They are all part of the game.

Wen Zhuyao watched her sister leave, the crisp sound of the door locking and the departing footsteps gradually fading into the distance until they disappeared from sight.

The ringtone acts like a switch, transmitting a signal.

The game has begun.

She managed to lure them out, but what to do if they ran into them was not something she needed to think about at the moment.

Using the light, Wen Zhuyao could barely see where the light switch was, and tentatively pressed it, and the light turned on.

Dazzling, bright, blank.

She instinctively closed her eyes, and the light dimmed as the brightness was reduced. With her eyes closed, the atmosphere instantly returned to what it was before.

After a moment of adjustment, Wen Zhuyao turned her attention to the layout.

The furniture is dilapidated, but you can still see the bed, wardrobe, desk, and bookshelf from the broken pieces, making it a normal room.

The walls were all blackened, showing signs of fire, but the iron cages weren't artificially aged.

"A house after a fire? This setting is quite unexpected." Wen Zhuyao sighed for a moment before putting it out of her mind and focusing on searching within the controllable area.

"Since they mentioned a clue, they'll probably leave something there, right?"

The only places she could use to store things were the wardrobe and the drawers of her desk. Thinking of this, she turned around and opened the wardrobe. It was full, and surprisingly, it contained clothes that were sealed in plastic and spotless.

There are all sorts of items, skirts and pants, and judging from their actual age, they are probably for children aged six to eight.

On the other side of the wardrobe were many plush toys, some of which had gray stains on them. One of the dolls was wearing the same clothes and its head was covered in gray.

Wen Zhuyao reached out to touch it, but when her gaze fell on her palm, the lost touch gradually reappeared, and black powder appeared where she had shaken hands with her sister.

The area was very large; even the smallest spot that came into contact with it was covered in it.

That way, we don't need to worry about the marks on the toys. In the room where the younger sister disappeared, only the older sister could come, and only the older sister could prepare and touch them.

Wen Zhuyao got up and turned to the desk. There was nothing in the small drawer, and she looked around the rest of the room without finding anything.

"Is that all?" She sighed dejectedly, wanting to go back into the cage, lock herself in, and wait patiently for rescue.

On the way back, Yu Guang unexpectedly discovered an inconspicuous photo under a corner of the cage.

She crouched down and picked it up. It was a photo of two children, one of whom had a burn mark on his face, leaving a dent.

Wen Zhuyao turned the photo behind her back; her face was blank.

The missing writing was deliberately rewritten on a perfectly intact photograph in the entryway.

"January 1, 2000. My sister will never forget the butterfly."

In addition, they have another piece of basic information: chat logs left behind by the player, the main person being player D.

"Why do you keep asking about that woman?" Player D seemed very agitated. "Haven't what she's done been terrible enough?"

"You should pity her; locking her up is the best solution."

The name on the other side has been erased, and it's unknown who it refers to.

Unknown: "I want to help her find the butterfly. It seems like she'll be alright once we find it. Besides, she's pitiful, and she wants to live a good life too."

"Both parents died, and I survived two fires. After the first fire, my sister went missing, and I was disfigured... The second fire was caused by arson, which left me mentally unstable."

"They kept talking about butterflies and apologies."

Player D: "What can you do? Can you find her a younger sister? Doesn't the safety of those around us matter at all?"

"Okay, I promise you, I'll do as you say." Unknown seemed to be frightened by her words and agreed to her request.

He became part of the plan to surround his sister.

After looking at the photos, Chi Nuo turned them around and put them into the small bag provided with her: "I didn't expect I knew so much. I feel like I'm being malicious."

"More than that, there will be twists and turns, and in the end, they might even turn us into the big bosses." Ji Shu was familiar with this kind of plot, and there were very few pure, old-fashioned horror stories these days.

Bai Yuzhou listened to the intermittent sounds and suggested, "Let's go to the first room first. We need to rescue Xiaozhu first, and then we can worry about clues and stories."

Piecing together is the final stage.

Mo Wen took the lead and walked towards the nearest room, saying, "Let's go."

In front of the entrance hall is a long corridor with only two rooms that can be opened, both located near the staircase. The other doors are boarded up.

The room closer to the people is quite spacious when you walk in.

There were only two large wardrobes, the window was open and the wind was blowing the curtains, and there was also a balcony outside.

The light flickered on and off.

The sounds outside were getting closer, and the four of them tacitly split up to find different places to hide.

