Chapter 158 Angelina's Tea Party 27

The system notification sounded in Lin Xiangjun's ear.

"You have triggered the instance's main quest—Find Angelina's precious tea leaves and sugar cubes before the tea party begins."

Lin Xiangjun immediately asked, "Madam, I would be more than happy to help. However, I would like to ask when the tea party starts? It would be a great pity if I missed your tea party because I was looking for the tea leaves."

Angelina's eyes narrowed slightly. She paused, her voice still eager, but her eyes held a contempt she couldn't—or perhaps didn't want to—hide. "The tea party starts around 4:30 PM. You still have plenty of time to prepare."

She stood up, her pearl necklace clattering.

"Pardon me, I have some matters to attend to. You may take your time looking around my manor; just remember, it's best not to miss the time for the tea party."

"Of course, Madam."

Angelina left just as she had arrived, trailing her exaggeratedly large dress behind her.

It was now 12:23 PM. She had been chatting with Angelina for about twenty minutes, and there were only four hours left before the instance began.

This was the first time she had encountered an instance with such a tight schedule. Lin Xiangjun didn't dare to be careless and immediately prepared to get up to look for clues.

However, just as she used the table to stand up, her legs gave way without warning. Fortunately, she was leaning on the table; her body only lurched violently, and she barely managed to maintain her balance.

She hadn't noticed while sitting, but standing up so suddenly made her body feel limp and weak, as if she had low blood sugar.

"So this is an instance with a physical weakness debuff."

Generally speaking, an unavoidable physical weakness debuff like this was most likely caused by instance contamination.

She immediately pulled out a bottle of [contamination clearing potion] and downed it.

The effect of the [contamination clearing potion] was somewhat different from what Lin Xiangjun had expected. After drinking it, her body didn't receive a noticeable boost in strength, but the rate at which her body weakened slowed down significantly.

If her body had been a pool before, the previous rate was like a hole smashed into the side of the pool, with all the stored water gushing out. The contamination clearing potion was like a super leak sealer, instantly plugging the leak.

Her strength hadn't recovered, and the water level hadn't increased, but the speed of the leak had slowed down.

Yes, it had only slowed down; it hadn't been completely resolved.

From this perspective, the source of contamination in this instance should be something that continuously absorbs others' vitality. Everyone who entered the instance would become a leaking pool. Black tea could replenish the water, and the potion could plug the leak; using both together would yield better results.

The black tea provided a short-term buff, but the side effects were still unknown.

If she didn't drink the black tea, at the current rate of physical weakening, she estimated that in less than ten minutes, she would be no different from a quadriplegic.

She had to drink this black tea whether she wanted to or not, or else she would fail the main quest and die in the instance.

Lin Xiangjun took a sip of the black tea.

Sure enough, her physical strength became abundant again, and the rate of weakening decreased to about half of what it was before.

For now, there seemed to be no better way.

Lin Xiangjun took her black tea cup with her. After a thought, she also tucked the teapot and some portable desserts into her pocket.

Just in case they were useful.

Leaving the tea room, neither Angelina nor the Mustached Butler was in the living room. There were only a few scattered Servants, all wearing white bow ties.

【6. Servants uniformly wear white bow ties and remain silent. If you see a Servant wearing a black bow tie with tea stains at the corners of their mouth, please stay away. They are Guests, or at least they used to be.】

According to Rule 6, these Servants wearing white bow ties were safe.

【5. Tea leaves are in the locked glass display case in the study. Sugar cubes are in the Ivory Jar on the bedroom dressing table.】

Rule 5 clearly gave the location of the tea leaves, but this rule had obvious signs of distortion and struggle, which always made one feel uneasy.

Lin Xiangjun thought for a moment and stopped a White Bow Tie Servant.

“I am a Guest invited by Miss Angelina. Can someone show me around this manor?”

The White Bow Tie Servant's eyes were a bit vacant. After hearing Lin Xiangjun's words, they paused for two or three seconds before slowly bowing. “Of course, please follow me.”

The size of Angelina's manor wasn't as exaggerated as a castle estate, but in modern terms, it would still be considered a luxury villa. Circling the entire manor without entering any rooms would take about ten minutes.

“...The room on your left is Madam's bedroom. Madam takes a nap every day, roughly from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM. Afterward, she reads in the study for a while. Madam is currently napping, so we need to be quiet.”

Lin Xiangjun nodded in understanding. “Indeed, Madam needs her rest. I will come back once she wakes up.”

The White Bow Tie Servant shook their head. “No one is allowed to disturb Madam during her sleeping and reading hours.”

“Then do you clean the rooms after that time has passed?”

“No, we are strictly forbidden from entering the study and the bedroom. These areas usually don't require our cleaning.”

“Can you not enter no matter what happens?”

“Yes, no matter what happens, we are not allowed to enter the study. This is strictly prohibited.”

Lin Xiangjun's eyebrows rose slightly.

【4. The living room is relatively safe. Entering the study and bedroom is strictly forbidden. If you find yourself inside, immediately find the silver bell in the room and ring it, then remain still until a Servant 'invites' you back to the living room. You only have one chance to ring the bell.】

First of all, the rules of a two-star instance do not contain errors. Secondly, if the Servants cannot enter the bedroom, then who is the "Servant" summoned by the bell?

【6. Servants uniformly wear white bow ties and remain silent. If you see a Servant wearing a black bow tie with tea stains at the corners of their mouth, please stay away. They are Guests, or at least they used to be.】

Could the one summoned by the bell be a Black Bow Tie Servant?

“Do all the Servants in this manor have to wear white bow ties? Is this Madam Angelina's preference?”