In the black of night, Dell’s pixelated ant-like figure became clearer, dressed in a Western-style gentleman’s attire that suggested a life of luxury. Ke Su tried to move, finding that the movement speed was quite slow. This design choice in the game likely indicated that there would be a chase sequence in the puzzle-solving process, hence the lower player speed to balance the gameplay.
Ke Su opened the strategy guide and found the early-stage boss—Dell’s sister, Vestilan. Her background revealed that she was the girl set to marry the protagonist, and they were actually related by blood.
Ke Su quickly skimmed through the guide and minimized it, planning to consult it only if he got stuck. He preferred to enjoy the game’s experience, believing that dying a few times was part of what made the game enjoyable, rather than just breezing through to the end.
Thus, Ke Su guided Dell out of his room on the third floor.
"Insect World: Manor’s Old Tales"
It had been five hours since Lis had died.
Dell sat in his room, feeling dejected. A servant had brought dinner, and he ate a piece of white bread with difficulty. Even though he had little appetite, he forced himself to eat to maintain his strength, as he needed to find a way to leave the room and uncover his father’s secret.
Bang bang bang!!!
“Let me in! Dell! Let me see you!” A shrill, manic woman’s voice pierced the night.
Soon after the servant left, Dell’s sister Vestilan began banging on his door. Dell was startled to hear the guards outside reprimanding her for her rude behavior and telling the maid to drag her away while covering her mouth.
Dell’s expression grew somber. He remained silent, feeling both guilty and ashamed. He believed that his sister’s tragic situation was entirely his fault. If he hadn’t carelessly mentioned his affection for her, their father wouldn’t have arranged the marriage, breaking up her relationship with her lover and driving her to madness.
Dell’s eyes reddened with grief, already troubled by the day’s events. If only his sister could return to her normal self, he would be willing to give anything. He just wanted his gentle, elegant Vestilan back.
As Dell wallowed in his sorrow, the night fell quietly, and the guards outside locked his door and went away. Dell knew his chance had come.
But without a key, how could he open the door?
Dell tentatively pushed the door, and to his surprise, he heard a click as the lock turned open. He stepped out of the room, though he wasn’t sure how the lock had been unlocked. He walked briskly for a short distance before slowing down, slightly tired.
Upon reaching the corridor on the third floor, the dim candlelight flickered along the corridor’s walls, casting eerie shadows that made the opulent manor look like the entrance to the underworld, filled with endless suffering and pain.
Dell swallowed hard. Despite his fear, he walked steadily towards the stairs. He initially planned to go downstairs to find his father’s bedroom, believing that the manor’s secrets were below.
However, a sudden, intense urge to go up a floor struck him. He didn’t know if it was his own will or some sinister magic, but he felt drawn to the fourth floor, the one where someone had died earlier that day.
Dell’s body trembled slightly but his steps remained steady as he ascended to the fourth floor. To his surprise, he encountered no servants, as if the manor had become deserted.
Click—
Suddenly, as he passed a portrait in the corridor, a brass key fell from between the frame and the wall.
A key?
Dell picked up the key and saw that it was old and carved with a vague pattern, resembling an incomplete ring. The intricate, mysterious design seemed to gaze into some distant secret of the past.
He had never seen such a key in the manor. What was it for?
Dell pondered as he approached a tightly closed door.
Bang bang bang!!!
He heard something banging against the door from within, startling him. The sudden noise in the silent night was indeed frightening.
He observed the door for a while and realized it was directly above his own room!
In other words, this was the room where Lis had jumped to her death!
Given that a person had died here earlier, the room should have been cleared out by now. So, who was making that noise?
Shivering, Dell stepped back and looked down at the key in his hand, which had somehow ended up in the lock of the door.
Click— The key turned and the door opened.
The door creaked open as if someone on the other side was holding the handle. Dell saw Lis’s stiff body behind the door, dressed in a blood-stained maid’s outfit, with blood still dripping from her. Her pale, dead eyes stared coldly at Dell.
It was clear that when Dell had opened the door, Lis had been no more than five centimeters away from him.
“Ahh—” Dell tried to scream but covered his mouth, turning to flee. However, he couldn’t outrun the zombie maid behind him. In the next moment, he saw out of the corner of his eye as Lis opened her jaw wide and bit at his head.
Splash—
Dell lost consciousness, his head severed. His body staggered and fell, blood splattering over the already blood-soaked red carpet.
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Watching the game screen, Ke Su rubbed his chin. It seemed the second boss, the zombie ant, moved quickly. It was clear that direct confrontation wasn’t the best strategy.
Thinking this, Ke Su pressed the rewind button, planning to first achieve the normal ending according to the strategy guide. He was more interested in discovering the true ending of the game, which required first reaching the normal ending to acquire key items. The game designers had clearly put a lot of thought into balancing the gameplay.
It seemed the only option was to try again in the second playthrough. Ke Su observed Dell returning to his room and, familiar with the operations, input the door’s password to open it.
Exiting the room, Ke Su guided the character downstairs and encountered his enraged sister Vestilan. Following the guide, he hid behind a large decorative flowerpot in the corridor, which was large enough to conceal his pixelated ant-like figure.
As Vestilan, covered in blood and wielding a meat cleaver, walked past the corner, she ignored the hiding spot. After she moved on, Ke Su quickly emerged from hiding and ran to the second floor’s master bedroom, where an NPC named Ivil was supposed to provide items.
At the door of Ivil’s room, Ke Su knocked and opened the dark room, only to find an ant’s dismembered body on the carpet. On closer inspection, it was Ivil.
Ke Su had been too focused on checking for Vestilan to remember to light the room before opening the door. As a result, Ivil was killed by a monster in the darkness.
