Chapter 193: The Rose Factory

Although Bai Liu had told the other stragglers that he knew a way to end it all, he had not yet been given enough information about the exact solution to the problem of dried rose leaf gas.

The current Bai Liu is not sure how to solve the problem of dried leaf roses.

In short, Bai Liu gave the exiles a blank cheque to settle the rose perfume, putting his life on the line to get them to work for him first.

But the 'cheque' was not without foundation, there had to be a solution to the dried rose leaf gas, and the odds were that he would get it - as Tang Erda said, and as the Bai six in other timelines could surmise.

Bai Liu's assessment of the likelihood that he would be able to complete the task was over 50%.

And as a player who bets all in with more than a ten percent chance of success, Bai Liu has now used [the ability to fix dried rose leaf gas] as his prerequisite and is using it to fool others.

It wasn't until Tavel reminded Bai Liu of the oracle again that he was able to determine what the exact solution to [dried rose leaf gas] was - it was a specific [antidote].

If rose perfume is [poison], then the [antidote] would be something that dilutes, or neutralises, the toxicity and addictive properties of dried rose leaves.

But in the game, Bai Liu has not been given any hints about this [Antidote], nor has the system given any related quests, so from this Bai Liu deduces that - the path to the [Antidote] is most likely not the regular path, that is to say, it is not connected to the [Become a Factory Manager] of the main quest. The main quest, "Become a factory manager", is not connected to the main quest.

Horror, or drama, games usually have three endings - [good], [normal] and [true].

The first two are the easier and simpler ways to get through the game without having to play out all the hidden information in the game, and are the most common ways players go through the game, but the game designers usually hide a deeper, more complete story of the game world with more information about the true ending, also known as [true ending].

To beat [true ending], the path of the game becomes more dangerous and sometimes you even have to do something completely opposite to the main quest to trigger some special plot points as a way to get more information.

Apparently 'Rose Factory' is such a game.

Previously Bai Liu had followed this same line of thought, but he did a double take, that is, while preparing [the poison] secretly for his own rose factory, he simultaneously looked for traces of [the antidote] in the real rose factory.

To get the potion, he needs more information - but it's up to Liu Jiayi, who will be promoted in the factory, to entrust the young girl with this part of the task.

Bai Liu concentrates, closes his eyes to collect all his emotions, and after he has taken on his full Liu Jiayi form, he raises the curtain of the tent and walks out.

In front of the tent stood Qi Yifang looking in awe at the small mountain of roses.

Qi Yifang saw him come out and scratched his head a little embarrassed, "I thought you needed a little help from my side ......"

He was also carrying a small bag of dried leaf roses, which Qi Yifang feared [Liu Jiayi] might not have enough to bring to subsidise him, but it seems that it is not yet clear who needs the subsidy.

Bai Liu shakes his head and refuses the rose offered by Qi Yifang, his eyes obscure as he looks through Liu Jiayi's grey eyes at the rose factory with smoke coming from the chimney, like a heavy industrial processing site.

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Inside the Rose Factory.

The dormitory for the new processors was on the ground floor of the Rose Factory, with dozens of people sharing a bunk, regardless of gender, and without the sour smell of sweat.

These two odours mix to form a fragrant, smelly, nauseating scent that will overwhelm anyone who enters for the first time and has to breathe heavily outside several times before daring to enter.

Liu Jiayi and the two King's Guild members, Tang Erda, and some other processors slept in the bunkhouse.

After a full day of hard work, the new processors rested for less than three hours before it was light again.

Liu Jiayi in the dorm opened her eyes first, leaving the [Blizzard Goggles] to Bai Liu for his disguise, it was her last visualisation prop, which kept her operating blind yesterday.

But the two King's Guild members who were following her had her usual visual aids with them. Liu Jiayi thanked them politely and in return poured a small cup of antidote for each of them to stabilise their vitality.

The two men wanted to resist, as the prop was meant for the little witch, but eventually drank it with mixed feelings under Liu Jiayi's insistent gaze.

They all understand that it is the Little Witch's habit to never owe anything to any Team He friend.

