Doomsday Jigsaw Puzzle

Chapter 112: Chapter 112: I’m Going to Be a Dad

Honey-glazed rose taro, almond tofu, osmanthus cake, lotus pastry.

The desserts arranged on the platter were tiny and dainty, and to everyone, they were fatally attractive.

Even though among the members of the Investigation Corps, only Bai Wu had seen these things and only he knew about these foods, the others still found them a feast for the eyes.

Beautiful to look at and delicious to eat.

Yin Shuang and the others were originally very skeptical, wondering if there was anything wrong with the food, feeling that Bai Wu seemed a little too greedy.

But Bai Wu... He was truly eating with relish.

Such gusto made Yin Shuang, who was always calm and composed like an iceberg beauty, swallow her saliva involuntarily.

Bai Xiaoyu was the first to eat, he wasn’t worried about poisoning at all. If any organ was poisoned, he would just cut it off and grow a new one.

In fact, the food was absolutely safe.

The feedback from his eyes made Bai Wu very happy:

"You stare at the delicious food they offer, wondering why they are so solicitous, is there some trick to it? But I can tell you what eating it will cause - hunger -1, dislike for nutritional meals +10000...00. Don’t worry about the food being problematic, their biggest problem is keeping your stomach."

In the luxurious manor, the comfortable residence in the Illusionary Realm, the delicious food, Bai Wu knew the better the outward appearance, the more dangerous the truth.

But sorry... the food was just too delicious.

No matter what Cain had left behind, eat first. Only after being full would you have the strength to decipher, the strength to diet, the strength to fast. It has always been like this.

Before long, everyone began eating and drinking.

In the courtyard outside the first villa, they sat at expensive white oak round tables, enjoying a leisurely outdoor afternoon tea.

Six people, six tables, normally one table would be enough for three people, but after Bai Wu and the others arrived, Mr. Wang quickly arranged for each person to be seated at different tables.

This Mr. Wang, who appeared to be nineteen but was actually not, surveyed the group and was convinced that the one who ate the most heartily and the shortest among them was the leader.

Mr. Wang gave Rong a signal with his eyes, so Rong sat down opposite Wu Jiu, while Mr. Wang himself sat opposite Bai Wu.

Soon, the other tables also found their corresponding guests.

Yin Shuang was someone who didn’t like others watching her eat, the person sitting opposite her was a woman a few years older than her.

But the woman’s expression seemed very childlike, giving Yin Shuang a chill down her spine once again.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Sister, do you like being taken care of?"

"What kind of question is that?"

On another side.

Bai Wu looked at Mr. Wang, pretending to be somewhat embarrassed, and said:

"Sorry, it’s been a long time since I’ve had such delicious food, I was a little carried away."

Mr. Wang didn’t smile genuinely as he said:

"No problem, there’s plenty more, and dinner will be even richer. Tonight’s dinner should be roast suckling pig and lamb chops, with crystal shrimp dumplings as the main dish, along with some local dishes. I don’t know what kind of cuisine you like the most? Shall I have my wife prepare it for you?"

Such warm hospitality. Bai Wu had actually guessed the kind of situations that might occur in this manor.

He surmised that this family would soon leave the manor, but Bai Wu, maintaining his composure, still said with a smile:

"How can I accept this hospitality?"

In Chinese manners, that means it’s fantastic, more more.

Mr. Wang maintained a professional, fake smile:

"No problem, we enjoy entertaining guests."

Bai Wu nodded:

"It’s been a long time since I’ve had proper food, and since you are preparing to leave, please prepare a few dishes."

Mr. Wang was stunned for a moment. Did this person know he was about to leave?

Bai Wu ignored Mr. Wang’s stiff expression and said:

"Just a few small dishes will do, you don’t have to go through too much trouble, just some crispy butter rolls, stir-fried fresh mushrooms, stir-fried fish fillets, chicken skin sturgeon, crab roe with mushrooms, jade pin chicken, night blooming shrimp, tiger buckle dragon, crane stew bear’s paw, silver needle stir-fried wings, Dinghu vegetarian dish, green plum citrus cake, osmanthus eight treasures, candied hawthorn, round meat with melon, stir-fried wheat fish, stir-fried bamboo shoots, tofu royal with swallow, stir-fried shrimp, braised shrimp, braised kidney flowers, braised sea cucumber, stir-fried tendon, pot-cooked sea cucumber, pot-cooked cabbage, fried black fungus, candied lotus seeds, stuffed yams, almond cheese, stir-fried crab, stewed large armor... "

Bai Wu listed nearly seventy dishes in one breath, then said calmly:

"That’s not too much trouble for you, is it? If you feel it doesn’t showcase your hospitality enough, I can add more."

