Sorcerer’s Handbook

Chapter 308: Life and Death Together

Because the first four paintings all depict different versions of Deya, they are tentatively referred to based on their visual characteristics as: Basement Girl, Masked Girl, Princess, and Black and White Girl.

The correct figure chosen by Danzel was indeed the Masked Girl, who inspired her to use the “Girl of Peeping” ability.

Everyone looked towards the Phantom of the Empress, waiting for her to announce the results and to confirm whether the Girl of Peeping’s ability was effective.

However, she sat in a red leather armchair, lazily stretching, her robe stretched tight, the buttons at the front enduring more stress than they should.

“Hmm?”

She propped her chin and smiled, “Why are you all looking at me? The other two haven’t chosen yet. I will announce the results only after everyone has made their selections. Otherwise, wouldn’t I be helping you narrow down the choices?”

“Is it really that strict…” Ashe commented, turning his head towards Danzel: “paramour, can you make sister (Deya) and Lover (Sonya) also become Girls of Peeping? Or can you see their answers?”

“Why should I help them?” Danzel retorted. “I only promised not to harm them, but I have no obligation to assist them—including you, I won’t help you.”

“But if we get it wrong, we’ll lose the treasure—”

Danzel said, “And then?”

Ashe continued, “If we lose the treasure, we will be very sad, and we will also become weaker!”

Danzel smiled, as if hearing good news.

“If you are sad, I will comfort my loved one; if you are weaker, that is even better—for the weaker my loved one is, the easier it is for me to control.”

Ashe was stunned, Danzel’s logic was too selfish and impeccable, and he could not find a convincing argument. Danzel could openly express her dark thoughts, indicating that one could not impose moral constraints on someone with such a resolute will.

Without a doubt, they could not expect to use Danzel’s power; they had to rely on their own reasoning to find the correct answer.

However, they could at least eliminate one option now. It seemed highly unlikely that all three would choose the same answer, so now they were left with three Deyas and one Ashe.

Upon closer inspection, they believed that the Black and White Girl was most likely Deya herself. The similarity in attire, hair color, and expression between the Black and White Girl and Deya were striking. Following Ashe’s mention of Occam’s Razor, they dismissed the possibility that this could be Deya’s twin sister.

This reduced Deya’s options from four to three—she couldn’t possibly choose herself to accompany her in death; one can’t die twice.

Then, unable to glean more information about the characters, they decided to focus on the question itself.

“paramour,” Ashe looked at Danzel, “what relationship do you think you would have with someone you’d want to die with?”

Although Danzel had said she wouldn’t help them, she didn’t refuse to engage in casual conversation: “There are three scenarios.”

“First, my loved one; second, my loved one’s enemy; third, if I had no loved one, then I would choose my most hated enemy.”

Indeed, since the question wasn’t about love or hatred but about “the person you would die with,” Danzel couldn’t determine whether the choice of the girl in her web was her loved one or not. Ashe still might be her true love.

“Actually, there are only two kinds: the one you love most, and the one you hate most,” Ashe said. “Even though the differences between people are greater than between a person and a dog, we can choose based on this logic—either the most beloved or the most hated.”

“Wait,” Sonya interjected. “I already know the correct answer to ‘who I love the most’ from the first question, which is myself; and although I got the second question ‘who I hate the most’ wrong, it proved I don’t hate my sister (Deya), and none of the three most hated options included you, meaning you can’t be the person I hate.”

“Yet all five options here are you and my sister. How should I choose?”

“It’s simple,” Ashe said. “Even though you love yourself the most, you can choose the second and third person you love most.”

“Then… I guess I can only choose you,” Sonya said. “After all, I’m your lover now, and as I’ve said, given my personality, I have little resistance to the idea of dying together with a lover.”

“You could at least show a little resistance,” Ashe sighed. “It’s so odd. Why would my paramour want to kill everyone around me to have me all to herself, while my lover wants to die with me?”

“I can only sincerely hope you didn’t guess correctly, and even more so that the reward won’t make your choice come true.”

Sonya snorted coldly: “You’d better pray your guess is wrong—if I really am your lover, and she really is your paramour, then what’s meant to happen, will happen.”

Ashe changed the subject: “Sister, have you made your choice?”

Deya shook her head: “We’re clueless; how about I also choose you?”

“I think that’s unlikely, considering we’re probably not blood relatives. You surely wouldn’t want to die with a relative like me, right?” Ashe said. “Besides, my poor heart can’t take the emotional strain of being considered a burial companion by two people.”

“Eliminate me, yourself, and the Masked Girl chosen by the paramour (Danzel), that leaves only two people you don’t know: the Basement Girl and the Princess. They look almost exactly like you but differ in age; they might be relatives, perhaps a sister or mother.”

“Now there’s no extra information available, and since this tiny cabin has already seen two individuals who want to die with their loved ones, statistically, you’re likely a normal person who would want to die with someone you hate.”

According to the social Rules of ‘birds of a feather flock together,’ with two abnormal individuals among the four, the other two should be somewhat normal, right?

Sonya silently criticized this reasoning but kept it to herself since it implied she was not normal.

“Who do you think you would hate? The somewhat solitary Basement Girl, or the stern and proud Princess?”

Deya pondered for a moment, biting Ashe’s finger in frustration, and shook her head: “I can’t figure it out.”

“Just pick one at random then,” Ashe said. “Based on your preferences, choose the one you like less. Even if it’s wrong, narrowing it down from five to a choice between two isn’t bad.”

Deya nodded, taking a serious look at the two paintings.

