Conquering OtherWorld Starts With a Game

"It looks like the feud between a kitchen maid and library maid, just like what was mentioned in the night watchmen's investigation report," Blossoming Strokes said to Unceasing Entropy after she had finished going through the diary.

Unceasing Entropy wasn't fully convinced. "It does seem like it… but it's also a little odd."

"What do you mean?" Phantom, who had found the diary, asked. "Is there something wrong with this diary?"

Blossoming Strokes nodded and explained, "This game has always pursued realism to such an extreme degree. If this is really the diary of the kitchen maid, there's no way such a personal item would be hidden in a public space like the hall. Why wouldn't she keep it in her own room?"

Zhao Zhenzhen, who had been wandering near the fireplace, suddenly turned her head in their direction.

She had already had firsthand experience on how perceptive the young ladies Unceasing Entropy and Blossoming Strokes were. To prevent them from overthinking or having the wrong approach when solving this mystery, she had to intervene.

"It's likely as you said, the excessive pursuit of realism of this game," Zhao Zhenzhen intervened decisively and added, "The kitchen maid is a lower-ranking servant and probably doesn't have her own room. Keeping the diary in her own living quarters might make it easier to be discovered."

"Ah." Blossoming Strokes hit a fist on her palm in realization. "That makes sense. Each diary entry is short because the kitchen maid needs to quickly write the diary and hide it away, leaving no time for lengthy entries."

"Maids of different ranks receive different treatment… So, the kitchen maid's jealousy of the library maid might not be entirely because of Young Master Wilhem but also because of the difference in their status and treatment," Unceasing Entropy mused, stroking her chin. "The kitchen maid can read and write but didn't get the position of a library maid, and this might be the main reason."

"But I think it's unlikely that a feud between maids and some petty disputes could lead to a major event," Blossoming Strokes narrowed her eyes and said. "The kitchen maid's hatred of the library maid is likely just the starting point for uncovering clues."

"Kashmiri…" Unceasing Entropy muttered, following Blossoming Strokes' train of thought. "Young Master Wilhem is an out-of-towner… According to the night watchmen's report, the surviving library maid and four low-level servants were locals. Investigator 'Goldfish,' who could be considered a fortunate survival at the time, was also local."

"In other words… Young Master Wilhem himself, his personal male servant, the butler, the gardener, coachman, and even the kitchen maid, who died first, are likely all from Kashmiri," Blossoming Strokes said.

Unceasing Entropy nodded. "The calamity at Redwall Farm was directed at the people from Kashmiri. Only those locals that had contact with them would be affected, while others would be relatively safe. It doesn't pose an imminent crisis for other people, which should be the main reason why the Church of Lady Gold Coin's night watchmen have ignored Redwall Farm for over two years."

"So, the focus of the catastrophe should have been on Young Master Wilhem, who arrived in Indahl before the autumn harvest of 1029," Blossoming Strokes affirmed. "We need to focus our search on the master's room for quest items related to Kashmiri, especially the rooms of Young Master Wilhem and his personal male servant. These two were the first to hear the laughter and the earliest to experience anomalies."

With the analysis complete, Blossoming Strokes was pumped up and immediately swung a bone claw excitedly. "Let's go upstairs!"

The other players: "……(° △°(° △° (° △° )"

After a few steps, Unceasing Entropy noticed that everyone except her and Blossoming Strokes hadn't budged. She turned back and urged, "Come on, what are you all waiting for?"

"Oh, coming, coming!" the bunch of players chimed.

"Have those two found the clues in just this short time?" Orange Cat, who had just logged back in and was wearing his equipment, asked in surprise.

"These two experts are just like that. Get used to it," remarked Study Obsessed.

Hundreds of kilometers away in Exile Town, Yang Qiu stroked his chin while calmly observing this group of players.

He had noticed something unusual when Zhao Zhenzhen had made contact with the Church of Lady Gold Coin's night watchmen… Were he not transferring his own mental power via the imprint matrix to support Zhao Zhenzhen's usage of the Orb of Deception when she ventured to the night watchmen division, Zhao Zhenzhen would have died and respawned in Weisshem a long time ago.

Yang Qiu naturally didn't blame her for anything since she was trying to solve Weisshem financial crisis. Who would hold a grudge against a tool at their own service?

Besides, Zhao Zhenzhen hadn't actually fooled the Church of Lady Gold Coin… She had been trying all means to earn gold coins. Yet that bunch had actually handed this sort of catastrophe, which could be classified as a Level 3 threat, to a novice exorcist. Their hearts were truly pitch black.

Typically, each church's night watchmen division referred to events that had the potential to cause widespread death (greater than ten deaths) as Catastrophic Events and categorized them into four levels based on their threat level.

The most common was a Level 4 Catastrophe.

The dire consequences as a result of ordinary people coming into contact in mystic arts or knowledge and losing control of their minds or invoking some unspeakable entities. This usually affected everyone associated with them, resulting not only in their own downfall but also potentially impacting their family, friends, and neighbors.

These tragedies were more likely to occur among ordinary people because those with even a little knowledge of the mystic tended to have the instinct to evade danger and stop the spread of danger in time… Like Rex, who had known he was about to lose control and had hidden himself away in the Sorenson Mountains.

Above that was a Level 3 Catastrophe.

This wasn't a threat level that could be triggered by one person's reckless actions; it mostly involved cultists engaging in cultist rituals or sealed artifacts. Typically, it resulted in the deaths of hundreds or even thousands of people. The "Main Storyline Plot" that Yang Qiu had fabricated belonged to such a level.

