There was a loud thud. Their conversation was interrupted. Shang Sirui looked over and saw that Fang Juexia had accidentally dropped the book he had just taken out of the safe onto the floor.
Fang Juexia quickly knelt down, feeling around on the ground. His vision was dark, but suddenly he felt something—not the book, but the cool texture of a leather glove.
The loss of sight was replaced by the depth of touch.
“This book is quite thick,” Pei Tingsong said calmly, picking up the book before him. He glanced at the cover, “North…” Then he took Fang Juexia’s hand with his warm, glove-less hand and pulled him up, muttering, “Get up, or your legs will go weak again.”
Fang Juexia’s expression remained calm, but Pei Tingsong’s words kept echoing in his mind.
Pei Tingsong casually placed the book on the table and continued chatting with Shang Sui Rui.
Zhou Ziheng, Xia Xiqing, and Zhai Ying had finished looking at the clue map on the wall and were still discussing it.
Due to his meticulous thinking habits, Zhou Ziheng still felt that this clue map might not be sufficient as conclusive evidence. Xia Xiqing thought his resistance to the map was a bit excessive, “You’re acting strangely. If you usually play the good guy card, you wouldn’t act like this.”
“My opinion is just for reference,” Zhou Ziheng insisted, “but we can’t always rely on players’ gaming habits to make judgments. That’s considered outside information.”
“So,” Zhai Ying interjected during their argument, “in your view, my character is a detective who suddenly intrudes. If we follow the conventional plotline, she is the provider of clues. But as Zhou Ziheng said, if these clues don’t hold up, the detective’s role could instead create a plot twist.”
As she spoke, she unbuttoned her coat, slipped her hand into her trouser pocket, and continued, “So, if we follow this logic, could the seemingly weakest high school girl also create such a dramatic twist? What about the psychologist, who appears to be the most positive character? Of course, if the band’s lead singer is involved in a murder case, it could also create a sensational plot twist.”
Her logic was clear, and she spoke in a well-organized manner. After listening, Fang Juexia added, “I agree with Zhai Ying’s words. In fact, besides these, the roles of Yan Teacher and the college student are easily forgotten because they lack distinctiveness. Such inconspicuousness is often linked to plot twists. So I think everyone’s suspicion is roughly equivalent.”
Xia Xiqing nodded, “Well-reasoned and irrefutable. However, I would like to ask, if the production team really needs to create a twist, why would they connect the seemingly vulnerable female high school student with almost everyone else? Isn’t that highly suspicious?”
Zhou Ziheng smiled and countered with Xia Xiqing’s previous logic, “Perhaps the production team knew you were the one acting, so they didn’t want to make it too confusing, as it wouldn’t match your style.”
The others laughed.
Pei Tingsong leaned on the table, bored, and flipped through the book on the table. “I want to see your room.”
Shang Si Rui nodded. “Go ahead.” Then he added, “Do you want me to accompany you?”
Pei Tingsong glanced at Fang Juexia, who was also looking at him, but he wasn’t sure if Fang Juexia could see him or not.
“It’s up to you,” Pei Tingsong said.
Fang Juexia turned his face away.
Oh, so he could see.
“I won’t go.” Shang Siru hugged Fang Juexia’s shoulders. “I’ve seen enough. I’ve been there so long I’ve developed a shadow. You go take a look around. I’ll stay here. Maybe this room will have more clues. Right, Juexia?”
“Mm.” Fang Juexia didn’t look at Pei Tingsong.
“Alright.” Pei Tingsong stopped flipping through the book, flipped it over, and tossed it onto the table. “Anyone else want to come with me?”
Pei Tingsong tilted his head at Zhou Ziheng and the two of them left together.
Xia Xiqing carefully organized the relationship chart and then searched every possible corner of the room for any clues related to the plot, including the mattress in the detective’s room.
Fang Juexia couldn’t see clearly and lost his investigative advantage here.