Liu Jiayi has been well rested by Bai Liu for the past few days, and since she didn't do much physical work yesterday and was helped by two other people, Liu Jiayi is in the best physical and mental condition compared to the processors who have been sweating all day, so she is the only one awake in the bunk.

The others, including the more perceptive Tang Erda, drifted off to sleep, exhausted by the combination of physical exhaustion and the hypnotic scent of roses in the air.

But Liu Jiayi, as a player who was taken straight into a big whiff of the original rose scent (the aroma from Tavel's hand) by the unlucky Bai Liu on her first day, was much less affected by the rose scent in the factory.

Although she had the visualisation prop, Liu Jiayi did not want to waste it and had not used it from yesterday until this morning when she could locate her normal movements with her ears, but she had just gotten out of bed when Liu Jiayi suddenly heard an unusual noise.

A sound like a giant octagonal spider spitting, weaving and crawling on the ceiling, pattering back and forth above Liu Jiayi's head, a small noise, but Liu Jiayi still heard it

The evenly rising and falling breathing and snoring of the processors lying on the narrow beds, the occasional crackle of wall coverings peeling off and falling to the floor, and that faint, faint sound like something dragging and swimming.

She put on her visualisation prop and looked up overhead, but saw nothing; the old, mottled, pale yellow walls were only a constant fall of wall skin, and a few smoked, or stained, dark rose-coloured marks that looked a bit like dried blood stains.

Liu Jiayi frowns - as someone who has survived on her hearing for a long time, she trusts her hearing more than her eyesight, especially on these very quiet mornings when her hearing should not be at fault.

Unless it was this thing that existed, but she couldn't see it.

With that in mind, Liu Jiayi promptly shook a member of the King's Guild sleeping next to her and, while he was dazed and half-awake, she whispered in his ear, "Shh, can you see anything now that you're looking up?"

Although not completely awake, it was already in the nature of these rescued team members to obey the witch's orders, and without hesitation he looked up, and after a moment turned his head in confusion to Liu Jiayi: "...... There's nothing there... ..."

If this team member can't see either, then it's not her eyes - Liu Jiayi's mind wanders as she calmly and quickly ponders the problem.

There must be some kind of monster above the ceiling, but it is invisible to the naked eye and visual props, so in this game the monster would have to meet certain conditions to be visible.

But what is this condition?

Liu Jiayi's thoughts were running extremely fast - they had only been in this factory for a day, the whole day had been spent on various kinds of labour, information was not at all well acquired, and trying to deduce from this factory what clues to infer about the conditions under which this monster could be seen was something Liu Jiayi felt she could not do from what she had seen so far.

If Liu Jiayi were to say that normally he would have taken a step back and been more conservative, leaving the dormitory first and then returning to unlock the monster when he had gained enough information.

But now - she has another source of information, Bai Liu.

Bai Liu spoke to her about Tavel's oracle as she entered the game.

She wasn't sure what the strange, every-game-sticks-together-and-gives-her-goosebumps relationship was between these two, but if Bai Liu was right, and Tavel was the central monster of the game Rose Factory and had come to him the night before, then there was a good chance that the oracle Tavel had given Bai Liu before entering the game was some hint about the game.

Liu Jiayi closed her eyes to recall the oracle Bai Liu had told her, searching word by word for a valid message within, while murmuring in a low voice: "...... Don't use your right eye to feast on desire ...... "

Bai Liu had his right eye eroded by the rose, but this guy's left eye is fine!

It's a hint! Tavel is suggesting that Bai Liu sees with one eye!

Liu Jiayi's eyes snapped open as she read this sentence, moving quickly to cover the right eye of the still dazed King's Guild member next to her, lifting her head with a hand to her chin and aiming it at the corner where she heard the sound, and questioning in a cold tone, "Can you see anything now?"

The King's Guild member's sleepy expression tightened, his pupils contracted, and his flabby face twitched to one side from time to time, as if he had seen something extremely terrifying.

"Look, see a lot." His voice hitched and his neck flickered as he turned to Liu Jiayi and said, extremely wavering, "Little witches, a room full of them, monsters."