She couldn’t really decide which she liked more, but the girl living in the basement seemed more pitiable, evoking a sense of empathy in Deya. Thus, she pointed at the painting of the Princess and said, “I choose her.”

“It’s wonderful that you three have achieved something unprecedented,” the Witch said as she twirled around. “Since the cabin was built, you are the first to accomplish this feat! Congratulations!”

As the Witch’s congratulations echoed, fireworks suddenly burst from the corners of the cabin, and colorful confetti flew through the air.

“Before announcing the answer, I must tell you what’s at stake in this question,” the Witch cheerfully said. “The other me, the treasure you wagered on this question is— the Mask spirit! Although you’ve forgotten it, trust me, it’s very important to you.”

The Swordswoman and Sonya were told, “Your bet is on the Water Faction.”

The Empress looked towards Danzel and softly uttered a term: “Secret.”

Everyone looked curiously at the Empress, who simply shrugged. “The name of her treasure is ‘Secret,’ or another name—’Secret Incarnation.’”

“Mask spirit?” Ashe asked curiously.

“Not exactly,” the Empress responded. “But it’s her most precious treasure.”

The bets were confirmed, and no changes could be made.

The cabin fell into a moment of silence, then the Witch sighed, “Unfortunately…”

“You all got it right!”

Three beams of light fell upon them, returning their lost treasures. Deya excitedly activated the Mask spirit, and then, to her delight, she found her hair color rapidly losing its other shades, leaving only a pure, bright black.

“That’s great, their voices aren’t so grating anymore!”

Ashe was also happy for her. “So, can you let go of my hand now?”

“No, keep it for now,” Deya clung to her emergency food supply. “What if my head starts hurting again?”

Sonya showed no change, but when Danzel obtained the “Secret Incarnation,” her “Girl of Peeping” form started to transform—specifically, the spiderweb eyepatch covering her eyes turned into an alloy ring decoration, and the white silk woven from spider threads all turned to black silk.

“As I mentioned earlier, because you three answered simultaneously, your rewards also changed accordingly,” the Witch explained. “First of all, the other me, congratulations on achieving your desire—you’ve received the ‘Life Link’ blessing.”

“When you die, the person you just chose will die instead of you…”

Deya was stunned. Was this blessing as powerful as having an extra life?

“…That’s impossible,” the Witch laughed. “After all, that person isn’t here, and the power of the cabin can’t affect people outside.”

“So, your ‘Life Link’ partner will be a random person inside this cabin.”

Everyone was taken aback. A random person?

If Deya took a fatal hit, would one of them randomly have to die for her?

Before they could even process this dire news, Ashe suddenly realized something and looked nervously at Sonya.

Sonya was also looking at him, the corners of her mouth curving into a mischievous smile, as if anticipating something.

The Swordswoman looked at Sonya: “Your reward is similar. When your soul is weakened and nearing death, the person you chose will share their soul with you, using their soul to replenish yours.”

Ashe was dumbfounded. Great, he was someone else’s emergency kit now?

However, the Swordswoman continued, “Similarly, if the person you chose is close to death, your soul will also be shared with them. This can only be triggered once.”

“This is the ‘Life Link’ blessing.”

Ashe sighed in relief: “That’s a relief, we are each other’s guardian angels! Lover, even for my sake, you must keep living well!”

“For you, I’ll make sure to trigger this blessing as soon as possible, to prevent you from triggering it first,” Sonya said earnestly, but the twinkle in her eyes fully betrayed her amusement.

Next up was Danzel’s reward. As everyone watched him nervously, the Empress smiled and said, “I would love to offer a Life Link reward, but compared to your treasure, those blessings are of lesser value.”

She tossed a golden orb of light towards him: “This is your reward, 10,000 Soul Power—”

“Wait a moment.”

The Observer, who had been silently watching until now, suddenly raised his hand, causing the golden orb issued by the Empress to freeze mid-air.

Facing everyone’s gaze, the Observer spoke leisurely, “Doesn’t this seem a bit unfair?”

Everyone looked confused—although they had lost their memories, they felt that talking about ‘fairness’ here was as absurd as asking a virgin for love advice.

“While ‘Secret Incarnation’ might indeed be worth 10,000 Soul Power, ‘Girl of Peeping’s’ armament cost is only 15 Soul Power, and she could endlessly exploit this ability to plunder rewards from us,” the Observer chuckled. “Seems like there’s a little problem here, doesn’t it? A loophole in the rules!”

The Empress looked at the suspended orb of light, as if seeing something incomprehensible: “So, are you suggesting… this question doesn’t count?”

“No, the question is over, the cabin isn’t that petty,” the Observer pointed a finger, and the orb of light fell into Danzel’s body: “But we do need to adjust the rules.”

“First, the treasure from the last question will continue to be wagered in the next question.”

A flash of gold emerged from inside Danzel, and his ‘Girl of Peeping’ instantly reverted from its black silk form back to white silk.

“Second, the cabin will now prohibit the power she just used.”

A mist of vapor appeared, and Danzel was immediately stripped of his ‘Girl of Peeping’ form, his clothing reverting instantly to the Spiderweb Cloak he wore when he first entered.

The real bodies had little reaction, only secretly admiring that the cabin was not easy to deceive, and that any loophole was promptly rectified.

The only one truly shocked in the room was the Empress Phantom—being an examiner phantom generated by the cabin, she had partial cabin permissions, and knew that although the cabin indeed had a loophole repair function, it was a lengthy process that took years, and it wasn’t supposed to be fixed by a phantom!

Moreover, what the Observer Phantom did wasn’t a repair at all!

He had just altered the rules of the cabin on the fly!