Just moments after leaving, the indoor speakers broadcast an announcement from the program crew: “Attention all players, there are thirty minutes remaining until the group vote execution. The countdown will be displayed on your mobile screens. Please decide on your suspected killer within the specified timeframe and proceed to the dining table to carry out the execution together.”
Is the time really that tight? Xia Xiqing couldn’t help but furrow his brows.
This game is similar to Werewolf, where everyone’s identities are hidden in a black box, and no one can see them. Players can only speculate about each other, and even the voting is conducted through a mobile phone, which is a form of anonymous voting. No one knows who the people around them will vote for.
Making a hasty decision could lead to the wrongful execution of an innocent person, potentially affecting the final outcome.
To be honest, this was just a reality show, an insignificant game. However, Xia Xiqing happened to hate the “GAME OVER” of failure the most. He was the kind of person who lived to pursue victory.
He couldn’t make a decision lightly without evidence to support it.
Xia Xiqing led Shang Sirui to the room of the previous female host, where they encountered Chen Chen and Ruan Xiao still inside. Even at this moment, Xia Xiqing still believed that one of them was the killer, but he had no evidence and insufficient clues to prove it.
If he were to test them… it would be too easy to be exposed.
“Xiqing,” to his surprise, Ruan Xiao called out to him first, “I want to ask you some questions about the painting. I don’t know much about art.”
Xia Xiqing smiled politely, “Of course.”
Shang Sirui laughed, “I don’t know why, but seeing the two of you together makes me imagine a romantic love story between a noble lady and an artist, hahaha.”
The tense atmosphere caused by the countdown had become much more lively, but Chen Chen broke the delicate balance.
Her usually expressionless face now showed a hint of suspicion, and her deep red lipstick made her complexion look even colder. “You study art? I don’t quite understand. How can someone who studies art solve these problems so quickly? Is it all thanks to your artistic talent?”
Though these words were reasonable speculation—anyone unfamiliar with Xia Xiqing might say such things—Chen Chen clearly harbored more hostility, making Xia Xiqing feel uneasy, or more accurately, annoyed.
But he still smiled and replied, “I study art, but math is my hobby. As Van Gogh said, his paintings are precise calculations. An artist who can be called excellent often has a solid foundation in mathematics or a keen mathematical intuition.”
Shang Sirui, standing nearby, laughed at the latter half of the sentence. “Xiqing is also very good at painting, but his math skills are truly exceptional. Earlier, in that room, most of the problems were solved by Xiqing. He’s a master.”
Xia Xiqing furrowed his brow slightly, a very subtle and fleeting movement. He felt something was off, but he couldn’t pinpoint whether it was because of someone’s words or the atmosphere.
“Is that so?” Chen Chen smiled, “I’ve been wondering if the killer himself has more information than ordinary players. Otherwise, it seems too disadvantageous for him to fight alone. So… what if you’re not an ordinary player yourself?”
Everyone was waiting for Xia Xiqing’s response, but he merely gave a flawless smile, appearing both friendly and gentle, yet his words were decisive.
“If I were truly the killer, the first thing I would do is ‘eliminate’ Zhou Ziheng.”
Chen Chen clearly hadn’t expected him to say that. In his eyes, Xia Xiqing and Zhou Ziheng were allies. “But you’ve been together since you broke into the room. Aren’t you…”
“Now? Am I with him?” Xia Xiqing crossed his arms, leaning against the wall with a smile. “Where is Ziheng now?” “ His eyes swept over the people around him. Ruan Xiao’s face remained expressionless, and Chen Chen also remained silent. Shang Sui, on the other hand, laughed dryly a few times. ”That’s impossible. I don’t think it’s Brother Ziheng. He’s always been very serious about solving puzzles…”
“Me too,” Xia Xiqing blinked his eyes. “Aren’t I being very serious about solving the puzzle?”
He paused for a moment before continuing, “Let me tell you an important piece of information: from the very beginning, my escape difficulty was higher than Zhou Ziheng’s. My hands and feet were completely bound, and even my eyes were covered, while he could escape easily. Why don’t you think about it? How could the production team make it so difficult for the killer? On the contrary, Ziheng was the one with the clearest thinking from the start. According to your perspective, Chen Chen, couldn’t he have taken the script?”
After speaking, Chen Chen looked at Xia Xiqing with a complex expression. Xia Xiqing, who was speaking nonsense with a straight face, looked back at his fearlessly. After a moment, Chen Chen lifted his foot to leave the room but was called back by Xia Xiqing, “I advise you not to go find him. If he really is the killer and his identity is discovered, you won’t survive.”
Chen Chen’s footsteps halted. Though he was reluctant to admit it, he had to acknowledge that Xia Xiqing had a point.