Mr. Wang was dumbstruck, feeling like they let in someone even weirder than them.

"You can still add more?" Bai Wu, seeing no reaction from Mr. Wang, added another line.

Mr. Wang’s forehead broke into sweat, and he replied with a strained smile:

"You sure know a lot..."

"Nah, this is nothing. Shall I add more?" Bai Wu attempted to cast another spell.

"The main issue is that we can’t finish it all." Mr. Wang interrupted Bai Wu’s spell chanting.

"That’s true, then let’s just make do with these dishes." Bai Wu was very calm, as if he had just casually mentioned three or five dishes earlier.

"Okay... I will inform my wife shortly to start the preparations."

Mr. Wang couldn’t help but wipe the sweat from his forehead. When he first moved in many years ago, he had been very careful and guarded.

This person is really dumb... or maybe just unguarded? He seemed to have no caution at all, unlike the others who were somewhat wary.

Mr. Wang doubted his judgment. Bai Wu seemed to be the most reckless in the entire group, not the one who should be making decisions.

But to ensure that these people could live a bit longer, or rather, to have a more harmonious life, Mr. Wang still had to ask some questions:

"Guest, may I take the liberty of asking you a few questions? Don’t be nervous, just think of it as a survey."

"Yay, I love surveys. But I don’t like sitting down to answer questions, can we talk while walking?" Bai Wu picked up his mango juice and stood up.

Seeing Bai Wu’s reaction, Mr. Wang felt even more that he was the dumbest one in the group. Still, he went along with it, standing up and following Bai Wu out of the courtyard.

"So, it’s you..."

"Hold on, you have to say, ’please listen to the question.’ It adds a bit more ceremony to it."

"..." Mr. Wang was silent for a second, then compromised:

"Please listen to the question."

"Don’t bother asking, I’m going to be a dad."

Bai Wu’s voice was very soft, even though they had already moved some distance from the courtyard. But he still spoke in a volume only Mr. Wang could hear.

"Huh??"

Mr. Wang suddenly froze, staring at Bai Wu with a face full of shock and suspicion.

Sipping the juice through the straw contentedly, Bai Wu looked at Mr. Wang’s frozen expression and said,

"You should be saying in amazement, ’Congratulations! You’ve actually completed a quick-response challenge.’"

Mr. Wang didn’t speak, continuing to stare at Bai Wu with astonishment. Bai Wu shrugged and began to unravel the mystery:

"When we moved in, the people inside could then leave. Whichever family’s house we moved into, that family could leave. That’s why you saw them retreating from the lawn, and since you’ve been living here the longest, by the rules, they should give you the chance to keep guests—that is, the opportunity to leave this place."

Mr. Wang continued to be amazed.

Sipping slowly on the freshly squeezed mango juice, Bai Wu looked content and mused:

"A family of three, among six households, only one family is not a trio, likely because last time only one person came. Your child looks older than you, which cannot possibly be eight years old. You also know that nobody would believe that lie. So why would he willingly be your child? I guess it must be related to the rules of the Manor."

"Is there a problem with the time rules here? Maybe so. Once you enter this area, you probably don’t age for a long time, which would explain why you look so young, yet seem the most mature among these people."

Mr. Wang quivered slightly.

Bai Wu’s voice remained delicate and soft, yet carried a playful tone:

"Of course, it’s also possible that living here, the older you are, the younger you appear, and the younger you are, the older you look. However, this possibility can be ruled out from the other families since there are parents who look older than their children. Therefore, there can be only one truth: time works differently here, people don’t age, but since they don’t age, how could they have a child who looks older than themselves? The answer then becomes quite clear."

"Whether it’s a family of three or a family of four, each person in every household must correspond to an identity. You correspond to the Family Head, so that woman and that man can only assume the roles of the mother and child, respectively."

Bai Wu tapped the exquisite glass cup, thinking of an amusing combination:

"Or perhaps you even considered letting that bearded man be your wife, and the forty-year-old auntie, your daughter?"

