Blizzardous Threads of Red Main Story 4-2: Zangr's Hint
Overview
- Stage Cost: None
- First Clear Rewards:
Astral Memory x50
- Note - During its initial limited run, this stage's first clear reward was:
Holly Stationery x300
Guide
- Hover to view spoiler content.
Script
Snow Mountain Trail
Zangr Stewart, who has been lingering on the snow mountain trails, might know something. Go ask him.
You all find Zangr Stewart on a small path leading to the backyard.
He squats alone in the snow, staring at the mountains in the distance. You wonder what he's thinking.
You: Zangr?
Your voice causes him to snap around quickly with a burning gaze.
Zangr Stewart: It's you?
Luke: Yeah, we wanted to ask you about the villa.
Zangr Stewart: Villa!? You all found something, right?
Zangr Stewart: You believe I'm not lying, right? There are dark voices in the mountain that will devour...
You: Wait!
You cut Zangr Stewart off so that he won't go off the wrong tangent.
You: You said before, "there are many dark secrets hidden in this mountain corrupted by darkness."
You: I want to ask you what you know of these "secrets."
Zangr Stewart: Secrets?
Zangr Stewart's eyes light up for a moment, then he looks at you with a cautious expression.
Zangr Stewart: Why do you want to know those secrets?
You: (Zangr is always spouting nonsense. A normal response wouldn't impress him, so why not try to talk like him...)
You: Because I want to explore the secrets of the world with you.
Zangr Stewart's eyes light up even more upon hearing you say that.
Zangr Stewart: I knew it. You are my companions.
Zangr Stewart: I knew someone like me would never be alone in this world.
Zangr Stewart: Sure, I will tell you my secrets.
You: A lot has happened in the villa recently, so... we must find the truth as soon as possible.
Zangr Stewart: No, no, no.
Zangr Stewart shakes his head after hearing your words.
Zangr Stewart: I'm too unlucky to go on adventures with the protagonists.
Zangr Stewart: The truth has nothing to do with me.
You: Eh!?
He ignores you, going back to squatting in the snow like a statue.
You: (Oh no, did I say something wrong...?)
(Go back to dialogue choice)
Zangr Stewart: When I first got here, I snuck into the dark mountain alone to take a look around.
Zangr Stewart: I snuck in alone when none of you were there.
Zangr Stewart: I... didn't think a time would come when I was courageous.
Marius: And what did you see?
Zangr Stewart: I saw a man turn the secret door that leads to the dark abyss!
Zangr Stewart: He was fiddling with something and dragged a man inside...
Luke: What? Can't you tell us more details?
Artem: ...
Vyn: To be honest, this is a little over my head.
Zangr Stewart: You know, I saw that man offer a sacrifice to the devil.
Zangr Stewart: The person who became a sacrifice falls asleep forever in the cage, consumed by the darkness...
You: (The secret door? Secret... secret...)
You: Oh, right! Wasn't there another security door in the collection room?
Luke: Yes, I went to check it out earlier.
Luke: The door was too complicated. It will be difficult to open it without understanding the locking mechanism.
Marius: Is that the only thing we have yet to investigate?
After discovering the door, you all hesitated whether to open it or not.
And the security door was so old that the turntable on it was rusty...
It looked abandoned, so you didn't pay too much attention to it at the time.
But now that you think about it... Yes, words alone are enough to wake up the dreamer.
Going around in circles, you have all lost sight of what's inside the villa.
You: Let's go see if we can get that door open.
Zangr Stewart: You... are leaving?
Zangr Stewart blinks as if he hadn't realized.
You: Yes, thank you for the clue. We're off to check out the "dark abyss."
Zangr Stewart: Well... perception varies from person to person.
Zangr Stewart: I don't know what you figured out, but I didn't figure anything out.
He mutters to himself, standing back in his original position and staring off into the distance. He ignores all of you.
You: (Why does Zangr suddenly look so lost? Like a kicked puppy?)
Collection Room
A security door in the secret collection room of the villa was overlooked. Go have a look. Maybe something can be found there.
You: Look guys, I found something.
...
Marius: It's the same security door as before.
You: Yeah, seems like we need to rely on Luke to open it again.
Luke: No, the situation is different this time.
Luke carefully observes the security door and taps on it.
Artem: What's wrong?
Luke: The structure of this security door is different from the previous one. It's not a safety lock inside.
