Chapter 46
After confirming that there were no clues in the room that could threaten him, Zhang Xiaotian headed for the central hall.
Among the rooms currently available, except for the maid's room, the nave is the most likely to contain clues about the priest.
When Zhang Xiaotian arrived at the central hall, Lu Bai was standing opposite the altar, not knowing what he was looking at.
Zhang Xiaotian walked over quietly, wanting to scare him, but before he could say anything, Lu Bai turned around first, and both of them were frightened.
"What are you doing!" Lu Bai couldn't help laughing. "You just chased me away, and now you're coming over here on your own initiative. Are you deliberately interrupting my train of thought and messing with me?"
"No." Zhang Xiaotian gathered the hem of his skirt and sat on the chair closest to the altar. "I just came to see how your search was going. If you have any questions, I, as a suspect, can help you analyze it."
Lu Bai was so angry that he laughed: "Don't look down on me. I am a top student who can improve my English score by several dozen points in just one month. My IQ is also good."
"Yes." Zhang Xiaotian nodded happily, "Student master, you are a high-IQ student master."
"What are you laughing at? I'm serious!" Seeing that Zhang Xiaotian didn't believe him and didn't explain, Lu Bai raised his head slightly and said, "Just wait, none of you will complete the hidden mission today. I'm going to exert my strength!"
After saying that, he began to stare at the altar again. Seeing that he had no intention of leaving the vicinity of the altar, Zhang Xiaotian went to search other places in the central hall.
The closed secret room made it impossible to tell what time it was. Several people were busy searching for evidence. For a moment, there was no sound in the room. In a trance, Zhang Xiaotian thought that there were only Lu Bai and his friends in the room.
He should have been tense and cheered up, but Zhang Xiaotian suddenly realized at this moment that he actually missed Lu Bai very much.
Seeing Lu Bai, waiting for Lu Bai, accompanying Lu Bai, missing Lu Bai—these were all Zhang Xiaotian had done last semester. But with the sudden arrival of vacation, all he could do was wait and miss her. Even if he took more classes in the blank time, it was still blank. Just as color-blind people lose the ability to survive winter once they've seen spring, they lose the ability to survive winter.
With his thoughts in a mess, Zhang Xiaotian unknowingly walked back behind Lu Bai and sat on the bench closest to the altar.
Lu Bai noticed Zhang Xiaotian approaching. He walked over and sat down next to him, looking up at the altar. "In Sister Loris's memory, what did she usually do?"
“Go to class, do some labor, and then study.”
"What about the priest?" Lu Bai asked again.
"I'm really not a priest." Zhang Xiaotian repeated, "You haven't found any evidence yet."
"Okay, I believe it for now. Answer my question first."
"Except for classes and special circumstances, nuns rarely meet priests, so I don't know what priests do on a daily basis." Zhang Xiaotian wanted to get a closer look at Lu Bai and couldn't help but move closer to him. "Are you trying to trick me?"
"How could I possibly do that?" Seeing Zhang Xiaotian approaching, Lu Bai didn't hide, but just shook his head slightly. "I just wanted to talk to you a little more. You and Han Cheng were in the spotlight today, having so much fun that you didn't even say a word to me."
As soon as these words came out, Lu Bai seemed a little pitiful. Zhang Xiaotian thought of his troubles in the past two days, and for a moment he didn't know whether he should feel sorry for Lu Bai or for himself.
"Besides," Lu Bai said these two words and suddenly became shy, "I don't know why, but I always feel..."
"I always feel something?" Zhang Xiaotian didn't hear clearly what Lu Bai said, and couldn't help but move closer.
"That's right..." Lu Bai's face seemed to turn red. He seemed to have made up his mind and said, "It looks good on you."
"Huh?" Zhang Xiaotian hadn't thought of this and found it a bit amusing. "You like this?"
"What are you talking about!"
Seeing Lu Bai's ears turn slightly red, Zhang Xiaotian was a little amused.
"I thought you asked me what nuns usually do in order to find evidence against me." Zhang Xiaotian couldn't help but rub the top of Lu Bai's head. "I didn't expect you were really interested in nuns..."
"stop!"
