Cysvhhz 127

Though the mother sat back down on the sofa, the burnt smell from the kitchen did not dissipate; in fact, it intensified.

The reason was simple: Gu Zhan and the others had started a fire in the kitchen.

They even poured oil on the furniture.

The flames quickly blazed, and by the time the mother and Sang Yue noticed the flickering flames in the living room, it was already too late.

Sang Yue panicked and shouted, "Fire! Fire! Mom, our house is on fire!"

She frantically pulled at her mother, trying to get her to stand, while the mother wanted to check the kitchen.

She knew this was all the work of those people! But Sang Yue was blocking her, worried for her safety.

As the two tugged at each other, the fire in the kitchen grew larger, making it impossible to enter!

The mother was furious, shaking off Sang Yue’s hand and scolding, "You did this on purpose, didn’t you? You’re being disobedient."

Usually, when her mother said this, it was not far from her losing her temper.

But at this moment, Sang Yue looked straight into her mother’s eyes and asked, "Mom, the house is on fire! I don’t want you to get hurt, so I want to take you out of the room. What’s wrong with that? Our home is on the first floor; why should we stay here risking being burned? Why not go outside to safety?"

The mother was stunned.

What was wrong with a daughter wanting to take her mother away from a burning house?

This was entirely correct, a rational thing to do.

It aligned with their family’s concept of "love."

But… but…

She knew there were others in this house waiting for them to leave; those people would show up.

After hesitating for a long time, the mother said to Sang Yue, "You’re right, we should leave. Let’s go…"

Before the fire spread, the mother finally left with Sang Yue.

So what if there were others in the house?

So what if she knew what they wanted to do?

After all, in this home, "love" was the most important thing.

A mother should love her daughter, and a daughter should love her mother too.

…

"They really left."

After Sang Yue and her mother left, Gu Zhan and the others finally emerged from the balcony.

In light of this situation, Yu Yezhou was quite surprised: "She knew what we were going to do, yet she still followed Sang Yue?"

Gu Zhan replied, "Monsters are like that; they must abide by the rules and settings."

Even monsters like Mo Tuo were bound by the system’s rules; how much more so for the mother?

Yu Yezhou remarked, "You really know a lot about them."

"Well," once again prompted about this, Gu Zhan finally offered a slight response, "Maybe it’s because I have a few monsters locked in my tools."

They had all met Xiao Xiu, instantly finding this explanation reasonable.

"Let’s check the vase," Gu Zhan interrupted their train of thought.

The fire was still burning, and it was not only harmful to the monsters but also deadly for them.

He didn’t want to die again in this instance.

They arrived beside the vase, which was positioned the same way as last time. Gu Zhan placed both hands on it and gently twisted, hearing a "crackling" sound behind him, reminiscent of some machinery operating.

At that moment, An He Yan suddenly said, "Look above."

Everyone looked up and noticed that the wall in front of them was cracking layer by layer from the ceiling down. This clearly wasn’t something that simple machinery could achieve, but in this instance world, everything seemed plausible.

Behind the wall was a brand-new room, the missing part that Gu Zhan had discovered earlier in the bedroom.

The passage extended downward, revealing more space below.

Yu Yezhou said, "Let’s go take a look."

They entered the passage.

Once everyone was inside, the "crackling" sound came again, and the wall behind them slowly closed.

In the gradually dimming light, An He Yan sighed, "I hope Sang Yue can hold on."

Although they could exploit their numbers to trap the mother’s flaws, they all played the same identity in the system; if one person failed, they would all fail.

How much time they had to explore the room depended on how much time Sang Yue had managed to buy them.

"Let’s hurry."

They descended the stairs, and Xu Ke took out several flashlights and handed them to the others.

The light from the flashlights illuminated the passage, revealing that the staircase beneath them was just an ordinary stairway. The damp walls were covered in unknown types of moss, and a cool, musty breeze occasionally wafted from the space below, not particularly unpleasant.

After walking down about a floor’s distance, they saw a half-open door.

Stepping back, they entered a small room roughly the same size as the bedroom they were portraying.

Against the wall stood a very long table that nearly occupied the entire wall. The table was filled with various sacrificial items, and there were large red glass cups containing some unknown red liquid.

An He Yan approached to observe closely, saying, "This must be what they used when drawing the formation. The mother from the Xiao Ming family we encountered in the last major cycle is indeed this one"

"The rituals in their family are passed down through generations," Yu Yezhou remarked.

While they were still examining the room, Gu Zhan had already started searching for that book.

