"Without disturbing that thing, if you keep such a long distance... it should be fine."

As if he was telling her, or just to convince himself, Klein lowered his voice and slowed down, then slowly stopped, lowered his arms and let the girl's pair of pure white high-heeled dress shoes return to the ground.

Alice blinked, recovered from her dazed trance, and suggested in due course:

"Would you like to take a break and collect your thoughts?"

"I'm not even sure we have any information worth sorting out." Klein shook his head and slid weakly to the floor against the corridor wall with platinum-gold textured wallpaper. "From the maid in question, to Those four locked rooms with cursed oil paintings, and then the weird hall just now... let alone identifying the witch, we haven't met anyone with whom we can communicate normally, and we haven't found any useful information. There is no way to achieve the goal of completing this game.”

"But thinking about it on the other hand, there is no clue that we used the wrong strategy." Alice said, and sat down, rarely getting close to him without feeling disgusted with the dust on the ground, "We should not have strayed away from the 'guests' from the beginning. With my identity, returning to the ballroom or dinner restaurant may be a normal and reasonable choice, instead of being like two crappy monster thieves who get excited when they see a locked room in the palace and want to find some valuable treasure. …”

Not paying attention to her slightly poor choice of metaphor, Klein followed this train of thought:

"You mean, we need to play our own identities in the game..."

Halfway through his words, he suddenly paused and was caught in his memory by a certain words he had spoken himself.

——The core power of the sequence potion is a heavily guarded castle. Extraordinaries holding the invitation letter with the name of the sequence potion must disguise themselves and "act" as guests invited by the owner, so that they can easily sneak into the castle and disintegrate the interior. the power of……

If the facts are consistent with Alice's guess, then the design concept of this Versailles Palace is so similar to the core of "acting method"!

Breaking away from "acting", they witnessed one unreasonable scene after another, falling into a curse-ridden predicament. They were only a few steps away from stepping into a crazy trap concealed by calmness, deviating more and more from their original purpose... …

But if you just hint to the guests about the existence of "acting method", there is no need to go to such trouble to build such a palace in a dreamland that exists between reality and illusion, and even arrange a very confusing game. "Night of the Witch Hunt".

What is the true intention of Emperor Russell?

Just benevolently watching as future generations take away the legacy treasures he hid in the "Card of Blasphemy"?

...It is hard to imagine that Emperor Russell of that character would make such an arrangement that is no different from charity.

It is still possible to say that it is resurrection... However, considering that "Witch" is unlikely to be an adjacent path to the sequence to which Emperor Roselle belongs, there is no need to worry too much about what he will arrange for this "blasphemous card" similar to body snatching. Horrible backhand.

"Alice, I want to..."

Before Klein finished speaking, he was interrupted by the girl angrily:

"Dear Miss Arno, can you be more professional? Do you want me to introduce myself again?"

Dear, dear?! This...

He suppressed the feeling of heat in his cheeks and repeatedly emphasized in his heart that this was just an unauthorized reaction by the character to which the avatar belonged:

"No, no, I understand... Claire, I'm thinking about whether to try the rule of calling Emperor Russell for help. Anyway, you can use it three times in each round of exploration. Now is the bottleneck period, so use it.

An opportunity for help cannot be said to be wasted..."

"It's up to me. It's up to you." Having already passed the period of panting and embarrassment, Alice returned to her usual slightly casual attitude, adjusting her hair and skirt slowly and slowly, "But don't

Forgot, the rule prompt says that the palace owner thinks it is easier to solve the problem than to solve the problem..."

"Ahem, I will pay attention to the content of the question, don't worry."

Clearing his throat and standing up, Klein took out his "Hunter Medal" from his collar. He first adjusted to the character panel, took a look at his sanity value, which dropped to 84 points after several frights, and then used the password

Found the rule details asking for help.

He stared at the light curtain in front of him, and after a few seconds, a strange expression suddenly appeared on his face.

After spending about twenty seconds mentally preparing, Klein took a deep breath and read out the password that made him feel extremely shameful:

"Come, please see, please conquer, the noble master of the palace, the venerable Emperor Russell Gustave, I ask for your valuable advice."

——This guy calls himself Caesar, and he really copied other people’s famous sayings, right?

Klein had nowhere to vent the complaints in his heart. He could only lighten his mood by rolling his eyes amid the sudden smoke rising around him and the sudden sound of the salute from the honor guard.

The Russell doll, dressed in emperor's attire and still only about thirty centimeters tall, emerged from the fading smoke, raising its chin proudly, holding a scepter in hand, looking at the two men majestically, followed by two people behind it.

A soldier doll that is a few centimeters shorter than him.

"You'd better be a little conscious of disturbing the emperor's nap time. Come on, find some suitable reasons, and I may mercifully forgive your rude behavior."

...Oh, is this the attitude of the person who is more accustomed to solving problems?

It looks different from the Great Emperor doll that received them before, and his personality is not that approachable.

Is it the same doll or a series?

While thinking silently, Klein put on a business smile on his face, briefly stated the dilemma his team was facing now, and added at the end:

"...We now hope to return to the banquet hall. Can you please help me give you directions?"

Unexpectedly, the Russell doll acted as if it had not heard this request for help. It raised its hand to touch the two mustaches painted on its lips, and began to look at him with a surprised look on its face:

"No, the first game hasn't even ended yet, and you've guessed the gameplay elements of 'playing' an identity? Are you confused? Is this a planner or something... Damn, you guys don't follow the routine like this,

It will be very difficult for me! After all, I should play a few more rounds of the game and experience the gap between different identities several times before making a judgment."