Chi Nuo went straight into the cabinet, while the others dispersed on both sides of the balcony, using curtains to conceal their figures.

After inspecting the entrance hall and the corridor and finding no one there, and with the wind chimes still quietly in place, the older sister began searching the room, pushing open the door and coming in.

"Lamp oil... lamp oil."

"Blow out the flame and you can't see the butterfly; the butterfly's light flies away, but you can't find it outside."

"After searching high and low... it came back. The butterfly flew into the lamp oil, flew past the firelight, and disappeared."

The older sister looked dazed, threw the key in her hand into the lamp oil, spun around in place, saw no one, and then turned and walked towards the door.

The bright moon hangs high in the sky, and the wind begins to blow.

The shadow fell to the ground, landing at the feet of the older sister.

Ji Shu moved aside, allowing Bai Yuzhou to move in. They used objects to cover their shadows, while Mo Wen hid on the other side. For the time being, there were no problems.

The older sister stopped in confusion, thinking she was seeing things, but still walked to the window and stood there for a while.

Separated by only a wall, their hearts were pounding.

The older sister seemed to think there was nothing to worry about, turned around and left, but halfway there she felt something was wrong, so she ran to the curtains and pulled them open.

"Sizzle..."

The sound of the curtain track was made even louder by the movement.

"Empty..."

The older sister sadly let go of the hand she was holding tightly, and left without paying attention to the open door or the closed wardrobe.

The three people who had crouched down in perfect coordination breathed a sigh of relief, including Chi Nuo, who had been secretly peeking from the wardrobe. After confirming that there was no danger, she pushed open the wardrobe door.

"Really? Why is there still light outside?" Chi Nuo stretched her limbs, and as she walked to the window, a beam of flashlight light fell at her feet.

Chi Nuo looked up and saw only darkness, with a faint light outlining a blurry figure: "Is that Zhu Zhu? She's making such a fast pace."

"No, stay away."

Bai Yuzhou spotted a corner of white that was blown by the wind under the lamplight, pulled Ji Shu around and went into the room. Mo Wen, seeing his actions, also felt that something was wrong.

As the three people entered the room, the main light across the street turned on.

The older sister, holding a flashlight, quietly appeared in the corridor connecting the two sides. It wasn't a balcony, but a corridor that connected the two.

The figures that appeared in her line of sight compelled her to walk towards them.

The wooden floor of the corridor creaked underfoot.

Ji Shuli closed the connecting door neatly, locked it from the inside, picked up the key from the lamp oil, turned away without looking back, and directed them to leave.

"Let's go. There are others that can come over. We need to find another place to hide."

As they returned to the corridor, the sound of the handle turning behind them increased in frequency, and the banging of doors blended into their footsteps.

Ji Shu pushed open the door to the remaining room, as if she had entered a fork in the road of a maze; the room in the true sense of the word did not appear.

There were two forks in the road; the left path had a staircase that led to an unknown destination.

"It'll be more efficient to split up. Mo Wen, go to the left and go downstairs to find Xiao Zhu. The three of us will look for clues to lure her away and complete the final stage." Ji Shu tossed him the keys, arranging things in one sentence.

Mo Wen took the key with one hand and walked in the designated direction.

"Hurry, hurry..."

"It's dangerous here, it's dangerous here."

The older sister returned from the outside via the stairs, pushed open the door where they were hiding, and looked at the three people who were unresponsive due to the unexpected incident.

“Go, go…it’ll catch fire. I don’t like it, I don’t like you,” the older sister grabbed Ji Shu, who was closest to her, and dragged her outside. “She doesn’t like you, you shouldn’t be here…”

Seeing that she couldn't pull Ji Shu away, the older sister let go and tried to pull the other one: "Come on, come on, you have to go too."

"Why should I leave? You should return our friends to us so we can leave." Bai Yuzhou, now in a more stable state, inquired about more details.

Seeing that she couldn't pull this one either, the older sister wanted to look for the next one, but then she saw Chi Nuo or the name tag on Chi Nuo's clothes and withdrew.

They gradually became anxious.

"One is missing, one is missing." The older sister's voice and movements no longer resembled her own; they became rough and bold.

Chi Nuo remembered her special skill and used it at this moment: "We are safe, very safe, there will be no fire."

There was no fixed text; she simply spoke appropriately without disrupting the atmosphere.