However, his hearing was keen. Amidst the noisy discussions and loud rummaging sounds, he heard a very faint sound—music, but it was very soft, almost at the lowest volume, completely drowned out by the chaotic indoor sounds. If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t see at all and could only rely on his hearing, he would have missed it.
It was like an auditory hallucination; he could hardly be sure of the music’s authenticity, but the darkness gave him the inertia to grope his way forward, following the guidance of his hearing, he slowly made his way toward the sound.
Sitting on the sofa, Fang Juexia took a deep breath.
The music grew louder, increasingly real. He reached his hand into the gap behind the sofa cushion.
Suddenly.
“What’s wrong, Juexia?”
Fang Juexia heard Xia Xiqing’s voice, quietly withdrew his hand, and shook his head with a smile, “My back hasn’t been feeling well lately. I’ve been practicing dance a bit… I can’t stand for too long, so I wanted to sit down.”
He struggled internally for a long time before finally offering a tentative invitation, “Would you like to come sit down too?”
Xia Xiqing left the dark room, holding onto the hidden door, and suddenly noticed the wall and the paintings on it. It seemed to be a collection of a series of abstract masterpieces. One of them caught his attention: “The Death of Marat.”
He stared at this world-famous painting but noticed something was off, so he reached out and took it down.
Shang Siru and Zhai Ying were still searching for clues. Zhai Ying seemed to be a quiet person, not responding much to Shang Siru’s words, or perhaps it was due to the need to avoid suspicion between opposite-sex idols, so the two didn’t communicate much. Sitting in the darkness, Fang Juexia pondered for a moment, then withdrew his hand from under the sofa cushion and clenched it tightly. He leaned back on the sofa, his hand pressed against his forehead.
There was a button on the small voice recorder. Fang Juexia pressed it, and the faint music stopped abruptly. After three seconds of silence, a faint sound accompanied by a crackling electrical noise came through, becoming clearer.
It was a girl’s voice.
“I’m calling to suggest we work together. You don’t want this either, do you…”
“We have to eliminate him. We have to eliminate him…”
Zhou Ziheng first took Pei Tingsong to see Shang Siru’s room, which was indeed very simple. He sat on the sofa, picked up the guitar, and strummed it. “The tone is pretty good.”
“I don’t know much about music,” Zhou Ziheng asked, “What kind of guitar is this?”
“An acoustic guitar.” Pei Tingsong put the guitar back. While chatting with Zhou Ziheng about music, they arrived at the psychologist’s room. Zhou Ziheng’s attention was drawn to their large desk, “This must be where you gather your main clues, right?”
Pei Tingsong happened to walk out from the connected waiting room, standing in front of the large bookshelf, staring at the diverse collection of books on it. He hummed in agreement and added, “It was pretty tough. At the time, we were all wearing hoods, so we couldn’t see anything, and our hands and feet were tied up.”
“We also wore hoods, and the square ones were especially funny,” Zhou Ziheng sat down on the chair Pei Tingsong had initially used, checking for any hidden mechanisms while chatting animatedly, “The audience must have found it hilarious, with everyone wearing square hoods.”
He heard the sound of a guitar and looked up to see Pei Tingsong holding a miniature ukulele, strumming the strings and playing a melody.
Zhou Ziheng raised his eyebrows in admiration, “The theme song of our movie.”
“The production team really cares; these are all good instruments.” Pei Tingsong turned around and put the ukulele back in its place.
Just then, they heard the production team’s announcement.
“Attention all players: there are half an hour left until the first public vote for execution. Please brainstorm and discuss your suspected killer in the coming time.”
So soon? Fang Juexia calculated the time; it had indeed been a long time, but the production team had not yet revealed the knight’s faction. It seemed they wanted to execute a player first before revealing it.
The six of them came out of the room and gathered in the original lounge to sit down.
“How should we discuss this?” Pei Tingsong bent down to flip through some clues on the coffee table. “We haven’t figured out much yet. We can’t just randomly vote someone out.”
