Since the castle's layout kept changing, Mo Bai didn't bother memorizing the route from her room to the dining hall.

She leaned back in her wheelchair, closed her eyes, and tried to rest.

Though she seemed to have done nothing that whole morning, her brain had been working nonstop in an endless storm of calculations and hypotheses.

This upcoming lunch would be another battle. With someone else pushing her chair, Mo Bai took the chance to conserve energy and prepare for whatever came next.

She wasn't worried that Phantom Butterfly would attack now. There were too many people around, and they were inside someone else's domain. Killing a player so openly would be a bit too disrespectful to the host, right?

From the moment she'd entered the dungeon until now, this ten-minute journey had been her first real moment of rest.

But good times never last long. In the blink of an eye, the maids had led them all into the grand dining hall on the first floor of the castle.

The ceiling soared nearly ten meters high. Even though it was noon, the place was dim, with sunlight barely filtering through the windows. Dozens of chandeliers had to be lit just to brighten the room a little.

At the center stood a massive oval table. It had two rows of six seats and a grand chair at the head, clearly reserved for the Count.

As soon as she entered, Mo Bai noticed a paper posted on the wall.

 

Dining Rules:

[

Rule 1: Loud noises are strictly forbidden in the dining hall.

Rule 2: Please sit only in your assigned seat. Do not occupy another's, even if that person is no longer present. Seat numbers will be shown only once. Please remember your own.

Rule 3: The Count despises those who waste food. When the meal is over, your leftovers must not exceed 10% of your original portion.

]

 

The first rule was easy to understand, but the second and third deserved scrutiny.

Rule two implied that players must not sit in the wrong seat. But the table's layout is fixed, so it is easy to remember where you sat, even without indicators. Why would the rule express it as if sitting in the wrong spot was possible?

Mo Bai recalled the castle's twisting corridors and ever-shifting walls. Perhaps the table itself could also warp through space. Your chair at noon might not be in the same place by evening.

And the third rule, the 10% was suspiciously specific. If the goal was "don't waste food," that precision was unnecessary. It could mean one of two things: either the food itself had a hidden danger, or if a player died, the others were required to finish that person's portion.

After analyzing the rules, Mo Bai followed her maid to her seat.

Her place was marked with a small nameplate: Guest No. 4.

She maneuvered her wheelchair in front of it, hesitating slightly. Should she sit in the Count's provided chair, or use her wheelchair instead?

The gap-toothed maid solved it for her by quietly removing the dining chair, leaving space for Mo Bai's wheelchair.

Mo Bai immediately understood. The seat didn't refer to chairs. It meant fixed positions at the table.

Once everyone sat down, Mo Bai scanned the room. Each guest had a numbered placard from 1 to 12 in front of them. Mo Bai looked at each card and memorized the numbers.

The seating was arranged by odds and evens facing each other. On her side sat 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and opposite them were 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11. Gu Tiandong (No. 5) sat next to the No. 7 high-ponytailed girl.

Their seat numbers matched their room numbers, which meant everyone's likely did.

At the round table, only Mo Bai and No. 5 Gu Tiandong wore dresses. The rest were dressed in riding attire and looked fairly ordinary.

But among those in riding clothes, one guest's beauty stood out: radiant, almost dazzling enough to rival the Observation players.

That was Guest No. 6, seated beside Mo Bai. She wore a red riding outfit which was clearly cut for a man, but on her, it exuded a graceful, almost seductive charm. Her presence was warm and approachable, the kind that made people instantly like her.

No. 6 smiled kindly as she sat down, even helping adjust Mo Bai's wheelchair.

Mo Bai gave no reaction. She kept her face blank and stared straight ahead, completely ignoring her.

Still, No. 6 didn't seem offended as she maintained her gentle smile.

Among the twelve guests, Mo Bai and Gu Tiandong were clearly the most visually appealing pair, both almost unnaturally attractive. But somehow, most eyes in the room drifted toward No. 6 instead.

Mo Bai already noticed the way people looked at her in the hallway earlier, though she hadn't been able to match faces to room numbers then. Now, she finally could.

