After finishing the diary, Annan quickly returned everything in the room to its original place before heading to Amos’s study.
At least when Amos opened his daughter’s room to take a look inside, everything would be exactly the same as before. As long as he wasn’t a creepy old man who would meticulously search his daughter’s room, it shouldn’t be a problem to keep him fooled for a day.
This was a traditional skill honed from Annan’s childhood days, when he would stay home during vacations and and find ways to secretly play on the computer while his parents were at work.
For instance, his parents always placed the keyboard and mouse at a right angle, and from the Enter to the ESC key UI, they formed a line pointing to a book slightly pulled out on the bookshelf across from the study; the headphone cord would be wrapped exactly three and a half times around and placed to the left of the monitor, with the left side being for the right ear and the right side for the left ear.
These details were all meticulously observed and deduced by Annan from their actions.
Even things like the temperature of the computer screen and the mainframe were child’s play. As cautious as Annan was, he would even remember and restore the exact angles that the keyboard, mouse, and headphones were originally placed at.
Annan had always believed that such a strong memory to instantly capture and restore the details of a room when needed was one of the reasons he was chosen by this good boss.
Annan’s boss treated him really well.
Even Annan himself knew that no matter how strong his work abilities and efficiency were... the fact that he completely refused any form of overtime for his health was itself an unhealthy and uncommitted work attitude.
Especially when there was an incident of a young product manager next door dying from overwork, it only made it more apparent that he was slacking off every day.
If it were any other boss, they probably would’ve had a talk with him long ago.
However, his boss, who was often teased by the employees for his dark skin, did not do so.
On the contrary, he was always very kind and approachable to Annan, not only never blaming him for not being serious about his work but also often taking him out to eat and chat alone, praising him for his "extremely high work efficiency" and that he was "exactly the talent we need."
Annan accepted such praise with a clear conscience.
Because he was very aware that his work efficiency was indeed extremely high. He was the kind of employee who could be fully immersed in a task.
Here, "fully" meant complete dedication.
As long as there was a need, besides the essential eating, drinking, and 45-minute breaks for stretching and eye relaxation, he could work continuously at maximum efficiency without chatting, resting, slacking off, or getting distracted.
Annan’s daily workload was three to five times that of his colleagues, if not more. This was because he advocated taking on this volume of work tasks during weekly meetings... at first, his colleagues thought he was just showing off or sucking up to the boss, but later they found out he truly could complete them.
But no matter what new task requests the boss had for him, he never accepted them. In the end, they would find that he would just manage to complete the final tasks ten minutes before the weekly work summary.
It was simply magical.
Therefore, Annan had always been seen as an oddball by his colleagues, also known as "the planner big brother without blood or tears."
Annan knew that such an eccentric character was definitely a hindrance to promotion and a raise. That’s why he would do these extra tasks, to shut the boss up and incidentally keep the company from going under.
But he actually didn’t care about promotions or raises... as long as he had enough money, he didn’t need women, and naturally, he had no children. His body was healthy, so there were no medical expenses, and his life was peaceful and calm.
What he loved was this ordinary and predictable life that followed a routine. Although there was no great joy, there would also be nothing to spoil his mood.
Annan really, really disliked anything that could spoil his mood. Usually, these things have a common name, called "accidents."
Fortunately, in the world he was now in, there was nothing that could spoil his mood because he was unable to feel such emotions anymore.
In an instant, Annan was freed from his cyclical, orderly mechanical life.
For the first time, he began to actively explore a life "beyond the routine"...
And thus he felt an intense, unfamiliar thrill of excitement.
Annan didn’t rush into Amos’s study.
He first quickly ran two laps around the house, memorizing the architectural layout of the home in the first lap. In the second lap, which was slower, he measured the distance from one room to another with his steps.
Because his mission was to live until the next morning. Annan considered this with a cautious attitude... there might be a chase tonight.
If there really was going to be a chase, then Annan could make it to the room he wanted to go to with his eyes closed, without the need to recognize the way or require lighting, or he could simply leave the house completely.
A mere day was not enough to make him forget these details.
It was only after he had made the necessary emergency evacuation preparations that Annan proceeded to the kitchen... holding a kitchen knife in his right hand, slinging three more on his waist, and strapping a drawing board as a shield to his left arm before cautiously opening the study.
To Annan’s disappointment, no monsters jumped out in the study.
"Wonder if I could modify the details of the nightmare after passing it..."
Annan muttered, "If I were the planner of this game, I would definitely put a monster here."
It didn’t need to be very strong, but it had to be scary enough.
Just think about it, players had just gone through a horrifying, heart-stopping infinite gallery loop and finally entered the world within the painting.
They had spent several hours completing the portrait, and by this time they were definitely very anxious. Moreover, Amos could return at any moment, and they needed to stay focused to find and solve Elle’s diary.
Then, they would rush to the study before Amos got home...
—And when they opened the study, they would be met with the thrilling surprise of an ambush as soon as they opened the door.
What a moving, tear-jerking classic scene that would be.
"So it’s purely a puzzle-solving experience after all..."
Annan sighed with regret.
He was all prepared to scream "Annan goes wherever he wants" and throw a kitchen knife at the face of the monster as it jumped out.
This copy didn’t even give him the leeway to exercise his wisdom... it was also troublesome for him.
How could one increase the rating of clearing the instance if they didn’t kill something?
What if he set a trap at the door and caught Amos off guard when he came home?
With all kinds of strange ideas popping into his mind, Annan began to carefully observe Amos’s bookshelf.
He narrowed his eyes slightly to observe the traces of dust on the bookshelf.
Thank goodness, as a middle-aged bachelor who was rarely at home, Amos didn’t have the habit of dusting regularly. At least the bookshelf must have gone without dusting for a month or two.
The amount of dust would easily reveal his reading habits for the recent period.
And Annan easily found that there were just three books Amos commonly read.
They were "The Complete Book of Rituals," "The Dangers of Worshipping These Deities," and...
"... ’The Curse and Seal of the Soul’?"
Annan murmured softly.
He didn’t mention the first two, but he was somewhat surprised by this book.
After a moment of thought, he took out all three books, locked the study from the inside, and sat at the desk—placing the kitchen knife within easy reach on his right side.
Then he began to go through the three books.