Unexpectedly, his words immediately drew an attack from Xia Xiqing. “Little Pei, aren’t you going to tell everyone about the knight thing you did with me in the infirmary?”
Fang Juexia had actually wanted to tell everyone about this earlier, so they could focus their suspicion on these two people. But he couldn’t find the right opportunity, and he didn’t have the authority to do so. If he wasn’t careful, he might end up getting himself into trouble.
Unexpectedly, it was Xia Xiqing who brought it up first.
Pei Tingsong remained calm, “Right, I almost forgot.” He briefly explained the situation to everyone, of course from his own perspective and logic, “Xia Qing asked Jue Xia to team up with him, revealing his own knight identity. Coincidentally, he stumbled upon my iron wall, so I immediately stepped forward to expose him, saying that I was the real knight.”
Xia Xiqing laughed, “To be honest with you, I can’t directly confirm that you’re the killer wearing the knight’s clothes. If you admit now that you’re not the knight, I might believe you’re just covering for the real knight. You choose.”
Pei Tingsong was not afraid of his words at all, but raised his eyebrows instead, “Are you hinting at something? Sorry, I don’t understand. The real knight never backs down.”
Right from the start, it was such a big show that Shang Si Rui was dazzled, “Did the program team make a mistake? This isn’t a double-sided knight, it’s a real and fake knight, right?”
Zhou Ziheng observed the two of them, “What? Are you all planning to go with the knights this round? But the knights’ faction hasn’t been revealed yet.”
Zhai Ying crossed her arms and watched the spectacle unfold, “Since they dared to openly challenge each other, their factions are obvious. They should both say they’re white knights.”
Fang Juexia knew he couldn’t remain silent now, but he also couldn’t speak carelessly. The conflict in this round was originally between Xia Xiqing and Pei Tingsong. If he accidentally got involved, things would only become more complicated.
The best approach now was to pretend to be an ordinary player.
He tried to shift his perspective. If he were an ordinary player now, what would be the top priority?
Still finding the killer, that’s right.
“I don’t think this round is the knights’ turn. Our voting opportunities are precious—they’re our only chance to gain an advantage over the killer. Because the killer has the power to kill. Don’t forget that.”
Xia Xiqing looked at him with a smile, “That’s right. But in my opinion, whoever is challenging the Knight isn’t exactly a good person.”
It’s you who’s really challenging them, brother. Fang Juexia muttered to himself.
Pei Tingsong countered, “I agree. If you hadn’t taken the initiative and revealed yourself first, I might still be hiding and不敢露面, but I can’t just watch the killer put on the white knight’s clothes. So I have to stand up.”
Fang Juexia blinked.
You’re good with words. If I weren’t the real Knight, I might actually believe you.
The situation fell into a chaotic stalemate, and everyone fell silent for a moment.
Zhou Ziheng pondered repeatedly, feeling that things weren’t that simple. “I guess the production team won’t expose the Knight camp at this point either. To be honest, I agree with Juexia’s point earlier. This round isn’t the knights’ turn; if we’re going to vote, we should vote for the killer. However,“ he changed the subject, ”I don’t entirely believe that one of you is real and the other is fake. Maybe both of you are fake, and the real knight is still hiding.”
Fang Juexia clenched his fingers tightly as he heard Shang Sirui analyze, “Earlier, Xi Qing claimed to be the White Knight and told Xiao Pei, ‘If you’re fake and just here to take the bullet for me, then leave immediately, and I’ll believe you’re a good person. If you don’t leave, you’re the killer.’ This logic seems flawless at first glance, very much like the White Knight’s logic.”
“But do you remember what Xiao Pei said earlier? Xi Qing exposed himself to win over Juexia, which is a bit odd. If the White Knight exposes himself from the start, wouldn’t that quickly invite danger? To ensure the good guy wins, shouldn’t he use his own knight card to form an alliance?”
Shang Sui’s logic was quite clear, and this was also the part that Fang Juexia had always found odd about Xia Qing, but he didn’t feel it was appropriate to say it out loud. Shang Sui, however, said it very appropriately.
