They lay down in bed in the same order as last night.
The wakefulness tea worked, and the others gradually fell asleep, but Gu Zhan remained wide awake.
The bedroom door was pushed open, and the mother came in for her routine check.
She carefully looked at the people in bed, trying to discern from their faces whether they were asleep or not.
The others were truly asleep, while Gu Zhan remained perfectly still.
The mother stood in front of his bed for a long time, realizing he seemed unaware of her presence. Only then did she turn around, close the door, and leave.
Not long after she left, Gu Zhan opened his eyes.
His companions were sound asleep beside him. With the system's support, he could only hear their long breaths; there was no other noise at all.
Saying they were asleep was more like saying they were in a stupor.
The players were intentionally knocked out at night, which meant something significant was about to happen.
He got out of bed quietly and went to the door.
He slowly opened the bedroom door a crack and saw colorful red and green lights outside. A shadow fell on the living room wall, and it seemed to be his mother.
She was pacing back and forth, doing some strange movements.
Gu Zhan observed for a while, found a corner where he wouldn’t be noticed, and quietly approached the living room.
In the living room, various jars of different heights were placed around, and on the floor, red paint formed lines that were very familiar—similar to the ones his mother had drawn when she killed the female teacher in the previous cycle.
But upon closer inspection, there were some subtle differences.
His mother was kneeling in the center of a formation, and on the god's seat in front of her lay… a book?
Gu Zhan confirmed again that it was indeed a book.
The book was open, and the cover was not visible.
He needed to find a chance to see what this book was for.
But since his mother was sitting in the living room, going over was obviously unrealistic. Gu Zhan thought for a moment and decided to go to the bathroom next door first.
Not long after, the living room fell silent.
Gu Zhan heard someone pass by the bathroom door; it seemed his mother was preparing to go back to sleep.
After all, she had to get up at four in the morning to make breakfast for them, so she couldn't possibly stay awake all night.
Gu Zhan waited in the bathroom for a while. After confirming there was no sound outside, he pushed the door open and stepped out.
As soon as he raised his head, he almost bumped into his mother.
The hallway's lighting was even more eerie; red light shone from the floor up, casting a ghastly glow on living faces.
His mother grinned, her expression cold and menacing, “Why are you here?”
Gu Zhan was taken aback. Wasn't she supposed to be gone?
But he quickly calmed down, rubbed his eyes, and pretended to be sleepy, saying, “Mom? Why aren’t you asleep yet? It’s bad for your health to stay up so late. Didn’t you teach me that?”
His mother didn't expect him to take the initiative and talk back so much.
She choked up for a moment, staring at Gu Zhan for a long time, and finally said slowly, “I’m about to go to sleep.”
Gu Zhan rubbed his eyes and replied, “Mom, I just got up to use the bathroom. I had too much soup at dinner… I’m really tired. I’ll go back to sleep now.”
His mother still stood at the door, unwilling to move. In this eerie scene, the strange red light illuminated her distorted face, which looked oddly amusing rather than terrifying.
Gu Zhan seemed oblivious to the abnormality of the scene in front of him and innocently asked, “Mom, do you need anything else?”
What’s so wrong with a child getting up at night to use the bathroom after having too much soup?
No matter how controlling a parent is, they can't possibly deny their child a trip to the bathroom, right?
If even going to the bathroom is forbidden, then what’s there to talk about love?
His mother paused for a moment, finally accepting that she couldn't punish Gu Zhan in this instance. She took a step back and softly said, “You can go back to sleep… Next time, go to the bathroom before sleeping, so you won’t wake up in the middle of the night.”
Gu Zhan nodded, “Okay, I understand. Thank you, Mom.”
After saying that, he confidently walked past her.
His mother could do nothing but watch him leave.
Back in his room, he found his companions still asleep. Gu Zhan lay down in his spot, and the effect of the energizing milk tea appropriately faded at that moment, allowing him to fall asleep quickly.
Before falling asleep, he seemed to hear the door opening again, as his mother walked in once more.
But none of that mattered to him anymore; who could punish a child who obediently went back to sleep after using the bathroom?
Gu Zhan slept soundly until morning.
He was awakened by someone nearby.
“Are you awake? How do you feel?” Sang Yue asked with concern.
Gu Zhan sat up, dazed for a while, gradually bringing his thoughts back together.
He nodded, “I’m fine.”
After he spoke, the others didn’t leave but continued to surround him, obviously waiting for his feedback on what happened yesterday.
Gu Zhan recounted everything he had seen the previous day. When they heard about his encounter with his mother in the hallway, everyone gasped in shock.
Yu Yezhou said, “It’s good that you reacted quickly, but it sounds like this mother isn’t completely unreasonable. If we can logically convince her, perhaps…”
Gu Zhan interrupted him, “I just caught her off guard; you guys shouldn’t try it.”