Mr. Wang shook his head vigorously, indicating he wasn’t that kind of pervert, but then he realized that this wasn’t the point right now.

There was always an air of insouciance and calm about Bai Wu, which made Mr. Wang feel that a conversation that should have been terrifying had suddenly shifted in tone.

Bai Wu continued:

"You had the six of us sitting at different tables, asking these questions, probably to confirm our personalities and abilities, to find out who’s fit to be the dad, who’s the mom, and who’s the baby? So no need to ask anymore, I’ll be the dad."

After a full six seconds of silence, Mr. Wang came to his senses from his astonishment—could this person really have understood their purpose in such a short time?

Bai Wu said,

"But one thing I’m curious about, why is your ’eight-year-old’ child so obedient? So childlike? Is it some kind of external force compelling you to behave according to the logic of your identities?"

"I... I cannot tell you that."

Mr. Wang now understood, this person wasn’t foolish; on the contrary, he had seen through everything and had a response time far surpassing the others.

"You can’t say? It seems there are many taboos in this Manor, and after I blurted out so many dish names in one breath, you were able to accommodate them, and since you can’t leave the Manor, where does the food come from? Is it that the Manor itself has no issue with the food supply?"

So he had deliberately mentioned that many dish names earlier, as a test? Was this also within his calculations?

Mr. Wang was once again speechless, staring at Bai Wu, who seemed to have the ability to read minds:

"But please make sure to prepare all these dishes, not a single one less."

"..."

Mr. Wang really wanted to give this young man in front of him one last well-intentioned warning: This place is terrifying.

But for some reason, as he looked at Bai Wu, the words just didn’t come out; he felt as weak as a child.

"It seems that way... The refrigerator always contains the ingredients a homemaker would expect the next day."

"Can this refrigerator be taken away? After you came in, someone else had to leave, right? Could they take things from inside?"

"No... I can’t."

Bai Wu was very disappointed, and even with his lack of negative emotions, he managed to convey a look of despair.

It seemed he was still the one to take the blame, the fridge couldn’t be relied on.

"What about the taboo?"

"Can’t say..."

"It seems we’ll have to figure it out on our own, huh?"

"Yes."

"That’s kind of interesting. When do you plan to move out?"

"Tomorrow, I guess. Since you already know... why did you still come in?" freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

"There can’t just be one way to leave this place. To unravel this area..."

Suddenly, Bai Wu lost his speech. It was as if some mysterious power made him forget what he was about to say.

So that’s it; some force must be preventing people from discussing ways to leave.

"Well, mainly because I really like it here."

Although it was possible to keep three people outside, Bai Wu was quite aware of one detail mentioned in the notes: only those who enter the Manor can be free from negative attributes.

It wasn’t that he looked down on Yin Shuang as the second-in-command, but Bai Wu believed that only he could unlock the secrets of the Manor.

Since Yin Shuang and the others didn’t have the Traction Disc, it made sense to bring in more of his own people to increase the chances of finding clues.

Mr. Wang couldn’t understand Bai Wu, feeling that although he appeared calm, there was an indescribable madness about him.

"I’m sorry... Since you know, I won’t hide it from you anymore. Your guesses are mostly right. Only after you came in can we leave."

"No need to apologize. Even without you, I would have come in. If my entry can help you leave, that actually adds to the benefits of coming in."

Bai Wu reinterpreted the situation with an optimistic angle, which filled Mr. Wang with gratitude.

There was also some guilt because he couldn’t reveal many secrets and taboos of the Manor—some of them were even lethal.

Bai Wu realized that this might not be something they could solve in a day or two; they might end up spending many days in the Manor.

But in half a month, there would be a martial exercise between the two armies, and he had to unravel the puzzle within half a month.

"By the way, how long have you been in here?"

"Can’t say..."

"Okay, you can’t say that either. So, is there anything you can tell me?"

Mr. Wang felt increasingly remorseful:

"Just... basically, I can’t say anything. Before this... no one was able to guess all this like you have."

Bai Wu nodded his head, finally saying:

"But one thing, the person who is about to leave can appoint the identity of the new person moving in, right? Just like the role of dad has to be passed on to me by someone who is currently a dad, right? And you should be the decision-maker here, so everyone will probably follow your opinion?"

"Right."

"That’s wonderful, I can be Lin Wurou’s dad now."