Xia Xiqing observed the expression on his face and smiled inwardly.
Mathematics was merely a hobby; manipulating people’s hearts was what he truly excelled at.
He couldn’t let himself be voted out like this. He believed that such manipulative words would not sway someone like Ruan Xiao, but they would be effective in distracting Cen Qing. If she had originally intended to vote for him, then after being distracted, she might vote for someone else, which would give him a chance to survive. Someone like Zhou Ziheng, who was a safe bet, wouldn’t be affected by adding Chen Chen’s vote.
But who would Shang Sirui vote for? Xia Xiqing looked at him but found him spacing out, seemingly lost in thought.
“Stop guessing,” Ruan Xiao calmly broke the deadlock, “Just tell me about these paintings.” Xia Xiqing nodded in agreement, stood up straight, and walked over to Ruan Xiao’s side, pointing at the painting “The Nameless Girl” on the wall, “Are you asking about this one?”
Ruan Xiao, who had been looking up at “The Unknown Woman,” first nodded, then quickly gave a negative answer. “It’s not just this one. I feel there’s something off about every painting in every room. The production team couldn’t have just randomly picked these as decorations.”
Although Ruan Xiao had far fewer clues than he and Zhou Ziheng, her intuition was spot-on. Xia Xiqing understood her meaning and said, “You’re right, but not every room has paintings. Besides the living room, I remember…” He looked at Shang Sirui beside him, “Your original room didn’t have any paintings, right?”
Shang Sirui paused for a moment, then thought about it. “Right, there were no paintings in my room, and none in the living room either.”
Why did he hesitate?
“Were there no paintings in the room when you first entered it?” Xia Xiqing asked again.
This time, Shang Sirui didn’t hesitate and answered very firmly, “Yes.”
Xia Xiqing nodded slowly, his eyes leaving Shang Siru’s face. At that moment, Chen Chen suggested returning to his original room. Before leaving, he turned back to look at Shang Siru, “Siru, come help me move the bed. I want to see if there’s anything underneath.”
Shang Siru hummed in response and followed Chen Chen out.
After such a long time, Zhou Ziheng should have found something by now… Xia Xiqing was still a bit worried, fearing that he might be distracted by Chen Chen and Shang Siru while searching for clues.
The most crucial clue was now in Zhou Ziheng’s hands.
Until he heard the sound of the wardrobe door closing, Ruan Xiao took a folded piece of paper out of her evening bag, said nothing, and handed it directly to Xia Xiqing.
This action was unexpected, but also reasonable. Ruan Xiao was indeed a smart person. By making such a decision, she had most likely ruled out her own suspicion.
Xia Xiqing took the paper and glanced at it.
It was a page from a medical record, and the line of text on it quickly caught his attention.
[Patient, male, 14 years old, diagnosed with bipolar disorder.]
Bipolar disorder—wasn’t that the same as manic depression? During depressive episodes, one experiences emotional lows, while during manic episodes, emotions become uncontrollable, leading to extreme actions that are beyond one’s mental control.
“Where did you find this?” Xia Xiqing was a bit surprised, instantly recalling the empty medical record he had seen in Shang Siru’s room earlier.
“Shang Siru’s room, hidden inside a coat in the wardrobe.” Ruan Xiao replied softly, “It was hidden very deeply, it doesn’t feel like the way the production team would leave clues.”
Wrong.
From the very beginning, it was wrong.
Xia Xiqing leaned against the wall, quickly reviewing everything that had happened earlier, and realized that from the very first meeting, almost every conversation and action had been meticulously set up as a trap, waiting for him to fall into.
He had originally assumed that, according to the typical show format, there would be one guest holding the “Muggle” script, but he had mistaken the target. The one who was truly unaware was actually the seemingly unapproachable Chen Chen. Moreover, his innate bias toward third parties had also led to errors in his judgment.
Xia Xiqing’s eyes went blank as he quickly analyzed the killer’s tactics in a short period of time. If he could use the public elimination method of execution, combined with his dark powers, he could eliminate two people.
These two people, needless to say, would be him and Zhou Ziheng.
After analyzing all possible scenarios from the killer’s perspective, Xia Xiqing finally understood. He looked up at Ruan Xiao, “Help me put on a show.”
Ruan Xiao felt something was off. This person clearly already knew who the killer was. The voting was about to begin, and at this point, wouldn’t the safest approach be to rally the players on the field to ensure he wasn’t voted out in the voting round? But he was clearly up to something. “What are you planning to do?”
Xia Xiqing pushed his hair back from his forehead and unconsciously licked his dry lower lip.
“A suicide attack.”
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