Lu Bai seemed to be unable to bear it any longer, so he grabbed Zhang Xiaotian's hand that was touching his hair and pulled him towards him. Zhang Xiaotian stumbled and almost fell into Lu Bai's arms.
Too close.
"What are you doing?" Zhang Xiaotian used his other hand to support himself in advance, so he didn't really fall in. He was startled.
"I don't want you to say it anymore." Lu Bai held him tightly, "If you promise not to say it anymore, I'll let you go."
Zhang Xiaotian felt like he couldn't properly search for clues here. He also felt it would be difficult to remain calm in this atmosphere. He steadied his heartbeat and said, "I promise."
Lu Bai finally relaxed and stood up to continue looking for clues, but his eyes still fell on his skirt from time to time.
Zhang Xiaotian had almost gotten used to wearing a skirt, but Lu Bai had been reminding him repeatedly, and even the most insensitive person felt a sense of shame. Seeing Lu Bai still staring, he took advantage of his inattention and cleverly tripped him. Lu Bai fell flat on his butt with a thud.
"Ouch!" Lu Bai cried out in pain.
"Does it hurt?" Zhang Xiaotian tripped the man and walked away. "It hurts, okay, calm down."
Not long after, they returned to Serin's room.
Han Chengcheng was still sitting on the bed. When a few people came in, she asked everyone to sit down.
"I just looked over the current clues several times, and it did allow me to see some omissions." Han Chengcheng opened a page of the diary and spread it out in front of everyone.
Several people came over to take a look, and Zhang Xiaotian thought to himself that something was wrong.
"On May 15th, I saw the priest collect the gifts he received from other ladies. Although it was a bit against the rules, I believe the priest was more considerate. He must be praying day and night for the ladies before God, sincerely wishing they could go to heaven!"
Han Chengcheng nodded at this paragraph: "It seems that this priest often accepts gifts from noble ladies. This seems to be different from the priest Xiaotian described."
"That's right!" Lu Bai echoed, "Tian'er, didn't you say that this priest has boundless love and always selflessly cares for his followers? From this perspective, it seems that he doesn't seem to have much to do with selfless dedication?"
At this point, Lu Bai even specifically mentioned the word "Miss": "And he even specifically accepts gifts from women. Tsk, how indecent."
"This is all your speculation." Zhang Xiaotian sighed. "If the priest often accepted gifts privately like this, he would have been punished by the church long ago."
"But this diary entry does express the possibility that the priest may have engaged in excessive intimacy with female believers." Han Chengcheng flipped through the pages. "If this entry isn't obvious enough, there's another one."
"June 2nd. The priest received another gift today from Miss Colin of the Solemn family. It was a rose still covered in morning dew, placed in a gilded vase. She said she wanted to thank the priest for listening to her confession and hoped to receive your care in the future. I saw the priest put the vase away, but the flower disappeared in the blink of an eye. Perhaps the priest presented it to our great Lord. I hope the almighty Lord can see the lady's loyalty and gratitude in this flower and bless her."
"He said he was offering it to the Lord. I guess the priest only kept the vase because it was valuable, and the flowers were useless, so he just threw them away." Yin Li also said, "Accepting so many gifts from women, there must be something fishy!"
Too anxious.
Zhang Xiaotian sighed inwardly. If only he had looked more carefully and hidden a few more pages... But that wasn't realistic. Hiding one page almost got him discovered, so wouldn't a few more pages be even more likely to expose him?
Fortunately, the page in his hand is the key. Without that page, no one can guess that he is a man dressed as a woman.
Han Chengcheng flipped through the diary in her hand. "So far, it seems that there is indeed no evidence that the nun character played by Xiaotian is actually a priest."
"But the priest is a hypocritical villain, there's no denying that."
After listening to Han Chengcheng's words, Lu Bai glanced at Zhang Xiaotian, then took out another thing: "And I have an even more crucial clue here, which is about the priest suspected of killing the bride Kelin."
Zhang Xiaotian looked at Lu Bai in surprise.
He actually found a new clue?
"When I fell, I found the nun's confession under the bench in the nave." Lu Bai shook the things in his hand, and suddenly turned his face away and coughed twice, as if remembering something. "Also, I think I have guessed what Tian'er's hidden mission is."