Guests 3, 8, 9, and 12 were all plain-looking boys. Their faces were so average that they would vanish in a crowd. When they glanced at No. 6, their eyes glimmered with a very human kind of lust: a man's natural reaction to an alluring woman.

Guests 5 (Gu Tiandong) and 7 (the ponytailed girl) only had eyes for Mo Bai. Their attention toward anyone else was guarded and defensive. The ponytailed girl seemed entirely unmoved by No. 6's beauty, as if in her eyes, Mo Bai's wheelchair was far more attractive than No. 6's beauty.

Gu Tiandong, on the other hand, had long since lost any interest in the opposite sex due to his evolutionary direction towards androgyny. The prettier someone looked, the less he wanted to look at them.

Guest No. 10 was a moderately handsome. Not as striking as an Observation Group player, but still pleasant to look at. What caught Mo Bai's attention most was how relaxed he was.

In a dungeon with such a high mortality rate, he walked as though he were on a stroll. No tension and vigilance, just like he'd come home for dinner.

On the other hand, Guest No. 11 made Mo Ba's instincts flare. She had met his gaze by chance in the corridor earlier and caught a glimpse of violence in his eyes.

He was good at hiding it, better than the others. That flash of cruelty vanished in an instant, replaced by a wary yet curious expression, just like the other guest.

Her title had a 50% chance of inducing Conquer–Sadism in others, and this made her especially sensitive to emotions like sadism, violence, and dominance. From that single glance, she could tell that No. 11's sadistic desires had been triggered.

And it wasn't just directed toward her. When his eyes had swept over No. 6's curvaceous figure, the same twisted gleam appeared again.

Besides the ten regular guests, there were also two others. Guests No. 1 and 2 were sitting nearest the Count's seat. They were a beautiful boy and girl, as if mirror images of one another. Their posture was impeccable, and their gazes straight ahead, seemingly indifferent to everything around them.

Once everyone was seated, the butler announced that the Count would arrive shortly and asked them to be patient before the meal began.

While they waited, Mo Bai glanced toward Gu Tiandong (No. 5) and the ponytailed No. 7 opposite her.

When they caught her gaze, Mo Bai placed one hand on the table and lightly tapped her fingertip against the wood. Then she lowered her hand beneath the table and scratched a small cross-shaped mark into the underside.

It was her way of remembering her exact seat position.

The ponytailed girl, who trusted Mo Bai's intelligence, had been watching her closely. The moment she saw Mo Bai carving a mark, she did the same without needing a signal.

Gu Tiandong, after days of silent teamwork, immediately understood and also marked his spot under the table.

Meanwhile, the alluring No. 6 rested her chin on one hand with eyes full of amusement. Watching Mo Bai make her mark, she let out a soft chuckle and whispered, "You don't need to go through all that trouble just to mark your seat," she murmured.

Her voice seemed to float directly to Mo Bai's ear, and no one else seemed to hear it. It also wasn't loud enough to count as noise, but it was chillingly deliberate.

Hearing this, Mo Bai couldn't help but sigh slightly as she thought to herself: "Phantom Butterfly, could you be any more obvious?"

Indeed, at this point, she was completely confident: No. 6 wasn't just some friendly player intrigued by her.

She was the real Phantom Butterfly.

The clues were just painfully obvious.

First, this dungeon was limited to ten players. Two of them, Mo Bai and Gu Tiandong, were already in the Observation Group. Given the usual balance between Observation and Combat players, a third Observation player was statistically unlikely unless they had joined as a group. That alone made No. 6's striking beauty suspicious.

Second, both Mo Bai and Gu Tiandong wore skirts, which fit their roles as members of the Observation Group. Even Gu Tiandong, halfway between male and female, had been forced into one. That confirmed that Observation meant skirts. Yet No. 6, who was beautiful enough to outshine both of them, was wearing a riding outfit that was something meant for combat. The contradiction was glaring.

Finally, real players are always alert and attentive. They watched, listened, and collected clues. They didn't spend the entire time staring flirtatiously at one person. Only someone utterly confident that they wouldn't die in this dungeon, such as a high-level monster like the A-rank Phantom Butterfly, would act that way.

Mo Bai rubbed her temples. The Phantom Butterfly exposed herself too easily, so much so that Mo Bai didn't even need to use her plans to identify her.