Reasonable? No, there is no need for such extraneous things. After all, the witch lady next to me is best at breaking the rationality of others...

Without the ability of the "Joker" potion to control his expression, God knows how Klein could hold back his laughter. He solemnly insisted that this was the rule they had guessed, and repeated his request for help again.

"It's outrageous... One of the hidden settings I'm so proud of has been revealed so early. Is there someone secretly cheating on you? Or are you the type of people who like to think first before taking action?" Blasphemy

The 'Witch' card among the 'Cards' was transferred to the hands of the Church of Knowledge?" The Russell doll's gaze flickered back and forth between Klein and Alice, its eyes filled with suspicion.

"Are these questions related to the game itself? - Well, we can swear to the Seven Gods that we will definitely not belong to any of the forces of the Orthodox Church." After receiving the doll's seemingly threatening gaze, Klein changed his words calmly and said.

I really can't tell the truth anymore.

As for the cheating sentence, he selectively ignored it.

After looking at each of them a few more times, the Russell doll nodded lightly and stopped pursuing the previous question:

"Okay, let's just leave it at that. Going back to what you asked me for help, my answer is - hehe, I'm not happy. You should work hard and don't let me get bored."

With a bang, the rising smoke instantly filled the visible field of vision, until Klein coughed and waved away the stage-like exit special effects, staring at the corridor where the trace of the doll had disappeared.

"Well, there is actually no need to ask him for help, right?" Alice seemed to have foreseen a similar ending. She patted her skirt and stood up without any surprise and said, "You know, Russell, who arranged those nasty levels, didn't

He would easily agree to lower the difficulty. Rather, the hidden rule he has never denied is our biggest gain from this game..."

Patting his cheeks and shaking his head, Klein used this to shake off a little disappointment, sighed regretfully, and turned to look at the fork in front of the corridor:

"I understand the truth, but I should at least give it a try..."

If I take the opportunity to "recognize my kinship" with the emperor, will he open some backdoors for me for the sake of fellow countrymen's friendship?

No, no, considering that Emperor Russell in the fantasy world all looks like a doll, Alice also said that it was some kind of device made by the emperor himself, so it would be better not to hastily hold a time-traveling meeting to recognize relatives.

"Actually, I can probably guess what's going to happen next."

The girl's voice brought him back from his imagination to the reality he saw before him, and also made him move his eyes to follow her approaching figure.

"After a thrilling exercise and exhaustion, we will most likely find a supply point nearby. Once the recovery and replenishment is completed, it will be time to face the next crisis and challenge."

As Alice spoke, she passed him and walked toward the fork in the corridor. She chose the direction without any hesitation and opened a closed door at the end of the corridor.

Seeing this, Klein took the initiative to follow her, secretly raising his guard, fearing that some cursed evil spirit that would appear when he was alone would haunt this delicate and frail "apprentice".

"In my personal opinion, as long as there are no special marks, locked doors, and the room is not completely dark, there should be no particular danger." Turn on the gas light switch to keep the field of vision bright.

Alice pointed at the various clutter piled up in the room and raised her lips slightly proudly.

Klein scanned the debris piled here one by one. He saw tables and chairs covered with light gray, empty vases, gardening kettles, plaster statues, and even specimen skeletons. He also noticed large and small wooden boxes and furnishings.

There is a shelf for bottles and cans, and my tense mood eases a little.

Although it doesn't look like there are any precious items hidden, and it is unlikely that you can find magical items in the "sun" path, you may be able to get weapons, at least some means of self-defense and psychological comfort; if you are lucky, you can get important information

It's not impossible...

With this in mind, he and Alice exchanged opinions, and the two of them who reached a consensus began to rummage among the many piles of debris. They met again 15 minutes after the physical examination, and looked at each other's harvest in each other's hands.

Looking at each other in silence.

"Ahem, of course I found more than what I have on hand..." Klein cleared his throat, pretending to be calm and handed over the folding grafting knife in his hand, gesturing for the girl to take it, "These gardening tools are enough for self-defense.

Weapon, you take this, I’ll keep the handsaw and gardening knife, and then follow me here.”

He led Alice to the shelf in the corner of the utility room, raised his finger and pointed to a spot with paper products stuck to the edge of the wooden shelf:

"It can be seen that there was a piece of paper with similar labels posted here in the past. Unfortunately, part of it was torn off, so the complete information cannot be obtained, but the remaining pieces are enough to clearly read the words on it——"

"The complete corolla of the Wounded Soul Flower, or three flower buds, 50 grams of the lungs of the cold light water bird, 80 grams of the resin of the unclean tree..."

Fairly cooperative, Alice read out what the handwriting revealed, blinked and looked at Klein, who looked suspiciously like he was taking credit, and tilted his head.

"Are you trying to say that this might be some incomplete sequence potion formula?"

"No, it's more than that! Let's make a bold guess in the long run. We may have the opportunity to find other potion formulas in other places in this palace, which of course may include..."

Having said this, Klein, who promptly stopped the word "divinationist", shook his fist with some excitement.

The formula of the serial potion is of course a valuable thing, a kind of wealth and treasure! Emperor Russell may not hide this knowledge in this dream palace!

Well, I hope there won't be only "Witch" path potion formulas...

"Well, it just so happens that I just saw the illustration of the so-called 'Wounded Soul Flower'." Alice raised her wrist and showed him the three- to four-centimeter-thick botanical illustration in her hand with a smile.

Seeing that he seemed interested, she opened the contents page of the book and tapped the scientific name she just mentioned with her fingertips.

"Page 176." After finding the corresponding page number, she opened the page and let the strange flower appear in front of the two of them in the form of a sketch.
To be continued...