Chapter 16 Our Promise 8 The City Flooded
"I've told you everything I know. Tell me the truth. What kind of truth is it?" The man looked at Wu Wangwang with a mixture of weariness and hope, and a hint of worry.
Wu Wangwang rubbed her face: "My original deduction was based on your behavior, because I didn't know the specific contents of your notes. Now, after hearing what you said, some of my deductions have been overturned. Now I only know one thing: the ghost gave me a prophecy alone."
Then Wu Wangwang told the man about her encounter with the ghost in the taxi and the content of the radio broadcast.
After listening, the man suddenly realized: "You mean, the oath we made is very likely our protective mechanism, and the repairman disappeared because we broke the oath ourselves?"
“I think so. Otherwise, why would the most crucial information for us players entering the instance be our oaths to each other? And judging from the ghosts’ abilities, they can create a lot of surprises. Disappearance is a form of retaliation, but it’s clear the ghosts waited until we had our gathering before making their move,” Wu Wangwang analyzed slowly.
Based on the ghost's restrictions and the fact that nothing happened in the previous month, it can be completely proven that Wu Wangwang's deduction is correct. As long as the oath is not broken, no one will know the truth. The murderer is someone who knows nothing. They have even deceived themselves, making it difficult for the ghost to make a move.
Of course, it could also simply be a difficulty limit in the dungeon, giving players a chance to survive.
But as a ghost herself, Wu Wangwang knew that if a ghost was created with limitations, it would be difficult to overcome unless it was slowly cultivated to break through those limitations.
When Guo Tianyin and Chu Ping died, the murderer must have had something on their minds, so the oath restrained them. Breaking the oath not only deprived the murderer of protection but also freed the ghost from its constraints.
The man seemed to have lost all his spirit, and he slumped to the ground: "So, we shouldn't have made that secret contact... we shouldn't have cooperated... the NPCs' original approach was the best protection, as long as everything about the NPCs was absolutely maintained..."
Wu Wangwang shattered his illusion: "How could that be? There's also a party. Parties are absolutely unavoidable. Even if we perfectly reenacted our testimony at the party, the classmates who left to go to the bathroom later will hear the hallucination again. I think it's because someone's identity was stolen."
Wu Wangwang's previous considerations were all based on the nine players. This man provided the most important information: Du Luo and Shi Rong were originally ghosts who had infiltrated the players. There were only seven players in this round.
The fact that Du Luo and Shi Rong appeared beside the murderer broke the oath to some extent, because according to the oath, all seven murderers were destined to live out their lives alone and could not have friends or acquaintances.
The man suddenly slapped himself hard to wake himself up and try to calmly consider Wu Wangwang's words: "So, according to that logic, the key lies with Du Luo and Shi Rong. What is the logic behind their existence? Are they possessed by ghosts? But you also said that as long as the oath is not broken, the two ghosts have no way to come back for revenge."
“It’s still possible. For example, Du Luoshirong and Guo Tianyin and Chu Ping died in the same place, like a water ghost taking someone else’s life.” Wu Wangwang answered with great certainty. This was back to her familiar territory; no one knew more about ghosts than her.
Only in this way can the dead Du Luo and Shi Rong be possessed by Guo Tianyin and Chu Ping, who have become ghosts. The first thing they will do after returning to their bodies is probably to find the murderer and take revenge.
The man pounded his head frantically: "What do we do now? We're the murderers, the ghost is already here, and I don't even know how the repairman and the others disappeared, just like the ghost was killed before. Can we even survive until September 1st?"
Players can survive as long as they are not killed by ghosts, but apart from Wu Wangwang who is unkillable, all other players have disappeared because they lost the protection of the oath, and the specific rules that triggered the death are unclear.
Wu Wangwang pondered for a moment: "The truth is very important. Perhaps only by knowing everything about what happened back then can we find a way to exploit the loophole. Can you recite the oaths of the other people? I want to piece them together."
Now, Wu Wangwang is the only player still trying, so the man silently wrote down the vows of the others on Wu Wangwang's phone.
Having obtained the oaths of the seven players, Wu Wangwang simply rearranged the order and finally obtained the most crucial information.
I am Fu Mei, I am Hua Jiao, I am Ya He, I am Lai Jie, I am Yang Bin, I am Li Hu, I am Liu Ke:
We swear on our lives that what happened today will be buried forever, that nothing happened today, that we know nothing, that we will remain true to ourselves and never betray our principles – Lai Jie.
We vowed that we would all become the most ordinary people in the world, grow up to be ordinary, and become mediocre adults. No one would ever know what kind of people we were originally. — Fu Mei
Don't leave, don't make a sound, grow up quietly, like a mute who can't speak, just like we used to do. We can definitely do it—become charming.