It was like studying advanced calculus all week, only to find a test full of "1 + 1 = 2." She was left exhausted, feeling like all her hard work had been for nothing.

But at least now she knew where the threat was coming from. Now she could stay on guard against its attacks.

As Mo Bai considered how to deal with her, a handsome young man in a tuxedo descended the staircase behind the round table.

The butler immediately bowed and pulled out the grand chair for him.

This must be the big boss of this instance, Count Leon.

The Count took his seat, his gaze sweeping slowly across the table, lingering for a few seconds on No. 6, the Phantom Butterfly, before he finally spoke:

"You may dine."

His voice was distant, yet seemed to whisper directly beside each of their ears. Mo Bai couldn't shake the feeling that he existed in a slightly different dimension than the rest of them.

At his command, the maids began to serve. Dishes of every kind appeared before them: desserts, soup, cold dishes, and main courses. All of which were exquisitely prepared.

Mo Bai didn't know much about nineteenth-century aristocratic dining etiquette, so she simply ate whatever was placed before her. Fortunately, everything tasted wonderful.

After suffering through Mommy's revolting cooking in the previous dungeon, Mo Bai thought the food in this instance was truly heavenly.

Since the rules forbade leftovers, everyone tried their best to finish the food on their plates.

For Mo Bai and the combat players, that was easy. But Gu Tiandong was having a more painful time eating. His evolutionary path made him young and androgenous, so his appetite was much smaller than that of an average male.

Thankfully, ponytailed No. 7, who seemed perpetually hungry and regarded Gu Tiandong as a cute little lady, noticed his struggle and happily finished the rest of his meal.

After a silent whirlwind of eating, the plates in front of everyone were as clean as if they had been washed, without leaving a single crumb. 

Mo Bai was just about to relax when she heard No. 6, the Phantom Butterfly, let out a soft, mocking laugh.

Her heart tightened instantly.

Sure enough, the butler stepped forward at the next second, his face grave.

"It's regrettable that one of our honored guests has wasted more than 10% of their meal. The Count is displeased by such carelessness and decided to punish a guest."

What? They clearly finished everything!

Everyone looked down in confusion. Every plate was clean, and not a single crumb remained.

Only the Phantom Butterfly kept staring straight at Mo Bai. Mo Bai searched her memory of the meal, every detail from door to dessert, feeling as though she'd missed something, just out of reach.

But there was no time for that. The Count had said he would punish one person. Who would it be?

Then the Count slowly spoke again:

"Each of you has one chance," he said. "Tell me your value. Give me a reason not to punish you. Starting from Guest No. 12."

Guest No. 12 stood with confidence. He had purchased an intel from Mo Xiangyou, who claimed that the Count loved beautiful singing, especially operatic voices. Singing loudly in front of the Count and captivating him with the song would make him spare the singer.

To ensure that his singing was beautiful enough, No. 12 had even bought a C-level item card: The Nightingale's Voice.

He bowed slightly. "Count, I am a humble man who cherishes every grain of food. Allow me to thank you for your exquisite meal with my song."

He began to sing with his rich and melodious voice.

But before he could finish the first line, the Count interrupted: "Noisy."

He tapped his finger three times on the armrest.

Mo Bai watched in horror as No. 12's head and body were cleanly separated, as if placed in two different spaces.

There wasn't even any blood. Just… stillness.

Silence fell over the hall.

The butler smiled pleasantly. "Very well. The Count has chosen the guest to be punished. The rest of you may return to your rooms. From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. is your free exploration period. You can explore this castle to your heart's content, and I hope it may leave you with beautiful memories."

Lunch was over.

At that moment, every surviving player, except Mo Bai and Gu Tiandong, shared the same murderous thought:

That damned Mo Xiangyou!

 

 

The Author Has Something to Say:

I know it's hard to keep track of who's who, so here's a cheat sheet:

There are twelve people total.

3 monsters → Phantom Butterfly and two hidden monsters

3 protagonists → Mo Bai, Gu Tiandong, and the ponytailed girl

1 sadistic player → No. 11

1 lazy salted fish player → No. 10

4 cannon fodder players → guess their fate

Get it now?

Second update before 8 p.m.. Love you all!