Luke taps on the door a few more times.
As he does, a small electronic screen appears on the wall, flashing a faint blue light.
You: Eh!? I thought there wasn't anything modern at all in the villa!
Marius: It feels strange being back in the modern world.
Luke: It looks like this door is even more secure than the previous one... Something important is hidden behind it.
You: Is there a way to open it?
Luke: Yeah... This type of smart door can be opened by authenticating the corresponding "key."
Luke: However, this key can be any number of things depending on the user's preference.
Luke: Any object in this room can be a "key."
Luke: So, it will be very difficult to crack...
You: It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Artem: Look, there are words on the screen.
Vyn: Precious memory...
Luke: This is supposed to serve as a hint that this "key" has something to do with someone's memory.
Marius: That's too abstract...
You: Everything in this room can be called a memory, right?
You: Look at the precious items in this collection, and... the things left behind by the people who disappeared...
You: They were all once a "precious memory."
Artem: Indeed, everything carries a memory of its owner.
Marius: Since these are memories, why don't we look around? We might get lucky.
Vyn: I agree. Solving a riddle takes trial and error.
You: All right. Let's go take a look around.
There seems to be something more in the room than before. Investigate the collection room again to confirm!
Artem: ...
You: Mr. Wing, you keep staring at the security door... Is there something wrong?
Artem: This door was just opened.
You: Eh!?
Artem: Look here... I remember there was dust on this security door the last time I was here.
Artem: But now, there are parts of the handle that are less dusty, which means...
You: Someone had their hand on the handle not long ago!?
Artem: Yes, that's my speculation.
You: Who opened the security door before us?
You: I remember after our investigation, we told Butler Winters to forbid the guests from entering the collection room...
Vyn: This...
You: What's wrong, Dr. Richter?
Vyn: There's a stack of paper under the chest...
You: That's a thick stack. It looks like it was pulled from a case file.
You: Strange, I don't think it was here before.
You: Did I remember wrongly?
Vyn: You didn't. The paper shows no signs of yellowing and must have been thrown in the corner recently.
You: !!!
You flip through it. There are names neatly recorded on the paper, with an amount and date marked.
You: What does that even mean?
Vyn: Look at the name here.
You: Holly...
Vyn: Yes, it should be transaction records, and the names on them...
Vyn pauses for a moment, then shakes his head gently.
Vyn: Let's keep the list. I think the police will need it later to sort out the details of the case.
You: Sure.
(Obtain evidence: Old Information Roster)
Luke: How strange...
You: Luke, what's wrong?
Luke: Look at this bookshelf. Something seems strange about it.
You: Hmm?
You look up at the tall bookshelf, not noticing anything unusual.
You: It seems pretty normal... but why is the top drawer open?
You: I don't think it was open before...
Luke: Drawer?
Following the direction of where you're pointing, Luke looks inside the open drawer to find a folder of documents.
Luke: No wonder I thought something was off. The last I checked, this drawer was locked.
Luke: Someone must have shoved this folder into the drawer before we came to the collection room.
You: What's inside?
Luke: Let me see.
Luke and you carefully read the documents, frowning at their contents.
Luke: The new drug, code named T, is beneficial for delaying cell division and increasing cell activity.
Luke: It is suspected to slow the effects of aging in humans...
Luke: It's some sort of experiment report talking about gene expression and cell differentiation.
Luke: The report says this drug significantly delays the natural aging in humans...
Luke: If successful, it could drastically extend human life.
You: It sounds preposterous... So the Zeng family was working on a drug for "eternal youth"?
You: My hunch was right. Dr. Lee was keeping this from us.
Luke: Look, the drug is still in the research stage, and these documents are just routine reports of the research process.
You: Who put the documents here...
You: What are his motives? What is he planning?
Luke: Those are indeed questions...
Luke: [Player], let's take these reports with us. We can discuss them with the others.
You: Okay, sure.
(Obtain evidence: Research Report)
You: A normal brooch, a lady's ring...
Marius: These are all common accessories, nothing special.
You: Wait, look at this!
After looking inside the box, you find a smaller box at the bottom.
You pick it up and open it carefully...
You: Eh? This is?
You see an antique key sitting quietly in the middle of the case.
There are some rust stains on the key as if it had been stored there for a long time.
Hearing your exclamation, Marius comes over to you.
Marius: A key?
You: Could it be to the security door? Otherwise, the owner wouldn't have been so careful to keep it hidden.