The game’s settings were quite detailed. In addition to avoiding Vestilan and the zombies, players had to avoid entering the dark, where a terrifying ghost would appear if they stayed too long, and touching it would result in death.
Ke Su coughed and chose to rewind to start a new game.
This time, he would remember to light the candles properly.
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[Zerg World: Manor’s Old Tales]
Dell woke up in a cold sweat, finding himself still in his room. The tightly locked door had not been opened, and everything felt like a nightmare.
Yet, the residual pain from having his head crushed still lingered in his nerves. He was in pain, questioning whether it was a dream or not. If it was a dream, why did he still feel such pain? If it wasn’t, why had he been revived?
Dell thought about Lis from earlier and realized his current situation was eerily similar to hers. He could hardly imagine becoming like Lis after experiencing the same torment. He shrank back in despair, thinking of abandoning the exploration of the manor. If going outside meant death, he would rather stay in his room.
But as this thought crossed his mind, a wave of intense guilt surged within him. He felt he was betraying the innocent youth who had been captured in the manor, still uncertain of their fate. Just because of some fear, abandoning the mission to save them felt like an affront to the Light God.
Yes, it was blasphemy against the gods! If the demons intended to play with his fate like they did with Lis’s, as a devout follower of the Light God, he wouldn’t sit idly by. He would find a way to save everyone and escape this cycle of death!
Dell’s inner resolve solidified, dispelling his fear and weakness. He became resolute, his mental state improving dramatically, though it felt almost unreal.
He approached the door, and once again, heard the unlocking sound as he opened it. This time, he didn’t head to the fourth floor but descended. He reached the corridor at the base of the stairs and saw his sister Vestilan.
Sister? Wasn’t she locked up?
Confused, Dell was about to call her name when he sensed danger. Without understanding his own speed, he swiftly hid behind the large flowerpot at the corner, using the dense foliage to conceal himself.
Thud, thud—
Dell heard his sister’s heavy footsteps. Through the gaps in the foliage, he saw her, insane and disheveled, wearing a bloodstained gown and holding a bloody knife, as though she had just killed someone.
Dell was shocked, holding his breath. Once she passed, he emerged and hurried to his brother Ivil’s room on the second floor. With the manor so perilous, he was anxious about his ten-year-old brother’s safety.
"Oh God, may Ivil be safe!" Dell prayed fervently to the Light God, his heart heavy as he opened the door to his brother’s room in the Federal Protection Zone.
What met his eyes was a horrifying sight: Ivil’s body was torn to pieces, the hot blood pooling on the floor, flowing towards Dell's feet and nearly causing him to collapse.
“Ivil! No! Who did this? Who did it?”
Tears streamed down Dell’s face as he trembled, trying to piece together his brother’s dismembered limbs. His attempts were futile. He wept uncontrollably in the dark room, the faint light from the corridor’s candle barely illuminating the shadowy form moving near Ivil’s body.
Dell froze in shock. The next moment, the door slammed shut, extinguishing the last flicker of light. In the darkness, he saw a cold, colorless face with decayed markings, opening its rotting jaw. Long, eerie arms clutched his head tightly, and the stench of decay hit him forcefully.
Creak—
Dell jolted awake from the room, sweat soaking his clothes. He stumbled out of the room, taking a while to regain his composure. In the hallway, he saw his sister, but he quickly hid, grabbing a candlestick and rushing back to Ivil’s room. There, to his immense relief, he found Ivil still alive.
“Ivil! You’re safe! Quick, let’s leave! It’s dangerous here!” Dell lit the chandelier in Ivil’s room with the candlestick and tightly grasped his brother’s hand, his expression filled with urgency.
Ivil frowned in confusion but followed Dell out of the room, step by step.
Dell sighed in relief, closing the door behind them and cutting off any potential threat from the darkness. He began to think that this endless cycle of death might be a form of divine protection, as he had saved his brother who was supposed to have died. Perhaps this was why the Light God kept reviving him—to rescue the good people who should not perish in the estate!
Breathing heavily with excitement, Dell asked Ivil if he knew anything about their father’s secrets.
Ivil hesitated before saying that their father had recently been spending entire nights in the study, which Ivil did not think was related to any secret.
Dell gently ruffled Ivil’s hair, grateful. “Of course it is. Thank you, Ivil. You’ve been a great help!”
Ivil smiled happily and followed Dell to the study on the first floor. Along the way, they narrowly avoided two attacks from their sister. Dell, having seen Ivil die once, was extra cautious, afraid of losing him again.
Even though he knew everything could be reset, he still did not want to see his brother die.
“Brother, is Sister sick?” Ivil asked, his voice full of concern as they entered the study.
Dell, understanding Ivil's fear, comforted him before starting to search through the study’s books, hoping to uncover their father’s secret.
The first book on the shelf was Misty Continent: Empire Chronicles. Dell opened its heavy pages, which were wrinkled and clearly worn from frequent handling.
The pages described the Curtis Empire, detailing its downfall. Many considered this end to be a fictional creation, but out of respect for the author of Empire Chronicles, this account was preserved.
It described the arrival of an evil god who destroyed everything in the Curtis Empire. Dell frowned and turned the page, his devotion to the Light God making him naturally averse to anything depicting malevolent entities.
Evil and impurity had no place under the glory of the Light God.
Reciting the teachings from his faith in his mind, Dell reached the end of the book and discovered a hymn in what appeared to be his father’s handwriting. The hymn praised the greatness and omnipotence of the evil god.
Dell sighed, realizing that his father’s secret might indeed be linked to this fictional evil deity. The downfall of the Curtis Empire was attributed to a dreadful plague that still lingered in the ruins, deterring anyone from approaching. Dell was astonished that his father could be so foolish as to truly believe he could summon this evil entity.
In this world, the Light God alone was the true deity!
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