The confession was written in a messy manner, with many traces of ink smudges, but it still described in considerable detail how the nun had accidentally discovered the priest's affairs with several noble ladies. It even recorded that on July 20th, the priest returned covered in blood, claiming to have been injured while protecting a lady. However, the nun was terrified and spied on the priest, only to find that he was moving freely and had no wounds on his body.
"There are no wounds on his body, so whose blood is that?" Lu Bai shook his head. "Of course it's Ke Lin's!"
Did Loris kill Colin? Zhang Xiaotian was stunned. Loris had indeed knocked Colin unconscious with a rock, but if Colin had died on the spot, how could he have appeared at the wedding the next day?
Apparently, the others had noticed this, too. Yin Li frowned and asked Lu Bai, "While that makes some sense, how do you explain the bride's body appearing at the wedding the next day?"
"So what I'm saying is that the priest is 'suspected' of killing Colin."
"I also checked the 'corpse' by the way." Lu Bai explained, "On Colin's 'corpse', apart from the scars of being hit on the head, there were only marks of being strangled on the neck."
"We all thought Colin might have been murdered and then tied to the cross. I initially suspected it was the priest, but if it was the priest who did it, it would undoubtedly be an open challenge to his faith and the entire church. He worked hard for many years to become the youngest priest in the church. This behavior is unreasonable."
"Likewise, her sister Serin wouldn't do that."
"I know that!" Yin Li answered quickly, "According to Serin's plan, Kelin would have gone off to pursue love, so Serin wouldn't have killed her sister Kelin."
"So, after being hurt by the priest, Colin must have gone to the church and hanged himself." Lu Bai shook his head and spoke coherently, "The hemp rope is also irrefutable evidence. There are no signs of dragging on the two ends of the rope. It is obvious that Colin hanged himself."
Han Chengcheng pondered: "So..."
"So, the situation at the time must have been like this." Lu Bai winked at Zhang Xiaotian as if to show off. "The bride heard that her sister had found a substitute for her, so that she wouldn't have to marry into the earl's family and cut off contact with her lover. So she would definitely go and tell the priest the good news, and maybe even ask him to take her away with her!"
Zhang Xiaotian narrowed his eyes.
"If that's what you said, then the priest definitely wouldn't give up an entire forest for this one flower," Han Chengcheng speculated. "So, the priest rejected Colin. Colin must have pestered and threatened the priest, which made him angry and hit her."
"So, Colin hanged himself on the altar to avenge the priest?" Yin Li was a little incredulous when she heard this. "Using his own life to avenge someone's faith, this is too..."
"But this seems to make sense..."
Zhang Xiaotian remained silent. His face was solemn, but inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief. Even if he had exposed the priest as a scumbag, they still hadn't discovered that he was the priest. At least he had succeeded in part.
The long-lost broadcast sounded again.
"Please ask the sinner Loris to repent."
"We were right!" Yin Li cheered. "Every time the door is about to open, the announcement sounds, and this time it must be right! Great, we're finally getting out!"
Lu Bai also looked at Zhang Xiaotian with complacency.
"So, your hidden mission is: as a nun, you must protect the reputation of the priest in your church and don't let anyone know that Colin's death is related to the priest!"
Zhang Xiaotian didn't refute a single word. He waited for Lu Bai to finish, then sighed, "Well, I, a sinner, will go and confess."
He knelt before the cross on which the bride was hanging, with his hands folded.
"I, the sinner Loris, hereby repent to the Almighty and Omniscient Lord."
"I shielded the priest from his secret affair with the noble lady, and even when he attacked someone, I still deceived myself and tried to excuse him. I am guilty. Please punish me, Lord."
Everyone was waiting for the result with great anticipation, but what arrived was not a ribbon of victory, nor was there an exit that suddenly appeared.
"What's going on..." Before Lu Bai could finish his words, the floor under his feet suddenly shook!
Suddenly, a cold wind blew in the room, the lights on the ceiling flickered, the spotlights in the four corners of the ground emitted a strange red light, and the deafening wails of a woman were heard on the radio.