Zhai Ying continued, “There’s another point. Xi Qing revealed his identity so long ago, yet the killer hasn’t killed him. Isn’t that also strange? But there’s another odd thing: if Xi Qing is part of the dark faction, after he exposed Pei Tingsong’s identity, shouldn’t he have taken some action? He hasn’t, and everything has remained peaceful so far.”
After she finished speaking, Fang Juexia thought for a moment and continued, “Perhaps one of these two is truly the killer, but we cannot determine whether a player is the killer based solely on their performance in the game. Don’t forget that the killer who escapes is tied to the plot. “ After pausing again, he continued from the perspective of an ordinary player, ”Of course, the purpose of our vote this time is to eliminate the killer as much as possible. So even if I can’t fully assess the situation now, I might still cast a vote to ensure that the good players’ votes aren’t wasted.”
His words seemed to gain the approval of the players present, who nodded in agreement.
At this point in time, the biggest beneficiary of abstaining is the killer, as their execution rate is significantly reduced. So even if it means mistakenly killing an innocent person, it’s worth taking the risk to try and execute the killer.
Soon, a voting prompt sounded in the room.
“Players have thirty seconds to vote. Please write down the name of the killer you believe to be responsible. The countdown begins.”
Everyone moved further apart and took out the phones provided by the production team to vote. Fang Juexia walked to the display wall hiding the secret door, faced the wall, and took out his phone. A certain premonition lingered in his heart, especially after leaving the black room.
“Five—”
“Four—”
“Three—”
Fang Juexia typed in a name.
“Two—”
“One.”
Send.
“Attention all players, the results of this vote are…”
He let out a sigh of relief.
He looked up and analyzed everyone’s possible voting tendencies in his mind. As he thought about it, Fang Juexia unexpectedly noticed that there seemed to be a missing painting on the wall, leaving a bare patch of wall. For someone with OCD like him, this was really unsettling.
He looked around and saw the painting placed near a cabinet by the door, with a set of teaware on top. Fang Juexia walked over, picked up the painting, and looked at it. It depicted a person dead in a bathtub, holding a letter and a pen.
His OCD compelled him to hang the painting in the empty spot, adjusting it carefully. Fang Juexia looked at his work with satisfaction, but noticed that the painting was slightly off-center in the frame, revealing a bit of white edge.
It was unbearable. No matter how he looked at it, it bothered him.
“What’s wrong?” Xia Xiqing appeared behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you interested in this painting?”
Fang Juexia turned around and smiled at him, about to say that he just wanted to hang the painting, but the moment he saw Xia Xiqing, he suddenly thought of something.
His hands holding the picture frame began to sweat, and Fang Juexia adjusted his breathing. “Well, I’m not particularly knowledgeable about it, but I feel like this painting must have some kind of story behind it.”
Xia Xiqing nodded. “You’re right. You have a good eye for art. This painting depicts a leader who was assassinated during the French Revolution, Marat.” He shrugged and complained, “But this is a poor imitation.”
“Is that so?” Fang Juexia smiled, “I can’t tell either.”
“Art,” Xia Xiqing smiled at him.
Watching the two of them get closer, Fang Juexia automatically stepped aside, moving slowly outward to avoid disturbing them. He noticed Zhai Ying standing beside him.
“Juexia, I heard you study mathematics.”
Fang Juexia nodded, “What about it?”
“I found this in the psychologist’s room. It looks like a draft paper.” Zhai Ying handed him the paper in her hand. “Do these equations mean anything?”
Fang Juexia took it and looked at it carefully. “These equations are just the calculations for a problem. As for their meaning, there may be no other meaning. They are ordinary double integrals.” There were also some sets written on one side of the equations.
“Is the answer to this problem correct?” Zhai Ying asked.
“Alright, I’ll come over in a bit.” Zhai Ying left directly, leaving Fang Juexia alone. He was so engrossed in his calculations that he quickly arrived at the result, which matched the one on the original draft paper. Fang Juexia turned around to look for Zhai Ying but nearly collided with another person approaching him.