Using the same method multiple times will surely lead to failure.
Gu Zhan was certain that before he left, his mother had reminded him to use the bathroom before going to bed; she wasn’t just saying it casually.
“That book must be very important. We need to figure out a way to get it,” Gu Zhan said.
“But right now, we can’t act under her watch. We can’t even leave and come back. This scenario doesn’t have a plot where we can go out; once we leave through that door, the flow of time speeds up,” Yu Yezhou said.
An Heyan said, “What if we never leave the house in the first place?”
Yu Yezhou asked, “How can we not leave the house?”
An Heyan fell silent. That mother was extremely sensitive and would definitely see them off to “school.” How could they possibly escape under her watch?
While they discussed, Gu Zhan remained silent, surveying the room up and down.
Noticing his actions, Yu Yezhou asked, “Do you feel something is off?”
Gu Zhan replied, “Everything feels off.”
He walked to the wall and touched it, saying, “Don’t you think our room is too small?”
“Small?”
This room, which could accommodate six people, was hardly small.
Gu Zhan walked around the room, seemingly measuring the distances between the walls.
Yu Yezhou also noticed something odd and asked, “Are you saying that the dimensions of the room don’t match the outer walls? Do you suspect there’s another space in this house?”
Gu Zhan said, “It’s not a suspicion; it’s a certainty. There must be another space here.”
Yu Yezhou also looked up and, surprisingly, discovered some clues.
“Come here.” He pointed at the wall beside him, signaling Gu Zhan to come over.
After Gu Zhan approached, he found that the wall under Yu Yezhou's hand was hollow.
He looked up at the others, seemingly trying to gauge their opinions.
Sang Yue frowned and stepped forward, saying, “Even if we know there’s a space in there, we still need information. We know too little—when does she hold the rituals? What are the rituals for? Do these rituals help us clear the dungeon… All of this is unknown.”
“Let’s take a break for now; we can check it out tonight…” After saying that, he turned to An Heyan, “Do you still have your props?”
An Heyan replied, “...I still have some.”
“Then we’ll talk tonight. It’s time to go out now.” Gu Zhan stepped away from the wall and walked toward the door.
They had to temporarily set aside this issue and head to the dining room for a meal.
The dining room was still filled with a bountiful spread; the food was delicious, but today’s dishes seemed to be quite similar to yesterday’s.
Eating the same-tasting food repeatedly, no matter how good it is, can become monotonous.
However, during the meal, they received good news.
Tomorrow was the weekend, so they wouldn’t have to “go to school” and could stay at home all day.
This meant they had more time to search for the hidden room.
Time passed quickly in the dungeon, and soon it was time for a shower.
This time, they didn’t all go into the bathroom together; instead, they let Sang Yue go in while the others stood outside the door.
As expected, this action drew the mother’s attention.
She came to the bathroom door with an unhappy expression and asked, “Why aren’t you going in to take a shower? It’s already time to rest; if you don’t shower now, you’ll run out of time later.”
Gu Zhan and the others didn’t respond to her, but a girl’s voice came from inside the bathroom.
“Mom, what are you talking about? I’m already washing up.”
The mother was taken aback and unconsciously looked at the bathroom door.
The door was closed, but she opened it slightly to peek inside and saw that there was indeed someone there.
What was going on?
The mother’s reasoning became contradictory.
In her mind, she only had one daughter.
All the players entering the dungeon were positioned as her daughter, but different people, in her eyes, were merely one and the same daughter...
Previously, Gu Zhan and the others had always acted as a group, so she could view them as a whole.
But after they split up…
She couldn’t possibly have two daughters!
Her daughter… her daughter… was already washing up in the bathroom.
The mother stood at the door, seemingly frozen.
Yu Yezhou stood beside her, observing the changes in her facial expressions. At times, she looked fierce, filled with anger, understanding, and then her features would twitch.
The idea of splitting up was suggested by Gu Zhan; no one knew what the outcome would be after they separated.
Being so blatant in front of their mother and playing such tricks on her—would that really not anger her?
During the time the mother stood at the bathroom door, everyone’s hearts were being tormented.
Finally, it seemed she accepted this reality and turned to leave…
Before leaving, she glanced back, her eyes filled with resentment, as if to say to Gu Zhan and the others—wait, don’t let her catch an opportunity, or she would definitely tear them apart!
But in the end, she still left.
After she walked away, Yu Yezhou let out a sigh of relief, wiping his forehead and realizing he was already drenched in cold sweat.
He murmured, “Can she really treat us living people as if we don’t exist?”
Gu Zhan pushed him, saying, “There’s not much time left; hurry up.”
They needed to take advantage of Sang Yue’s shower time to investigate what was going on in the bedroom’s hidden room.
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