Chapter 73: Before Dawn (12)
While Tang Cuo was studying the diary, Jin Cheng came over. Keeping his guard up against the Madam’s ghost that could appear at any moment, he said, “There is nothing in the piano room, not even a key.”
This meant that the key to the Miss’s room could only be obtained in 1936. This instance was a series of interlocking rings; missing even one ring would halt all progress. It was incredibly unfriendly to players.
At this moment, Tang Cuo finally spotted a few more pieces of useful information.
[June 4, 1924
There was blood in the second-floor bathroom. I saw it.
I asked Father, and Father said Dr. Lin had left too and that he had gotten a new doctor for Mother.]
[June 9, 1924
I had nightmares again.
Nannan is afraid, Uncle.]
[July 11, 1924
I finally stole the key to the attic, but the person inside is my teacher, not Uncle.
I didn’t tell Mother.]
Then came the final entry, over half a year later.
[March 4, 1925
Nannan never saw Uncle again.]
The diary abruptly ended there, but everyone knew the Miss had lived here for nearly another year. What drove her to pick up those scissors no longer needed to be scrutinized. When a child looks at the world with innocent eyes, whatever shape the world takes will inevitably cast an identical shadow upon her heart.
The only thing Tang Cuo was curious about was this “Dr. Lin.”
Initially, Tang Cuo didn’t know the identity of the dismembered ghost, assuming he was just an unlucky ordinary guest who had accidentally stumbled upon a secret. But if he was a doctor, that changed things.
This Dr. Lin was still treating Lin Wan. Did the poisoned medicine Lin Wan was taking come from his hands? If so, he definitely knew something about the affairs of the Yu Residence. He might have even been the Yu family’s private physician, and he was silenced not merely for discovering the illicit affair.
“What Yu Wangnian truly wanted to hide might not be Lin Wan’s affair, but the death of his brother,” Tang Cuo said.
“That is also possible,” Jin Cheng rubbed his chin. “Everyone in the Yu Residence knew about Lin Wan’s affair, but Yu Wangyue’s death was kept strictly under wraps.”
Tang Cuo continued, “On December 17, the Miss noted that her Uncle disappeared, which means he was locked up that day. Just a week later, on December 25, Yu Wangyue died. Given such a short timeframe and the fact that he had no external injuries, there’s a high probability he died of a heart attack. In other words, Yu Wangnian’s act of locking him up unfortunately caused his death.”
Jin Cheng caught on: “Yu Wangnian only wanted to impose a slight punishment. He never wanted his brother to die. So he felt guilty, unable to accept his brother’s death, to the point where he preserved the corpse, kept it a secret from everyone, and continuously tortured himself—and Lin Wan?”
“This way, your ‘body double’ theory makes perfect sense.” Tang Cuo put the diary down. “In the first half of the story, Lin Wan treated the attic occupant as a substitute for Yu Wangyue. In the second half, Yu Wangnian also treated him as a substitute. From beginning to end, he was always a body double, never having his own name.”
Jin Cheng followed his train of thought. “The most interesting part is, the first person to use him as a substitute—Lin Wan—didn’t know the second half of the story. She thought this substitute was the real Yu Wangyue.”
Listening to them bounce theories off each other, the water in Qi Hui’s brain sloshed around so much it was about to evaporate. Right at that moment, the Madam’s ghost appeared again. Jin Cheng casually tossed a handful of incense ash, and the fight resumed.
Tang Cuo continued searching because they still hadn’t found the gift the butler retrieved from the bank.
But they had already searched the Miss’s room and the piano room, and checked the other rooms across different timelines multiple times. Could it be that the gift wasn’t anything special, so they had overlooked it?
Or was the gift placed in the only unopened room—the Madam’s room?
However, the butler had just brought the item back a week ago. The only timelines it could possibly exist in were 1926 and 1936. Furthermore, with Rong Yi in the instance, they couldn’t delay much longer. Once midnight hit, they had to go to 1916.
As time ticked by, Tang Cuo’s brow furrowed slightly, and Qi Hui grew even more anxious. Mustering his courage, he finally suggested to Tang Cuo that they call Zhou Dahai to ask about his situation.
