In the shadows, Ren Yi pursed his lips slightly, his gaze deep.
This old man, on the brink of death, had actually managed to touch upon the most hidden layer of truth.
No one had tried to kill him last night, because there was no "blade" to begin with.
Player 10 didn't notice anything unusual about Ren Yi and continued to ramble on.
"We all had keys yesterday. Could the Anomaly have realized they couldn't kill anyone and simply didn't come out?"
Player 10 clutched his hair, his voice gradually descending into a mutter.
"What teleportation, what possession... what if none of those things actually worked?"
"Is this damned world playing with us? Is there no Anomaly at all, and everything is just us killing each other?"
Another candle extinguished in front of him.
Player 10 stared blankly at the last remaining flame, a tragic sense of relief finally surfacing in his eyes.
"Little girls, young men..." He looked at everyone around the round table in turn.
"You can't save me anymore."
"And I... I can't save you either."
"Good luck to you all."
The last flame went out. Player 10 sat down dejectedly, looking like a piece of thoroughly rotted wood.
The familiar and cold voting process began.
When the candles lit up, Player 10 extinguished his own flame; he had abstained.
Perhaps influenced by Player 10's final words, the hall remained silent for a long time, everyone's expressions complicated.
However, in this death game, sympathy was the cheapest of currencies.
After a moment of silence, the flames on the table finally began to move slowly under everyone's control.
Everyone knew that today's voting result had been decided long ago; the situation wouldn't change.
Sure enough, most of the flames slowly converged toward the candlestick in front of Player 10. The weak flames merged together, growing brighter and brighter.
But in this uniform stream of light, there was one exception.
Ren Yi looked up and saw a single flame that had veered completely off course.
It drifted toward Zhang Qiuqiu, solitary yet incredibly stubborn.
He looked in the direction the flame had come from. Player 6 was staring coldly at Zhang Qiuqiu, her gaze without a hint of hesitation.
Of course, her single vote was useless. Most of the flames had already gathered in front of Player 10.
Even though she knew her vote would achieve nothing, she still cast it for the person she was certain was the true culprit.
Yet, the voting didn't end immediately.
Ren Yi looked back at Player 2 beside him and found that the "Chosen Peeper" was frowning deeply, staring fixedly at Player 10's seat. His fingertips were trembling, and the flame in front of him hovered in mid-air, refusing to drop for a long time.
He was doubting, he was wavering, and he was reflecting on Player 10's final argument about being "useful."
Everyone watched Player 2 silently, waiting for his vote. The atmosphere in the hall became tense once again.
Ren Yi also watched Player 2 closely, secretly on guard.
The voting result was already a foregone conclusion. Since Player 10 had abstained, even if Player 2 followed Player 6 and voted for Zhang Qiuqiu, the outcome wouldn't change.
But Player 2's hesitation was dangerous.
Ultimately, Player 2 let out a long sigh and sent his flame toward Player 10.
Logic triumphed over intuition—or perhaps, cowardice triumphed over doubt.
Rust-colored patterns spread through the hall once more, like greedy vipers, quickly swallowing Player 10's body.
A moment later, another lifelike stone statue, its face full of sorrow, stood at the end of the long table.
"Let's disperse," Player 1 said in a raspy voice.
Without another word, everyone stood up silently and returned to their respective rooms.
Night fell, and all was silent.
Ren Yi pushed open his door and slowly walked into the empty hall.
Tonight's situation was quite simple for him.
Since Zhang Qiuqiu's abilities were sealed, he had to be the one to do the "dirty work" tonight.
But he didn't go looking for prey immediately. Instead, he went to the fireplace that had mostly collapsed.
A pale, cold mist spread out, slowly drifting into the narrow crevices deep within the fireplace.
Then, it began to expand violently.
Creeeeeak—Boom!
The broken bricks and stones let out an overburdened groan under the pressure of the mist. Countless cracks then spread along the spine of the fireplace.
With a dull thud, the fireplace that once held the blood-written clue completely collapsed, turning into a pile of messy rubble.
The white mist seeped out from the ruins and reassembled into Ren Yi's form.
He brushed off some non-existent dust from his shoulder.
This place had already drawn everyone's attention. Tomorrow, they would surely conduct a thorough search.
This place was clearly the domain of the rules, but what did that have to do with him? It wasn't his side's rules anyway.
Although clues might refresh elsewhere, he didn't want to experience the heart-stopping moment of getting hit with another point-blank ultimate.
【Tonight, we have to play a game of wits with that Locksmith.】
In his mind, the mental link of the Anomaly Web lit up as Zhang Qiuqiu's cold message came through.
【Player 1 will definitely choose to lock either himself or Player 2 tonight.】
【It's a fifty-fifty chance. If he gambles correctly, today will be another peaceful night. He'll have plenty of opportunities to lead the remaining people to pick us out one by one.】
Ren Yi remained silent for a while, looking at the bright moon outside the window.
Player 2's state of mind was off. Should he kill him?
But if he gambled wrong, this game would drag on much longer.
Finally, Ren Yi sent a reply through the group.
【But, class monitor... I don't really want to play this game of probability with him anymore.】
【Let's stick to our original plan.】
Rate on N.U.
