"Jiang Que!"

Song Yecheng rushed over, and Tang Yao and Ling An followed closely behind him and came to the table.

"He Jingsheng!"

"Lin Yan?!"

The three of them shouted and shook their bodies, and it took a long time before they finally showed signs of waking up.

Jiang Que slowly raised his head from his arms, his eyes still hazy from having just woken up. His eyes brightened slightly after he saw the three people clearly, and he immediately asked, "Why are you here?"

Song Yecheng said: "We originally wanted to choose to surrender, but none of you answered the phone, so we had no choice but to come out to see the situation - what happened to you?"

"I fainted!"

He Jingsheng, who was standing next to him, clutched his neck as if he had a stiff neck, and answered with a gloomy face, "After you went to the experimental area, Dr. Jin told everyone to go out and have dinner. He also said that we had worked hard on the experiment and insisted that the three of us come down with him for a special meal. Then, halfway through the meal, he suddenly said he wanted to have a drink together—"

He raised his chin towards the half-empty bottle of red wine on the table. "This stuff, I just took a few sips and started to feel dizzy and confused. Then everything went black and I didn't know anything."

"So he put drugs in the wine?" Song Yecheng concluded, then felt puzzled again, "But why did he knock you out? Where did the others go?"

"What other people?" He Jingsheng asked in confusion.

Tang Yao explained, "After we came out just now, we checked all the upper floors. There was no one there. Now we are the only ones left in the entire building."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Que and the other two all showed surprise.

After a moment, Jiang Que pondered, "Could it be that because I chose my office as the place of detention, they became suspicious?"

After saying that, he looked up at Song Yecheng and the others and said, "Did you find the secret passage? Did you see all the clues I left?"

Song Yecheng nodded. "We went to your dormitory through the secret passage and should have seen everything we needed to see. You were right. There must be something wrong with Duan Jingming. We found the stretcher in the infirmary on the third floor, but his 'body' is gone."

The six people present didn't possess equal amounts of information. He Jingsheng and Lin Yan didn't know Jiang Que's identity as a police officer, nor did they know about the secret passages and clues. Listening to this conversation, they were completely bewildered. Lin Yan waved his hands repeatedly, "Wait, wait, wait, what secret passage? What clues? What happened to Duan Jingming?"

This matter is really complicated to explain from the beginning. Song Yecheng and Jiang Que looked at each other, thinking about how to make it short, but unexpectedly at this moment, a sudden snort of laughter came from above their heads.

This humming and laughing was extremely strange. Not only was it surprisingly clear, it even had an echo. It was just like the 3D surround sound effect in old fantasy movies when gods stood in the clouds and spoke.

Several people looked up suddenly and searched around above their heads in surprise. Only then did they discover that there was a disc-shaped wall-mounted speaker in each corner of the ceiling, and the laughter just now seemed to have come from the speaker.

But why was there suddenly laughter coming from the speakers?

Before they could figure out what was going on, the LED screen on the wall in front of them, which had been playing the sponsorship advertisement in a loop, suddenly flashed and switched to a dynamic image.

"Good afternoon, everyone?"

The person in the picture was actually Duan Jingming. The background behind him looked like a hotel suite or a luxurious office. He was sitting in a large leather sofa in a suit and tie, with his legs crossed, holding a cup of tea, and a leisurely smile on his face.

"Oh my god," He Jingsheng blurted out, not knowing the situation, "He's not dead?"

Song Yecheng was about to explain, but unexpectedly Duan Jingming on the screen beat him to the punch: "Yeah, surprise?"

Hearing this, Song Yecheng was a little surprised - he originally thought that this was a pre-recorded VCR, but judging from Duan Jingming's response, this was actually a real-time video call?

Thinking about it, he glanced around the LED screen and found an inconspicuous small device in the upper left corner, which looked like a fixed camera.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ling An asked.

Duan Jingming chuckled again, as if he had shed the innocent mask he wore at breakfast, revealing the image of a sophisticated, shrewd, and polite villain boss. "Haven't you all guessed most of it already? Don't doubt yourselves; most of your guesses are correct."

When these words came out, several people were stunned, because the meaning of these words was as if... he knew how many clues they had at present, and even knew the conclusions they had drawn.

"Curious how I knew that?"

Duan Jingming asked with relish, as if showing off, and then raised his hand and pointed casually to the right: "If I remember correctly, I should have left the answer here."

From the screen, he was pointing to his right, but everyone instantly realized that he was not referring to the video, but to the outside of the video - the high-legged flower stand with green plants on the lower left side of the LED screen.

Song Yecheng walked over without hesitation, and the others followed quickly, and soon they found a communicator in the pot of green plants.

The appearance of this communicator was no different from the ones they had in their hands, but when they turned it on, they found that the screen was displaying the real-time location of everyone in the base.

Not only that, its function list also includes many options that other communicators do not have, such as "real-time monitoring", "current location monitoring and retrieval", and "communication data interception records in various areas".

Looking at it this way, how could they not understand——

If the instructor's communicator is the superior of the volunteer's communicator, then Duan Jingming is simply the "head" of all communicators. He can not only control the entire base and eavesdrop and monitor anyone at any time, but can even intercept the message data they send or receive. He is like a pair of "God's eyes" covering the base.

This means that all their previous private communications, which they thought were secretive, including Jiang Que's identity as a police officer and the content of his investigation, had actually been exposed to Duan Jingming's sight long ago, and there was no secret at all!

The six people present looked at each other in confusion for a moment.

It feels like you thought you were tracking the enemy in a nightgown, but unexpectedly you were running naked under the enemy's high-definition camera. The impact is really huge.