“Are you also stumbling around outside?”
His arm was supported, and Fang Juexia clutched the calculation paper in his hand. He looked up and saw Pei Tingsong’s face.
He always spoke with multiple layers of meaning, one sentence leading to another, speaking in riddles that only the two of them understood.
Pet, one-sixth, little master…
He was too good at playing with words.
“Just don’t do it while dancing.” ” Fang Juexia spoke calmly, breaking free from his grip and standing firm. He folded the calculation paper and draft paper from earlier and stuffed them into his pants pocket. But Pei Tingsong didn’t seem to give up. “Did you hit your head inside just now?” He placed both hands on his shoulders, turning him over and over, almost searching his entire body. “Let me check.”
Fang Juexia felt it was inappropriate to be so intimate in front of the camera. He tried to push Pei Tingsong away, but the two of them ended up wrestling like two cats tangled together. In the end, he couldn’t overpower Pei Tingsong, so he gave up struggling and reluctantly accepted the “check.”
“You seem pretty energetic. I heard from my senior that you have a sore waist.” Pei Tingsong patted Fang Juexia’s chest. “You look fine. I’m relieved.”
This action made Fang Juexia pause.
The instigator left his spot and walked toward Shang Sui, the two of them bantering together again. Fang Juexia stood motionless, staring at Pei Tingsong’s back.
He adjusted his breathing, turned around to face the waist-high cabinet, and stood there silently for a long time.
Feeling the camera in front of the cabinet turn toward him, Fang Juexia snapped back to reality, focusing his gaze on the cabinet. On it sat a set of exquisite teaware: a beautiful European-style white-glazed teapot and several teacups arranged in a straight line along the edge of the cabinet.
However, this straight line… wasn’t quite straight enough.
His OCD compelled him to reach out and adjust the position of the teacups until they were all in a straight line.
“There,” Fang Juexia muttered to himself.
Suddenly, he heard a click, and the drawer that had been locked opened slightly.
Was there such a way to open it?
Fang Juexia was a little surprised and leaned in to see how the mechanism worked, only to find that an X had been written in silver pen on the teapot.
So that’s how it was. Fang Juexia put the teapot away and pulled open the drawer.
Zhou Ziheng and Xia Xiqing, who were standing not far away, also noticed this and turned their heads to look in this direction. They saw Fang Juexia take out a white checkered handkerchief from inside.
“Is this a new clue?” Zhou Ziheng asked.
Fang Juexia nodded, “It should be related to the answer on the screen on the door. They are both checkered patterns.” He looked down at the handkerchief in his hand, which had several rows of numbers embroidered on it.
15.41.23.14.33
14.24.12
34.23.14.32.15
51.24.43.22.55.54
“Is this a password…”
___1__2__3__4__5
1__q__w__e__r__t
2__y__u_i/j_o__p
3__a__s__d__f__g
4__h__k__l__z__x
5__c__v__b__n__m
“This is…” Fang Juexia felt familiar with it and, after some thought, came up with an answer.
“I know,” Zhou Ziheng subconsciously took out his phone to confirm if it was correct, but after unlocking it, he remembered something and smiled, “I forgot, this is the program team’s phone.”
Fang Juexia also laughed.
Suddenly, the production team’s announcement sounded.
“Everyone, please pay attention.”
“Player Pei Tingsong has died.”
Author’s Note: This chapter is full of foreshadowing and subplots. It’s perfectly normal if you don’t understand it, because this chapter is from the audience’s perspective and there’s basically no omniscient viewpoint. It’ll all become clear in the next chapter~
JJ’s formatting is terrible; it doesn’t even allow tab stops. I spent ages formatting the password table inside the handkerchief. I’ll also post “The Death of Mara” on Weibo; feel free to check it out if you’re interested.
The naked update contestant will probably uncover the truth in the next chapter.
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