The two girls huddled together in fear, and Lu Bai was also terrified. He thought the game was almost over, having not expected this to happen. He hurriedly looked at Zhang Xiaotian, only to see that Zhang Xiaotian, who had just bowed his head in prayer, was now kneeling on the ground, his eyes fixed on him. Seeing him look at him, he curled his lips in a smile.
The red light flickered on Zhang Xiaotian's profile, and the wind made his hair dance wildly like tentacles. Zhang Xiaotian's voice was soft, like a whisper, but Lu Bai could hear every word clearly.
"What should I do?" Zhang Xiaotian said with a smile, "The bride seems angry."
Lu Bai suddenly looked at the bride on the altar. He saw the "corpse"'s golden hair fluttering in the wind, revealing a pale, expressionless face. Her azure eyes were like dead fish, and two lines of blood and tears flowed down her face.
“The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star fall from heaven to the earth. To it was given the key to the bottomless pit. This star opened the bottomless pit, and smoke ascended from it like the smoke of a huge furnace; and the sun and the sky were darkened by its smoke.”
“They begged Jesus not to tell them to go into the abyss.”
Along with the incessant wailing, the sound of someone reciting scriptures came from the radio.
The floor in front of the altar opened on both sides, revealing a staircase leading downstairs.
"The door is open." Zhang Xiaotian stood up and said to the other three, "Let's go down and take a look."
Except for Zhang Xiaotian, no one else had any intention of teasing at this moment. The three of them huddled together like little chickens and followed Zhang Xiaotian downstairs. Fortunately, the road was not long, and the four of them soon arrived downstairs.
The downstairs seemed like a cellar, damp and dark, with only a kerosene-lamp-like portable lantern overhead for lighting. There were several rows of wooden cabinets in the room, with different items neatly arranged, including women's handkerchiefs, scarves, brooches, vases, porcelain, and some brand new gifts that had obviously never been touched. There was also a grid with several thick stacks of letter paper, which should be love poems written by those noble ladies to Father Loris. Loris did not reply to any of them.
Zhang Xiaotian strolled around the room and when he came back he saw Lu Bai still hiding behind the two girls and refused to come out. He couldn't help but complain, "Come on, it's not real. Isn't this just a game?"
"You, you, you..." Lu Bai trembled as if he had been electrified, "No matter who you are, get off my Tian'er..."
"It's okay." Zhang Xiaotian walked over, pulled Lu Bai out, and led him inside.
Yin Li and Han Chengcheng followed him, and they all looked around the cellar.
"Loris is really a priest?" Yin Li said, "Lu Bai actually guessed it right at the beginning?"
"There is no evidence..." Han Chengcheng still couldn't figure it out.
Zhang Xiaotian took out the page of the diary hidden in her skirt and handed it to her, and the two girls started chattering behind her again.
"There's a black robe over there," Yin Li said with a sharp eye. "It's got dark and light spots on it. Is that blood? This must be the clothes the priest was wearing when he beat up the bride, Colin!"
"So, your mission was successful?" Lu Bai's voice came from the side.
"You're not scared anymore?" Zhang Xiaotian let go of Lu Bai's hand when he saw that he had calmed down. "It's not a success, but it's not a complete failure either."
"My mission was to protect Father Loris's reputation and conceal the fact that I was a priest, not a nun." He explained, "In the end, the bride, Colin, did commit suicide. You're right to say she was seeking revenge."
Her sister plotted against her, her lover deceived her, and even her personal maid secretly obeyed the orders of others. It's understandable that a fragile woman like Colin, driven by frustration, would resort to her own death to punish others. However, it's unclear how much effect this suicide would have, or who would truly care about her death.
Zhang Xiaotian suddenly felt sorry for Kelin. If he could give Kelin another chance, he wondered if she could escape this trap. As he was thinking about this, he suddenly felt a warmth on his shoulder.
Lu Bai reached out and embraced him, saying regretfully, "So in the end, I was really the only one who didn't have a hidden mission."
"But your role is very important." Zhang Xiaotian smiled. "If everyone has ulterior motives, this game will be unplayable and no one will be able to leave."
"That's right." Lu Bai hummed twice, "Tian'er, I love listening to you talk."