Marius: Yeah... It might be a possibility.
Marius: Why don't we keep it and try it out?
You: All right.
(Obtain evidence: Door Key)
Collection Room
The investigation reveals that there are many items that were not in the collection room before. Discuss this with NXX members!
Luke: The device inside this security door is complicated...
After Artem and you noticed that the security door might have been opened, you both try to open it to see what's going on.
However, Luke has been studying the door for more than ten minutes to no avail.
You: Why don't we ask Butler Winters to see if he knows how to open the door?
Luke: Yeah... It will take some time to find a way to open the security door. Give me some time.
Luke: By the way, you all need to check out this report.
Luke: The Zeng family... has been conducting some kind of medical research experiments.
Luke takes out the research reports from the top drawer for everyone to read.
Luke: Detailed experimental data are recorded in this report.
Marius: The unknown drug, T, is beneficial for cell repair, which can delay the effects of natural aging...
Vyn: The original report dates back fifty years. It seems the Zeng Family experimented with new drugs after coming to Yuchen Town.
Marius: Hey, the lead researcher's signature is Dr. Lee?
You: Dr. Lee?
You: But we saw Dr. Lee... He looks thirty years old, at best.
You: Fifty years ago... He probably wasn't even born then, right?
Artem: He comes from a family of doctors, and his father had a connection with Nolan Zeng. So Dr. Lee...
Artem: It might just be a code name for the Lee family.
Marius: Indeed. My father, brother, and I... are all called Mr. von Hagen.
You: It looks like Dr. Lee and Mr. Ji were keeping some things from us.
Vyn: ...Everyone, I found a problem.
Vyn: Just now, I looked through the research report and transaction records.
Vyn: All these years, the Zeng family has been conducting experiments for a new medical drug.
Vyn: But the data from their clinical experiments almost always resulted in failure, except in this one case...
After flipping through several pages, Vyn shows all of you one of the pages.
Vyn: The subject of this experiment has good drug tolerance, and was suitable for long-term observation.
You: !!!
On this page of the experiment reports, there was a signature in the volunteer column— Mevis Zeng.
The handwriting is crooked and uneven, as if it had been written by a child who was still practicing.
Luke: Mevis Zeng... He participated in the Zeng family's experiment!?
Vyn: And, according to the results, he was the only successful patient.
Marius: Nolan Zeng probably adopted him after seeing something special in him.
Vyn: Or... maybe it was only to conduct long-term observations.
Vyn: Later, Mevis Zeng earned his father's trust, so Nolan Zeng trusted his "adopted son" with the business.
Artem: No, some of this information doesn't add up.
Vyn: What do you mean?
Artem: According to the report, Mevis Zeng was the only successful patient in the new drug experiment.
Artem: If the effects of T are to delay the effects of natural aging, then why did the Mevis Zeng we saw...
You: ...
With Artem's words, images of the villa "owner" flash through your mind— his looked old but was steady and kind.
Judging by the naked eye, Mevis Zeng looked to be around sixty or seventy years ago.
However, according to the experiment, Mevis Zeng's cells were affected, and his natural aging period was longer...
That is, if the data is true, Mevis Zeng would have looked much younger than he really was.
So fifty years ago, Mevis Zeng, who took part in the experiment, still aged like normal?
Luke: Have any of you seen... a picture of Mevis Zeng anywhere?
Marius: No, the Zeng family has always kept a low profile and hardly ever shows up in public.
Marius: Otherwise, why would this auction have attracted so many people?
You: Yes, I remember... Mr. Ji said he exchanged letters with the Zeng family most of the time.
Artem: That is to say, the guests who came to the villa have no idea what Mevis Zeng looks like, right?
Luke: I've got it!
Luke: The Mevis Zeng we saw was probably an imposter from the start.
Luke: He... He wasn't even Mevis Zeng, but merely a disguise.
Vyn: We had preconceived notions that someone who has run the family for decades should be a steady old man.
Vyn: So when "Mevis Zeng" appeared, there was no doubt in our minds. But now, there is.
You: Yes, like how he barely shows up in front of the guests, and...
You: After something happened to Elijah Yin, Mevis Zeng only appeared to calm the guests, imitating the butler.
Marius: Yeah, the butler has had it rough, dealing with the many things that happened by himself.
Luke: Wait, the butler, by himself...
You: !!!