It wasn’t on the table, nor was it on the cabinet beside the table.

Where was the book?

Gu Zhan scanned the area and noticed a particular brick on the wall looked different from the others.

Recalling the mechanism in the living room, he approached and pressed the brick. It popped out, revealing a drawer inside.

The book they had seen in the living room now appeared before him.

The words "Holy Scripture" were written on it.

Gu Zhan took the book out.

Nothing happened; they still stood in this room, and there was no response.

Yu Yezhou frowned, "Did we make a mistake?"

Gu Zhan opened the book and found it filled with dense small print that was impossible to read, causing his eyes to hurt just looking at it.

He quickly closed the book; this item wasn’t meant for reading.

But he was certain he hadn’t made a mistake.

What was still missing?

Just then, a thunderous crash sounded from above.

Everyone’s expressions changed.

This was part of their agreement with Sang Yue: to distract the mother, they had to split up, and none of them knew what the others would face, especially Sang Yue who was confronting the mother directly.

So they agreed that if any problems arose, they would fight back desperately, smashing everything around them. Even if they couldn’t escape, they could create enough noise for the others to prepare.

The book had been found, but now there was another problem with Sang Yue.

Gu Zhan closed the book and said, "Let’s go upstairs and check."

The group quickly ran upstairs.

Next to the closed wall was a small button; pressing it opened the wall again, revealing the scene of the mother dragging Sang Yue by her hair, forcing her head against the wall.

The living room was a mess, the fire still raging but not yet reaching the living area.

Sang Yue’s forehead was covered in blood, clearly having been beaten.

"Sang Yue!" Seeing this, Yu Yezhou and Xu Yu rushed forward to rescue her.

But just like in every cycle before, they were no match for the mother.

With a gentle wave of her hand, the mother sent them crashing against the wall.

"Ugh." Yu Yezhou let out a low groan, his eyes filled with hatred for this mother.

She was once again harming their companion right before their eyes!

As Yu Yezhou was about to get up and charge at the mother, Gu Zhan, who was standing by the wall, suddenly spoke up: "Stop."

Yu Yezhou thought Gu Zhan was talking to him; confused, he turned back to ask Gu Zhan why there was a need to stop when things had already escalated.

To his surprise, Gu Zhan’s gaze was fixed on the mother.

The moment he spoke, his words seemed to possess a kind of magic, freezing the mother’s movements.

Gu Zhan said, "Let her go, Mom. That’s your daughter; you can’t hurt her. Don’t you love her anymore?"

After hesitating for a moment, the mother released Sang Yue.

She turned to Gu Zhan and asked, "Who are you?"

Everyone was startled.

This mother could see them?

Gu Zhan replied indifferently, "Who I am isn’t important. What matters is that I’m family with you, and I love you."

"…" He was actually able to say such a thing without any apparent emotion, making Yu Yezhou shiver.

The mother didn’t seem to find anything wrong with it either. She obediently approached Gu Zhan and said, "You love me, so I should listen to you."

Gu Zhan replied, "Yes, you should listen to me."

"…"

Amid the astonished gazes of everyone, the mother nodded.

"Yes, I should listen to you."

Gu Zhan didn’t show how uneasy he actually felt. It wasn’t until the mother uttered this sentence that he finally let out a long sigh of relief.

His understanding hadn’t been wrong.

This book was very important; in a family, it symbolized power.

Since entering this loop, Gu Zhan had been pondering that if a mother’s control over her daughter’s life stems from love, then why can’t the daughter, who also loves her mother, exert the same control over her mother’s life?

Simply put, the daughter lacks the “power.”

In a family, power often resides with the elders.

In this scenario, power materializes as a book.

As long as one possesses power, love can be transformed into a tool for controlling others.

How… despicable and inescapable love is.

Gu Zhan raised his head and spoke to the system in the void, “It’s not love that suffocates, but the power mixed within it. Now, the daughter no longer needs to leave this home; she has taken control of that part of the power.”

Everyone knew the system had heard him.

But it didn’t respond immediately. After a moment of silence, it said, “Congratulations, you have completed the second major story.”

“You’re right; love doesn’t suffocate people—what suffocates is power,” the system continued. “As a reward, I will clear all your negative sanity effects. During the next one, you will not face any sanity penalties. Before entering the third major story, please take a day to rest. See you in a day.”

With that, the surroundings and the system’s voice faded away.

They returned to the white room once again.

But this time, the white room included a bed, a sofa, and even food and water.

In this white room, these items were colorful. This otherwise suffocating room had finally become somewhat normal.

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