Chapter 80: The last puzzle, the Prince

Hearing the March Hare’s outburst, Jing Qizhen’s hand, which was sprinkling cumin powder over its head, paused mid-air.

It was like a broken window effect. Having already revealed the most crucial secret, the March Hare seemed to abandon all resistance.

This time, as it divulged further details, the March Hare didn’t even bother struggling mentally. Sporting a head full of lumps and covered in fragrant barbecue seasoning, it meekly and tearfully answered every question Jing Qizhen asked, without hesitation.

Moreover, the March Hare’s loud shouting had caught the attention of everyone else. The group, who had been noisily grilling and fighting over the food by Si Jiayang’s side, fell silent almost instantly.

Even the Earth seemed to quiet down, as if the entire world was waiting for the March Hare to provide answers to everyone’s questions.

For a moment, the only sound that could be heard was the sizzling of the meat on the grill and the March Hare’s timid voice.

After a while, Jing Qizhen softly asked, “The missing Prince?”

The moment Jing Qizhen spoke, the March Hare pitifully cried out, “The Prince has gone missing! The ball was held for him but he didn’t return by midnight! Everyone in the palace has been scrambling to find him and it’s thrown everything into chaos! The royal chefs lost the Red Queen’s apple while searching for him and someone spilled a bowl of peas into the ashes. The ball was completely ruined! The Red Queen was furious and ordered us to find the Prince as soon as possible!”

Hearing its explanation, Jing Qizhen didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he took a moment to carefully think it over.

The erosion area’s theme was clearly related to fairy tales. The March Hare, the Red Queen, and the various details it mentioned all confirmed the fairy tale motif, blending multiple stories into one chaotic narrative.

It seemed that every human who entered the erosion area was assigned a role from a fairy tale.

Sophia, who had already died, was linked to ‘Snow White’, Sean was connected to ‘Cinderella’, and Williams to ‘The Little Mermaid’.

The housemaid, who had access to a wealth of information, was unable to share it due to the constraints of her fairy-tale role.

As for Jing Qizhen and his group, who entered later, they were evidently tied to ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Considering it was unlikely for everyone to be the sleeping princess, Jing Qizhen speculated that while one person in their group might have received the role of Sleeping Beauty, the others had probably been assigned minor roles within the castle.

Unfortunately, the villa had burned to the ground, so he couldn’t confirm the details of their roles.

At that thought, Jing Qizhen suddenly froze, struck by a realization.

He had suddenly thought of something regarding the situation of Joyce, Professor Jones, McCain, Caroline, and others, who on the surface appeared not to have received a fairy tale role or identity.

On the third night, Angelina suddenly woke up from a deep sleep. That night, she was the only one in the villa to awaken while everyone else remained sound asleep.

Logically speaking, given how large the March Hare was and its bouncing, thudding way of walking, unless someone was an extremely heavy sleeper, they should have been woken up by the ‘thump thump thump’ of its footsteps.

Angelina had seen the March Hare’s movements that night. If she had chosen to follow it, she would have taken on the role of Alice in ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’. However, Angelina was clearly cautious by nature and chose to forgo the opportunity to become Alice.

Considering the sequence of numbers involving rabbits—1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21—tomorrow, the eighth day, would undoubtedly bring new fairy tale clues. Unfortunately, those clues would most likely be life-threatening.

Following that line of reasoning, it wasn’t hard to guess that Joyce and Professor Jones, like Jing Qizhen’s group, either had been assigned the roles of nameless background characters or, like Angelina, had once had the chance to take on a more significant identity but declined out of caution.

Although in Jing Qizhen’s eyes, McCain, Caroline, and the others all seemed irritable, impulsive, and quick to anger, and even Professor Jones was no easy person to deal with, the fact that they had survived so far suggested that deep down, they were cautious and valued their lives. They were also lucky.

While Jing Qizhen was organizing his thoughts, the March Hare, waiting anxiously, stared at him with its large red eyes. Feeling uneasy, it suddenly closed its eyes and, steeling its resolve, asked, “Do… do you have anything else to ask me?”

Jing Qizhen blinked. “…If you had been this cooperative earlier, I might have treated you to some barbecue by now.”

The March Hare: “…QAQ.”

I’d be grateful if you didn’t season and roast the noble Sir Rabbit!

The others, including Manman, who had walked over after the March Hare started answering questions, remained silent to avoid interrupting Jing Qizhen’s thoughts.

Finally, after seeing that Jing Qizhen was relaxed enough to banter with the March Hare, Manman suddenly asked, “Sir Rabbit, just now you said, ‘We’re here to find the missing Prince.’ May I ask, who else is included in this ‘we’ besides you?”

Manman’s respectful tone when addressing it as ‘Sir Rabbit’ instantly soothed the deeply humiliated March Hare.

These terrifying humans have shown no respect for the Sir Rabbit at all. All they see is grilled rabbit meat!

Sir Rabbit could only mourn in despair.

The March Hare looked up at Manman, who appeared understanding, kind, gentle, and most importantly, respectful.