The butler NPC waiting at the end had already removed his makeup and turned out to be a young man. He led everyone out, and they unexpectedly returned to the front desk at the entrance of the store.
"Congratulations everyone!" The store manager and several NPCs applauded respectfully. "While your completion time isn't nearly record-breaking, it's still among the best."
"Really?!" Lu Bai was delighted when he heard it, "I told you we can do it!"
"Then let's do a brief review."
The store manager pulled out the script. "First, the stand-in maid, Veretta's, mission is to conceal her identity as a stand-in maid and help the detective uncover the truth. The master, Serin's mission is to conceal his identity as Serin until the door to Caspar's room opens. Finally, Father Loris's mission..."
"We already know this." Lu Bai said.
"Okay," the store manager continued. "Also, the truth behind Colin's death is this: after being rejected and murdered by Father Loris, Colin returned home. He had originally intended to seek support from Serin, but he overheard Serin telling his personal maid that the plan was going smoothly. Colin and his lover were to elope tonight, and tomorrow the maid would marry the earl as planned."
"When Colin heard this, he understood everything. It turned out that from her falling in love with the priest to her sister encouraging her to elope, it was all her sister's plan. She suddenly felt that everyone was plotting against her and that no one cared about her. So, in despair, she chose to commit suicide to curse all those who had harmed her."
"Love-brain is so scary." Yin Li sighed.
The store manager then pulled out a payment code and added, "This book will offer discounts based on the completion of the missions. If the detective sees through everyone's disguises, they'll get a 20% discount; if everyone else completes their missions, they'll get a 10% discount."
"Now, except for the priest who completed part of the task, everyone else has failed..." The store manager whispered to the clerk beside him for a few words, then looked up and said, "Then let's give our priest two coupons! Welcome to our store again!"
"Oh my god, there's a discount!" Lu Bai pounded his chest and stamped his feet exaggeratedly, "If I had known there was a discount, I would have played more seriously!"
"Come on," Yin Li said with a tsk, "With your IQ, you'll only be able to do this if you do it again."
"You're still talking about me, are you much stronger than me?!"
"Isn't it obvious?" Yin Li waved her fist. "Not only am I smarter than you, I also know a few tricks. Do you want to try?"
Zhang Xiaotian's head hurt from the quarrels between the two of them all day. Seeing that they were about to quarrel again, he quickly grabbed Lu Bai.
"Calm down for a while." He pulled Lu Bai, "You've been making a fuss all day. Aren't you tired? Why are you still so energetic?"
"I'm not tired. Why are you tired?" Lu Bai chuckled. Seeing that Zhang Xiaotian was indeed a little depressed, he immediately left Yin Li and Han Chengcheng behind and walked out with Zhang Xiaotian.
The lights outside were already on, and the two of them stood at the doorway to get some fresh air. After staying indoors for so long, they suddenly came out and felt an indescribable sense of relief when the night breeze touched their faces.
"Ever since we met, we haven't seen each other for such a long time. So as soon as I heard that you had finished your tutoring, I immediately contacted you to hang out!" Lu Bai stretched and looked at Zhang Xiaotian. "How was it? Did you have a good time today?"
"Happy." Zhang Xiaotian took a deep breath. "If you hadn't asked me out, I might still be holding it in at home."
"As long as you're happy!" Lu Bai said this, and then bumped Zhang Xiaotian with his shoulder as if he was upset. "Then why didn't you contact me earlier? Even if you couldn't come out, I could still go to your house to find you."
It seems he is not the only one who will miss her.
Zhang Xiaotian's heart moved slightly. He glanced at Lu Bai, then took out the two coupons from his pocket, stuffed them into Lu Bai's arms without saying anything, and then went straight down the stairs.
"Hey, what are you doing!" Lu Bai couldn't refuse in time and quickly chased after him, "This is for you!"
"Then you keep it for me."
The sky in winter seems to be higher than in other seasons. The deep blue night sky is endless, and people and objects around are all backgrounds. No matter how busy the street is, you can only see one person in your field of vision.
Zhang Xiaotian turned around and looked at Lu Bai.
"You keep it here. If you want to play in the future, don't wait for me to send you a message. Come find me directly."
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