The older sister froze, reaching out her hand covered in black dust to touch Chi Nuo's face. Her sorrowful gaze fell on Chi Nuo's face, but even more so on the brand name tags.

It was subconscious again.

The older sister realized what was happening, turned around, and ran away, saying, "One is missing, one is missing."

The three of them turned right in unison, wishing each other good luck.

"Click..."

The sound of the door lock led Wen Zhuyao to look in that direction, and she thought it was her sister returning.

"Let's go. Now it's just the two of us, powerless, we need to find shelter quickly." Mo Wen appeared in her sight, his tone still the same.

It's better not to say anything.

Wen Zhuyao stepped out of the iron cage, the photo already in her backpack, and jogged despite the short distance.

She liked it even more than "I'll protect you".

"Be careful, they're probably following me." Mo Wen took her hand and explained the voice that seemed to come from near and far.

Then.

Are you ready?

Wen Zhuyao nodded seriously, facing the dark and unfamiliar area without backing down: "I'm ready."

“Let’s go then. I’ll get you out safely.” Mo Wen kept his word and led her back the way he came.

I don't know what was triggered, but the light and shadow turned blood red.

"The butterfly flew away... Sister will catch you and bring you back..."

After the sound came, the footsteps became clearer, and they followed closely behind them.

Mo Wen's speed, though not exactly familiar, couldn't keep up with his sister's pace; the voice grew closer and closer.

No one dared to look back.

After turning the corner, a small wardrobe appeared. The two people pressed together, their breaths mingling, avoiding each other's gaze.

I saw my sister walk past me through the gap without stopping.

"Where have you gone, my butterfly?"

"My butterfly, come back, come back to your sister's side."

Even after they had gone far away and there was no sound, they still felt a little like they were being watched.

"Wow, I was so scared! I thought we were going to be discovered." Chi Nuo jumped out from the corner and turned the lights back on.

The two who thought they had gone into the closet looked back when they heard the noise. A latticed iron door separated them from the others, and inside the room were the three people who were supposed to protect them.

Ji Shu took the key that had been revealed in the photo, opened the door, and let them out.

"What's going on?" Wen Zhuyao spent half the time in that room in a daze, completely unaware of the progress outside.

Ji Shu locked the door again and explained simply: "We separated from the second room. He went to find you, and the other side of us got locked up here."

"I've looked for everything I could, including the keys. I was just about to go out when the lights changed, and that's when it happened."

Bai Yuzhou placed the mental illness cases he found, the written investigation report on the fire, the missing person notice, and the neighborhood committee's consultation report on home care on the square table in the room.

In addition, Chi Nuo put up a diary, which was something they had found.

Wen Zhuyao also recounted all the photos and clues she had.

"Are we about to take the final step?" Mo Wen asked as he passed by the final settlement room while searching for Wen Zhuyao's room, and picked up a manual.

"It's not safe outside...it's not safe outside..."

"Come back, please..."

The older sister screamed, and warnings came from those around her.

"Now that 'Sister' has lost the butterfly, she is aggressive, and soothing words are ineffective. Please handle this promptly and ensure her successful escape."

They exchanged glances and, based on all the above, tentatively reached a conclusion.

The accident that originally occurred here resulted in the older sister being disfigured and the younger sister disappearing, which led to the appearance of the imagined butterfly.

The diary entries were bland, ranging from praise to blank pages, and then...

“My sister is the most beautiful person. Every time I go out with her, I feel so happy to see so many children looking at me with envy.”

"Many people like my sister and give me lots and lots of gifts."

"I love my older sister the most."

...

"My sister is so awful, so awful... She's lost her beauty, why does she still want me by her side?"

After waiting for their sister to leave, they returned from the wardrobe. Player C, Mo Wen, led the way, while Player A, Wen Zhuyao, and Player B deliberately lured them.

Player D, Chi Nuo, and Player E, Bai Yuzhou, carried out the mechanism.

The moment the mechanism snapped shut, the older sister was locked in an iron cage. A door opened behind them, leading through a dark corridor to a large screen.

As the video played, a person emerged from the darkness, wearing a floral dress with butterflies, and stared directly at the camera.

He smiled and tossed the match down.

The fire engulfed the screen, gradually turning it black until finally a line of text appeared.

"Congratulations to all players for completing the NPC Butterfly's conspiracy. The game has ended. Please remember this ending."