Zhou Dahai was in 1923, but it was already past midnight there. To travel there, they had to wait until dawn, which would expose their current position to Rong Yi. But there might still be crucial clues left undiscovered in 1923. If they couldn’t go over, their only option was to ask Zhou Dahai.
Knowing this, Qi Hui looked at Tang Cuo expectantly, hoping he would agree.
Tang Cuo looked at him for a few seconds before saying, “Don’t say anything unnecessary. Follow my instructions exactly.”
Qi Hui nodded emphatically.
Shortly after, the call connected. Zhou Dahai’s anxious yet joyful voice rang from the phone, “A’Hui, is that you?! What’s the situation on your end? It’s past 4:00 AM here, dawn is coming soon. What do I do?!”
Hearing this, the heavy stone in Qi Hui’s heart sank even further.
There were still over four hours until midnight in 1926. By the time they could go over, it would already be dawn on Zhou Dahai’s end. Thinking about it this way, Zhou Dahai was certainly going to die. And once Zhou Dahai died, the time in 1923 would reset, allowing Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng to cross over without any hindrance.
Yet Tang Cuo still agreed to Qi Hui making the call now. This finally brought a trace of warmth to Qi Hui’s heart.
At that moment, Tang Cuo took out a pen and paper and wrote down the words he wanted Qi Hui to ask. Seeing the instructions, Qi Hui looked at him in astonishment, but only saw Tang Cuo’s calm, composed demeanor.
With no time to overthink, Qi Hui hurriedly read from the paper. “Dahai, don’t panic, listen to me carefully. We can’t come over right now, and we can’t clear the instance in an hour or two. There’s only one way for you to survive dawn—ask Rong Yi for help.”
Zhou Dahai: “How is that possible? Why would he help me!”
Qi Hui: “That depends on what key information you have in your hands.”
Zhou Dahai: “This… I, I—”
Qi Hui: “Don’t say anything yet.”
After saying this, Qi Hui cleared his throat and called out, “Rong Yi, are you listening? You still haven’t found the key to clear the instance, right? And the Twelve Movements. Without knowing where the Twelve Movements is, clearing the instance is meaningless. How about we make a deal?”
There was no answer from the other end.
Zhou Dahai tried to speak a few times, but knowing this was his only chance, he didn’t dare interrupt. Qi Hui continued calling out, keeping his peripheral vision on Tang Cuo. Seeing Tang Cuo so composed somehow helped calm his own nerves.
He called out continuously for ten minutes. Just as Zhou Dahai was on the verge of despair, Rong Yi finally spoke up.
“Where is Jin Cheng?”
Qi Hui instinctively looked at Tang Cuo. Expressionless, Tang Cuo stared straight back at him with his distinct black-and-white eyes, as if looking right into his soul and seeing through everything.
“Jin Cheng isn’t involved,” Qi Hui gritted his teeth. “This is a deal between you, me, and Dahai. We want to survive.”
Once the words fell, Tang Cuo finally picked up his pen and continued writing.
Rong Yi seemed slightly surprised. After two or three seconds, he replied: “What do you want to trade?”
Qi Hui: “We can provide you with some intel, in exchange for you helping Dahai rewind his time to before midnight.”
Rong Yi: “What intel could you possibly offer me?”
Qi Hui: “The piano room. You still haven’t unlocked the piano room, have you?”
Rong Yi didn’t answer. At this moment, Jin Cheng walked over. He stood a bit away from the phone, whispering closely with Tang Cuo. They were so close that even Qi Hui couldn’t hear what they were discussing.
When Rong Yi finally spoke again, Tang Cuo’s next instruction arrived.
“I accept.”
“Good. But you have to rewind Dahai’s time first. Once I confirm his time has changed, I’ll tell you the intel.”
“Are you sure you’re in a position to negotiate conditions with me?”
“It’s exactly because I have no leverage that I have to negotiate. If the intel I give you is fake, you could easily kill both of us. But if you take the intel and go back on your word, we’d have no recourse.”
As he said this, Qi Hui’s palms were sweating, terrified that one wrong word would anger the big boss and bring disaster upon himself.
Rong Yi fell silent, but he didn’t get angry. The fact that Tang Cuo dared to let Qi Hui say this meant he had already accurately grasped Rong Yi’s personality. Rong Yi might scheme against Jin Cheng, but that was just normal rivalry within an instance; he was actually one of the better-tempered players in Zone A.