At that moment, the housemaid timidly followed the group over as well, standing quietly near Si Jiayang. After all, Si Jiayang had been the one showcasing his cooking skills in the kitchen and since she had previously done a lot of work in the kitchen, she instinctively felt she should follow his lead.

The March Hare spotted her and immediately shouted, “Oh, you unreliable Maid! Not doing your job properly! You didn’t even find the missing Prince and now you’re off doing other things!”

Hearing this, Jing Qizhen’s mind instantly became clear.

As expected!

The maid’s role had once again been confirmed by the March Hare.

Previously, based on speculation, it had seemed that as someone aligned with the Red Queen and March Hare’s side, the housemaid’s personal safety should have been the most secure. However, seeing the March Hare began criticizing the maid’s work, Jing Qizhen, out of caution, immediately interjected, “She helped us fetch the tableware. That’s part of a maid’s duties.”

The March Hare dared not oppose Jing Qizhen.

Though it hadn’t finished venting its complaints about the housemaid, the moment it met Jing Qizhen’s sharp, penetrating gaze, the March Hare shivered. Its earlier arrogance and insolence vanished, and it cautiously glanced at Jing Qizhen before falling silent.

Jing Qizhen looked over at the maid, who appeared nervous but grateful.

He thought to himself that since the March Hare recognized the Maid and considered her part of the team searching for the Prince, it would have frequently given her orders as a servant. In other words, the most direct clue the housemaid might possess would likely come from the March Hare itself.

If the erosion area was viewed as a fairy tale puzzle, the roles could be divided into three categories—princes, princesses, and background characters.

The unfortunate Sophia, Sean, and Williams, who had already perished, all held princess roles. Their identities in the fairy tale gave them certain advantages but the danger was also apparent.

Angelina had the opportunity to take on the role of Alice. While Alice wasn’t a princess, she was still a highly proactive protagonist.

Among Jing Qizhen’s group, someone must have taken on a princess role, while the rest, like the maid, Joyce, and Professor Jones, were all assigned minor, nameless roles.

If the villa hadn’t burned down, the others might have discovered some additional, albeit minor, clues.

But now, with ‘Sleeping Beauty’s castle in ruins, Jing Qizhen and the others no longer felt any drowsiness. The fairy tale was likely defunct, or perhaps they had already passed through the part of the story where the entire kingdom fell asleep.

As for the missing Prince, there was still no clue. Jing Qizhen speculated that the Prince was the missing piece of the fairy tale puzzle.

With that thought, his gaze naturally turned toward Yun Shuanghua, who was neither part of the original villa group nor the so-called ‘rescue experts’ like them.

While everyone else temporarily abandoned their barbecue to gather around the March Hare for clues, Yun Shuanghua, with his perpetually cold and expressionless face, stayed crouching by the grill, intently tending to the fire.

Yun Shuanghua’s observational skills were remarkable and he had already picked up the basics of grilling just by watching Si Jiayang earlier.

With the available meat and barbecue sauce at hand, even without Si Jiayang present, Yun Shuanghua was able to focus entirely on grilling and eating on his own.

Jing Qizhen quietly looked away.

The Earth, too, noticed Jing Qizhen’s actions and, following his gaze, saw what Yun Shuanghua was doing.

Yun Shuanghua’s seriousness and focus on eating left the Earth stunned. Stammering, it asked, “He… he’s still eating barbecue?”

Jing Qizhen: “Yeah…”

After all, that guy had been clutching a hard baguette earlier, clearly placing great importance on food.

The Earth: “…”

Jing Qizhen had initially suspected that Yun Shuanghua, being so disconnected from their group, might have taken on the role of the Prince.

But the March Hare had seen Yun Shuanghua before and hadn’t reacted to him at all. How could that be?

Jing Qizhen directly asked the March Hare, “What does the missing Prince look like? Is there a photo, or perhaps a portrait?”

The March Hare: “How would I have a photo of the Prince? Anyway… anyway, the Prince is very handsome!”

Jing Qizhen: “Any detailed features…?”

The March Hare, flustered by Jing Qizhen’s relentless questioning, whined, “You humans often praise someone by saying they’re as handsome as a prince, don’t you? A prince looks like a prince!”

Jing Qizhen: “…”

Alright, he understood now.

Since the ‘princess’ role, regardless of gender, could be assigned to Sophia, Sean, or Williams, then naturally the ‘prince’ could also be anyone.

Moreover, the March Hare didn’t even know who the Prince was. Becoming the Prince, much like becoming the Princess, was likely tied to a special item within the erosion area.

However, the villa that initially created the erosion area was now in ruins. Jing Qizhen hadn’t found another special item within it. With that in mind, the one most likely tied to the situation was Yun Shuanghua, whose arrival fell between the initial villa group and their so-called ‘rescue team.’

Manman thought of another question and asked the March Hare, “What will you do once you find the Prince?”

The March Hare replied honestly, “We’ll bring the Prince back to attend the ball! Because of his disappearance, the entire royal palace is in chaos.”

Jing Qizhen rubbed his forehead. “According to the March Hare, the chaos in the palace was caused by the Prince’s disappearance. This includes the Red Queen’s apple being lost and a bowl of peas being spilled. So, if we can bring the Prince back, the chaos should end.”