Yan Qing suddenly remembered Chu Jiang's last words to her during the Azure Dragon Coffin Riding. He had said a lot, but in her half-awake state, she couldn't hear a single word.

But now, the veil in her mind seemed to be gradually fading away, and she vaguely remembered some things:

"If it was a dead end from the start, would you still choose to jump in?"

...

The strange occurrence did not happen during—

The information was fragmented and couldn't be connected at all, but she knew that since the Azure Dragon Coffin had brought her here, it meant that this was the most important place for her.

She already knew that Zhang Nana didn't have any good intentions towards her. If she tried to analyze the situation, assuming that Zhang Nana had already planned to have her take her place from the beginning of the girls' dormitory scenario, that would make sense.

If this line of thought holds true, then she must be hiding a secret. By using this secret, Zhang Nana can perfectly extricate herself from the Zhang family's old house without arousing suspicion from anyone.

After thinking it over, I realized it must be related to the blood that was drawn from me.

Or rather, I should have some kind of blood relationship with Zhang Nana.

This corresponds to the white-clad maid's unintentional mention of "that lineage," meaning that she and Zhang Nana should both be from that lineage.

The blood of women from "that lineage" should help the people of the Zhang family's old house alleviate the so-called "curse".

Considering Zhang Xinxin's suddenly bruised and mottled face, and her abruptly withered body, Yan Qing was certain that this was some kind of manifestation of the curse taking effect.

This curse must have lasted for a very long time for the people living in the Zhang family's old house.

Combining this with the black-and-white photo of the Third Elder's memorial tablet, she boldly guessed that the people on those tablets she saw in the ancestral hall might all be alive. They were simply under a curse and couldn't appear often. This was why, on the surface, it seemed like there weren't many owners in the Zhang family's old house.

Having figured this out, she looked back at her original "Falling Flower Cave Girl" dungeon walkthrough and it became even clearer.

Kill the woman from the Fallen Flower Cave, and you will be redeemed.

Now she was absolutely certain that this Falling Flower Cave Girl was definitely not Zhang Xinxin. She was just an imposter. The real Falling Flower Cave Girl had always lived in the instance.

It seems her next task is to find this person.

The Zhang family's old mansion's garden was always bustling with activity, but suddenly, for some unknown reason, all the white-clad maids vanished from the spot.

Suddenly, chaos erupted among the group of adventurers.

"What's going on?!" someone shouted. The white-clad maid who had just poured him water suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving only an empty teapot lying on the ground.

Not only him, but many others witnessed it with their own eyes.

Having experienced more than one instance, everyone became wary.

"Oh no! I received a notification that I failed to clear the dungeon! What happened—ah!!"

The speaker only had time to utter these few words before suddenly becoming dazed and eventually collapsing straight down.

In just a few minutes, almost all the adventurers had fallen.

The entire garden fell into a deathly silence. The original large group of dozens of people had dwindled to just three in the blink of an eye.

"ah--!!"

The girl's scream suddenly rang out. She looked at the corpses all over the ground in disbelief, then at her two companions who were equally shocked beside her. Trembling, she pulled a piece of parchment from her bosom.

"Oh my god, I actually heard the system notification sound! What about you guys?" As she spoke, the parchment in her hand suddenly burst into flames and soon turned into black ashes.

A familiar mechanical voice drifted from the darkness.

"Dear adventurer, welcome to the Zhang Family Mansion. The annual Sacred Fire Festival is about to begin, please arrive on time. To express our gratitude for your presence, please remember the rules for clearing this place:"

Dear adventurers, the secret to clearing the game lies hidden within the "Rules of the Zhang Family Mansion." Feel free to search!

After hearing the instructions, the three looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, one of the male companions spoke up.

"SuSu, are you sure this damn instance isn't messing with us?" He looked at the corpses scattered on the ground with some fear, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

"According to the system prompts, it seems we haven't even reached that damn Zhang family old house! How did the instance even start?"

His words hit the nail on the head, and the other two fell silent.

The round-faced girl, the one he called Su Su, finally couldn't hold back her tears and started crying.

"Waaaaah—I didn't do anything! Since I entered this garden, I can count the number of people who have spoken to me on one hand. Sun Ning, how was I supposed to know how this dungeon suddenly started?"

"That's not right!" Sun Ning, who had just spoken, immediately seized on the key point. "Su Su, think about it carefully. So many people have died; it's impossible that only the three of us survived. This dungeon invitation was for you; you're the key person, so quickly think about what you just did?"

“Yes!” Another tall and burly male companion also reacted. “Susu, start from the beginning and tell us in detail everything that happened when you entered the garden.”

"Okay—" The round-faced girl, Su Su, also realized something was wrong and began racking her brains to remember.

"Because everyone seemed wary of each other, I didn't dare to talk to anyone else here. The only person I spoke to was a maid in white who was carrying a plate of green tea and snacks."

Sun Ning and her male companion Guo Hu exchanged a glance and said in unison,

"Then what?"

"Then, that woman left." Su Su recalled carefully, "I remember she was wandering around here until everyone disappeared just now, and then she disappeared too."

Sun Ning thought for a moment and asked, "Do you remember what she looks like? Can you draw her?"

Su Su's eyes lit up. She was a top student in art. "I remember it very clearly!" She quickly took out paper and pen and began to draw carefully.

The two boys flanked her, their vigilance heightened to the extreme.