's the case, then the direction is set.

During the day, find potions for small animals or animals with night vision. If it's a small animal and it happens to be tidying up the study, open the drawer.

If you're a night-sighted animal, then wait until after midnight and use the key to open the doors to those three rooms.

Even if only one room can be opened per night, it's still manageable in terms of time.

"These are the doors to the crocodile, the owl, and the goat."

Yui suddenly said.

"Intuition?" Iwasaki actually thought so too.

"Hmm." Yui didn't say anything more.

(End of this chapter)