However, since all the cards have been revealed, it is unnecessary to cover it up. Song Yecheng simply turned his head to look at the screen again and asked directly: "So what do you want now?"

“Hey——”

Duan Jingming's tone changed completely, and he said angrily, as if he disagreed, "Don't talk like I'm going to do something to you. I'm here out of kindness to answer your questions. Don't you have anything you'd like to verify? I promise to tell you everything I know. I can tell you anything."

Song Yecheng narrowed his eyes suspiciously, because this sounded very wrong.

From any angle, Duan Jingming was standing against them, and he was now completely in the upper hand. There was no reason or need to explain anything to them, and even his appearance here was redundant.

So why did he bother?

Song Yecheng was not the only one who felt something was wrong. Several others also noticed something was amiss.

However, they still couldn't figure out what Duan Jingming was up to, so after hesitating for a while, Tang Yao simply took advantage of the situation and asked, "Those cases weren't actually committed by us, right?"

Upon hearing this, Duan Jingming replied calmly, "That's right, you all just happen to be somewhat related to the case. The real murderer is someone else."

"Then why did you frame us?" Tang Yao asked immediately.

"Well, well—"

Duan Jingming muttered with great interest, then put down his teacup, clasped his fingers together on his knees, and explained solemnly, "Everyone in the world is driven by profit, and I am no exception. Since the sponsor is willing to pay for stability, of course I have to take the money to help him - eliminate disasters?"

Seeing the doubts in everyone's eyes, he didn't intend to keep them on hold, so he smiled and continued:

"It's actually very simple. Our organization specializes in serving suspects in various cases. As long as they offer a high enough price and provide sufficient information, we can help them select the most suitable scapegoat from among the 'bystanders' in the case and lure them to the base."

"Once they arrive at the base, we first use psychological suggestion to convince them that they have erased their memories. Then we induce them to regain their memories. We then fabricate files to insinuate evidence of their employer's crimes onto them, making them believe they are the real murderers. This leads them to voluntarily turn themselves in to the police and take the blame for their employers."

Duan Jingming spread his hands with amusement at the incredulous yet suddenly enlightened expressions of the others. "So—the so-called 'Memory Burial Experiment' is actually called the 'Scapegoat Project.' And you are the chosen scapegoats."

As he himself said, his explanation was indeed very thorough and completely revealed almost all the truths that had not yet been made clear.

But at the same time, this also made everyone feel that he was fearless——

Why would he confess this?

Isn't this equivalent to self-destruction?

Before anyone could think about it, Duan Jingming suddenly seemed to remember something and turned to look at Jiang Que: "By the way, Officer Jiang, I have a surprise prepared for you."

Hearing this address, He Jingsheng and Lin Yan, who were unaware of Jiang Que's second identity, turned their heads in confusion and looked over: "...Officer?"

Jiang Que didn't answer, but just stared at the screen.

Duan Jingming smiled mysteriously. "For the past two months, I've noticed you've been trying to find a way to get into the central control room, but you haven't been able to do so yet. So before I left today, I specifically unlocked the control room's door so you could have what you wanted."

"Also—I've left all the information about the real murderers who have collaborated with us so far in the safe in the control room. The door isn't even locked. If you want it, you can go up and get it now."

Anyone with a clear mind could feel that his behavior was very abnormal. It didn't seem like a provocation, but rather like a deceptive instigation with ulterior motives.

The six of them exchanged suspicious glances. Ling An immediately asked, "What do you mean? Aren't you afraid that we'll hand the evidence over to the police?"

"Afraid—of course I am."

Duan Jingming said he was afraid, but his expression was clearly happier than before. He paused for several seconds before slowly changing the subject: "But what I'm more afraid of is that even if you get all the evidence, you won't have the chance to get it out."

The six people felt a pang of fear in their hearts.

What's the meaning?

On the screen, Duan Jingming stood up from the sofa, propped himself up on his knees, and slowly walked around the coffee table, squatting in front of the camera. His entire face filled the screen like a close-up. "Were you thinking just now that villains die because they talk too much? I don't understand why I have to be so frank and why I talk so long and long?"

After saying this, a meaningful smile appeared on his face, which was very close to him. He slowly raised his hand and pointed his index finger at the bottom of the screen: "Do you see this line of numbers?"

Everyone followed his gaze and discovered that he was referring to the constantly jumping timer at the bottom of the screen—

00:09:49:35

But this is actually not surprising, because all video recording equipment has this kind of running second timer when it is running to control the shooting time.

"What's wrong with this number?" Tang Yao was puzzled.

As soon as she finished speaking, Song Yecheng suddenly became alert and said, "That's not right."

He stared at the end of the jumping line of numbers, his brows furrowed. "This isn't a countdown... it's a countdown."

Hearing this, the smirk on Duan Jingming's face seemed to be unable to be suppressed any longer, and then turned into a loud laugh: "Hahahahahahahahaha! That's right, when this countdown reaches zero, you will - BOOM! Go up in smoke and be destroyed along with the thirty bombs in the building!"

“What the hell?!”

Like water splashing into a frying pan, it suddenly woke everyone up:

"There's a bomb here?!!"

“Where is it?!”

Duan Jingming on the screen stood up from the camera with a smile, took two leisurely steps back, and opened his arms to the audience as if he was about to take his final bow.

"As funny as you all are, unfortunately, it's too late."

"If it's fate, let's meet in the next life, shall we?"

As soon as he finished speaking, his image disappeared instantly, and a sharp sound was heard from the speakers: Beep!

Immediately afterwards, a blood-red countdown appeared on the completely black screen.

00:09:03

9 minutes and 3 seconds left!