A Level 2 Catastrophe wasn't caused by forbidden seals but rather by unstable spatial rifts that led to invasions by void demons. Such events had the potential to completely turn a city or two dead, and perhaps even lead to the collapse of a nation.

A Level 1 Catastrophe was the return of an elder god.

Based on Yang Qiu's experience and judgment, the Redwall Farm incident fell under a Level 3 Catastrophe.

The people involved were nobles from Kashmiri. When Yang Qiu saw the report from the night watchmen through his mental imprint matrix, he knew that this matter had nothing to do with cults or forbidden rituals. The Kashmiri region wasn't in the Rhine Kingdom. Instead, it was a part of their eastern neighbor, the powerful Norsk Federation, that had great lands and coastlines.

The Norsk Federation was territory of the Storm Church.

The Storm Church didn't have the same casual and carefree style the Church of Lady Gold Coin had. Not to mention cults; even legitimate believers of other gods had little room to establish themselves in Norsk. The nobles of Norsk, who had families and businesses, would hardly get involved in anything related to cults unless their minds were completely twisted.

Ruling out the possibilities of a cult and given the targeted transmission to specific groups (the Kashmiri people and the Rhine people that had extensive contact) with a 100% fatality rate, there was only one answer—a sealed artifact!

Evidently, the Church of Lady Gold Coin was aware that there was a sealed artifact hidden inside Redwall Farm. That was why they closed off the farm and didn't immediately send people to resolve the situation; containing a sealed artifact would cost lives.

Zhao Zhenzhen's exorcist alias was definitely not the first civilian to receive this commission in the past two years. The Church of Lady Gold Coin's use of freelance exorcists as cannon fodder was a shameless move.

However… Yang Qiu had no intention of stopping this malicious commission, and he even prepared to assist the players if necessary.

The Church of Lady Gold Coin was using his players to take on the risk, so Yang Qiu would casually intercept the sealed artifact. Wasn't that only to be expected?

In any case, there was no way the players would be afraid of containing the sealed artifact, even if it meant risking their lives.ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ ɴoᴠel Fɪre.nᴇt

As Yang Qiu continued to watch attentively, the players made their way up the stairs to the second floor.

As they stepped onto the second floor, Orange Cat, who was in the middle of the group, suddenly felt an indescribable sense of unease.

"Strange… Why do I suddenly feel uncomfortable?" Orange Cat scratched his arm, puzzled.

"What kind of tricks are you trying now, Boss Orange Cat?" Runaway Goldfish quipped from the side.

"I'm not trying anything funny, seriously, I just… can't describe it. It's just uncomfortable," Orange Cat tried to explain but couldn't find better words. He hesitated and added, "Let me put it this way: it's like that stuffy and nauseating feeling you get when you're near a large trash can. Can you get me?"

"What nonsense are you on about?" Runaway Goldfish was disbelieving.

"Brother, we're undead, and undead don't have noses. Our sense of smell is terrible." Study Obsessed gave Orange Cat a sidelong glance. She, too, shared the same opinion as Runaway Goldfish.

Yang Ying, who was right at the front, halted too and said hesitantly, "Uh… I, too, feel something isn't quite right. I don't know why, but I started feeling uneasy when we got to the second floor."

Seeing someone else speak up, Phantom raised his hand and added, "Me, too. I also feel that there's something strange about this floor."

Blossoming Strokes and Unceasing Entropy exchanged glances, and asked at the same time, "Anyone else feeling not right?"

The players looked at one another, but no one said anything.

Zhao Zhenzhen hesitated for a bit before she raised her hand too. "I do feel something too… But I'm using a tool player account, so it might not be accurate."

"It's definitely accurate, Sis Zhao. You're an undead too." Blossoming Strokes nodded.

The player currently "infected" with the death flag raised a weak hand. "Um, guys, is it just me, or is the laughter getting stronger here?"

"Quick, log out and log back in." Blossoming Strokes waved her hand. "So, it's Boss Orange Cat, Sis Ying, Sis Zhao and Phantom feeling strange all at the same time?"

"Now that you mention it, the ones who first heard the laughter were also you four." Unceasing Entropy stroked her chin. "Perhaps there's something you guys have in common?"

"Huh? What do we have in common?" Phantom was puzzled. "How can Boss Orange Cat be compared to us three?"

"The heck?! What's that supposed to mean?" Orange Cat complained.

"Hmm… Wait a minute. Boss Orange Cat also has some unique characteristics." Unceasing Entropy's eyes narrowed. "Boss Orange Cat is always online for long periods, and his Potential value has broken through 100, just like the three of you. Among us, only you four are at Level 2."

"If Potential value breaks through 100, your mana bar limit and recovery speed will increase," Blossoming Strokes mused. "Since this game has Cthulhu elements, then perhaps it means… the higher the level, the greater the perceptiveness?"

"Hold on!" Phantom extended his hand. "You two better not say that the higher your level in the game, the more bad luck you attract! Who would grind levels every day if that were the case?!"

Unceasing Entropy added, "In terms of Cthulhu elements, higher-level players with higher perceptiveness are indeed more likely to encounter trouble. However, on the flip side, higher-level players are also more likely to detect crises."

"That's right," Blossoming Strokes seamlessly continued, pointing to the dark second-floor corridor. "For example, right now, those of us haven't reached Level 2 yet are completely unaware of the crisis, while you four have already sensed it."