The butler looks to be in his forties, mature, and collected.
After something happened to "Mevis Zeng," everyone in the villa relied on him to take care of things, like the master of the villa...
A strange feeling comes over you, which quickly converts into an uneasy conjecture.
You: ...He's Mevis Zeng!?
Luke: If the reports are true, then it's possible... that he might be a middle-aged man.
Luke: But Mevis Zeng already obtained everything from the Zeng family. Why would he pretend to be the butler...?
Marius: I have a bold speculation. He... might be the child who disappeared in the mountains fifty years ago.
Marius takes out a few things and puts them on an open folder.
Marius: I recognize this branch ornament from the study and the holly brooch from the chest in the collection room.
Marius: This is the brooch that Payton made for Holly when he was younger.
Marius: But this metal ornament is crude in workmanship yet so similar in shape to the brooch.
Marius: I've been wondering all this time— who would try to copy Holly's brooch? Now I understand.
Marius: The metal ornaments were probably imitated by Wilde after he grew up, based on his own memory.
Marius: For Wilde, the memory of his sister was probably fuzzy.
Marius: He only remembered that his sister had a brooch, but he could not quite remember what it looked like.
Marius: So, although the outline of the ornament is similar to the brooch, the details are rough and fuzzy.
You: ...
Artem: If he is Wilde then his purpose over the years is obvious...
You: He wanted revenge.
Artem: So, he disguised himself as the butler before we got here, just to hide his identity, to make moving around easier.
Luke: I remember now. After what happened to Elijah Yin, the maid, Rachael, was pouring out the grapefruit juice.
Luke: She said the butler had ordered her to throw the juice out.
Luke: The story was that the guests felt uneasy about it... But maybe it was just an excuse to destroy evidence?
Vyn: Yes. If I didn't have the testing kit, there was no way of knowing that the grapefruit juice was drugged.
Vyn: Then... this vital piece of evidence would have slipped away from us unnoticed.
Artem: And that time with "Mevis Zeng"...
Artem: After Sam Zhang's encounter with "Mevis Zeng," only the butler went to the study.
You: But he was asked to go to the study. And it wasn't long before we found "Mevis Zeng" in the study...
Artem: No, it wasn't the butler's first visit to the study.
Winters: It's true. Our master was talking about business with Mr. Zhang earlier.
Winters: They talked for a long time. Mr. Zhang didn't leave the study until the auction was about to start...
Winters: After that, the master stayed in the study and told us not to disturb him because he had to sort some things out.
Artem: At that time, the butler said "Mevis Zeng" told him not to disturb him.
Artem: How could he receive such instructions if he wasn't in the study?
Marius: Oh my God, he said it so naturally. I didn't even notice what was wrong with it back then.
Luke: It was precisely because his performance was so natural, and the fact that there were no comparable fingerprints left in the study...
Luke: No one would suspect him at all.
All the conjectures seem to point in a clear direction.
Marius: In that case, the changes in the collection room all make sense.
Marius: Since the last time we investigated...
Marius: To prevent intruders from ruining the crime scene, I asked the butler to ban guests from the collection room.
Marius: But today, there were many more items in the collection room that we didn't see before.
Luke: Yes, if these things were here before, we wouldn't have missed them.
Luke: However, no one would suspect the butler if he was in the collection room.
You: So he wanted us to find it?
Artem: No, it might not have been us, but someone else.
Vyn: Yes, just as he did with Sam Zhang, the butler left something there to lure the target...
You: !!!
You: Oh no! So Dr. Lee and Mr. Ji are in danger?
Artem: Let's go take a look.
Summary
Character(s)
Evidence
Old Information Roster
A paper document found in the storage room, recording information of transactions, including names, time and amount of money.
Research Report
A research document in the storage room left by someone on purpose. It's about a medicine that can increase the lifespan of people. (P.S. The document is so long that D.A.V.I.S. has already selected the most important part for you to read.
Drug Code: T
Efficacy: Interferes with gene expression, affects cell differentiation
Usage: Delays cell division and increases cell activity
Experiment Purpose: Significantly delay the natural aging period of human beings to extend their life span
Experiment Results: The results are yet to be verified given theoretical feasibility yet failed biological experiments.
Conclusion: The experiment has reached a bottleneck. More test data from Khaimit is needed.
Door Key (3D)
A metal key carved with traditional patterns found in the storage room. It should be able to open a certain door.