He was even easier to deal with than the seemingly gentle Lin Yandong.
If it had been the madman Miao Qi, Leng Miao, Yao Qing, or anyone else here, saying something like this would be courting death.
Ultimately, Rong Yi agreed to Qi Hui’s condition. Within ten short minutes, he had adjusted Zhou Dahai’s time. Qi Hui then revealed the information about the scissors and the key hanging from the Miss’s waist to Rong Yi.
Rong Yi knew the Miss had a key on her waist, but he hadn’t been able to stop her from setting the fire. He had only avoided the fire by continuously rewinding time, so naturally, he hadn’t obtained the key. Hearing Qi Hui’s explanation, he believed it for the most part.
After hanging up, Qi Hui was so moved he almost shed tears. He looked at Tang Cuo with immense gratitude. Even though Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng hadn’t spoken, they had essentially given up their own intel to save Zhou Dahai.
Good people!
Such incredibly good people!
Feeling ashamed of his earlier fear and suspicion, Qi Hui thanked them profusely. Tang Cuo remained unfazed. Staring at the living room clock, he continued whispering with Jin Cheng.
About twenty minutes later, Tang Cuo looked at the phone again. “Call Zhou Dahai right now.”
Qi Hui completely trusted him now and did whatever he said. The call quickly connected. On the other end, Zhou Dahai was incredibly excited, his tone filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.
“Dahai, what else did you find in 1923? Tell us quickly. Don’t leave anything out, we’re running out of time,” Qi Hui urged.
Zhou Dahai didn’t waste words. “I searched the basement again and found traces that someone had been locked up there. There seemed to be a small bed in the corner—the drag marks from the legs are still there. Plus, there’s hair on the floor that doesn’t look like it fell from Yu Wangyue’s corpse.”
Hearing this, Tang Cuo immediately said: “Ask him if the hair is slightly longer than short hair, and curly.”
Qi Hui asked, and Zhou Dahai confirmed it.
Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng exchanged a glance; the answer was obvious. The person locked in the basement was the attic occupant. On December 16, the teacher was locked in the basement; on December 17, Yu Wangyue was locked in the attic. At that time, although Yu Wangnian was triggered by his wife’s affair, he hadn’t lost his mind enough to commit murder; he merely locked them up.
A week later, on the 25th, Yu Wangyue died, and Yu Wangnian swapped their locations.
On the other end, Zhou Dahai added: “There are faint traces of something written on the basement walls, but it’s very, very faded, basically unreadable. I strained my eyes and could only make out some lines and squiggles of unknown stuff. It must have originally been red, probably written several years ago.”
Lines? Was it sheet music?
Meanwhile, in 1936.
Rong Yi fast-forwarded time and encountered the Miss through the French window. Following Qi Hui’s clues, he successfully found the scissors and engaged her in conversation. However, lacking Jin Cheng’s acting skills and silver tongue, the process was far less smooth.
The Miss either refused to trade the key with him or simply flew into a rage and set the fire. Rong Yi had no choice but to rewind time over and over, starting from scratch.
But manipulating time wasn’t without limits. Doing it too many times required Rong Yi to pay a heavy price. If he exceeded his inherent limits and weakened himself too much, he would have no choice but to concede defeat when he faced Jin Cheng later.
Drop after drop of sweat slid down Rong Yi’s temples. When the phone rang, he didn’t even have the time to answer it.
This was exactly Tang Cuo’s calculation. The Twelve Movements wasn’t in the piano room; leaking this information wouldn’t harm their core interests, but it could temporarily stall Rong Yi.
Even if Rong Yi successfully entered the piano room and got the key to the Miss’s room, he would still need to return to 1926 to get the diary. And to call the bank, he had to do it from 1926 as well.
It all depended on whether he had the guts to come over and confront them directly.
“Are you sure Rong Yi’s time manipulation has limits?” Tang Cuo looked at Jin Cheng.
“Of course,” Jin Cheng smiled. “Do you know Rong Yi has a very famous motto?”
“?”
“‘Rong Yi (Sounds like “Easy”), my life isn’t very rong yi (easy).'”