Those who caused us pain are gone. From now on, we should strive to live peacefully and simply, every day. — Yahe
The unspeakable secret is buried underground, which is as if nothing happened in the past, and we are all innocent—Yang Bin.
Past mistakes have vanished, and we will become each other's greatest protectors. Protecting everyone is protecting ourselves. — Li Hu
Forget this day; we are currently sleeping soundly at home, knowing nothing, and never will know—Liu Ke.
This is the entire oath. Seven people, each of whom may have made a corresponding oath based on their own actions and the part of the truth they knew, and kept it for a long time.
Looking at the seven vows, Wu Wangwang separated the three vows of Yahe, Yang Bin, and Li Hu: "If I remember correctly, the NPC class monitor said that these three people are childhood sweethearts and are in a love triangle, and they often have a lot of unhappiness."
The man who opened the door for Wu Wangwang was Lai Jie. He nodded and said, "Yes, the three of them live very close to each other, and their families are close, so they were forced to cooperate. Originally, when they saw such a vow, they were too scared to share information, but they didn't expect to become neighbors."
Of the remaining four, Hua Jiao was directly targeted by Du Luo. The repairman was Liu Ke, who was sworn to finish things up. He agreed to share information because he didn't know what he should forget. He originally wanted to cooperate with each other, much like Lai Jie.
Both of them made vows to erase the traces of something, but Lai Jie was more lucky. He got the list, so he agreed to share the information from the beginning. He planned to share it first, but hide the names, and then notify the seven people after they had each other's contact information.
Things didn't go smoothly, and it was too late to find everyone.
Wu Wangwang pondered for a moment and said, "No, it's fine for the three players to form a small group, but why did Yahe say at the party that he saw me and Huajiao fighting Chuping?"
Lai Jie replied, "Yahe is a computer expert. She initially investigated it as an independent case, so she directly checked all the websites she had visited. If she weren't really that skilled, and if her parents hadn't been using the old computer at home as a TV, they would never have discovered that Yahe had previously insulted Chu Ping on a private forum."
That forum is so old, it was ten years ago. It was a membership forum, only a small number of people could get in, and it was mainly for discussing erotic topics. I don't know how Yahe managed to get in, and she took the opportunity to post all sorts of abusive articles about Chu Ping. But because she used rather feminine language, the other people on the forum turned around and insulted Yahe, which made her so angry that she never went there again.
Later, the forum was shut down for some reason. It was only because Yahe, a player with exceptional abilities, found some data records on his old computer at home, and the restored posts were very few, only one or two, all of which were related to Chu Ping.
Yahe, the murderer, clearly stated that one day he saw Chu Ping offend the class's young lady and get beaten up, which was very satisfying. The young lady did a great job.
The only one who could be called a young lady in this class was Hua Jiao. At the time, Hua Jiao seemed to have a good relationship with Du Luo and Fu Mei. Ya and the players felt that they could no longer let the two of them be deceived by ghosts, so they decided to deal with them and stepped forward to identify them.
It can be said that after making the oath back then, the seven people handled everything very cleanly. The players spent so much time but still couldn't get the most crucial information. No wonder they were able to commit the perfect crime.
"And what about you? Didn't you and Liu Ke discover any information?" Wu Wangwang pressed.
Lai Jie shook his head with a wry smile: "If we had discovered more information, we wouldn't have ended up like this today. To be honest, apart from Yahe, who might be a computer science graduate student or a PhD, the rest of us are just ordinary people. I won't hide it from you now, I'm just a vocational school graduate working in an electronics factory, and I had to memorize that oath many times."
Such people are fine for escaping normally, but when faced with a puzzle that requires brainpower to solve, they are completely blind. These days they have been relying on Yahe, but since Liu Ke and Yang Bin disappeared, Lai Jie has been unable to contact Yahe and Li Hu. Perhaps they have also disappeared.
Lai Jie thought a lot while hiding behind the door, hoping that Wu Wangwang would come looking for him, and only opened the door with the last glimmer of hope.
Fortunately, he guessed right; Wu Wangwang was a player. Unfortunately, it seemed that Wu Wangwang had only listened to one more strange radio announcement than the others.
Thinking of this, Lai Jie suddenly looked up: "Fu Mei, did you miss some information? Why did the ghost only let you hear the broadcast? We've encountered leaks and other issues since we entered the instance, but why did only you hear the announcement?"
Wu Wangwang was also stunned. Right, why was she the only one being treated specially? Moreover, judging from the timeline, the first person Du Luo killed was actually Fu Mei.
Why must we deal with Fu Mei first?
“Fu Mei’s identity must have some secrets, and you must all have different secrets. Liu Ke must know them, but he didn’t tell you.” Wu Wangwang frowned. She had taken it for granted that the secret Liu Ke mentioned was that seven people had killed two people together.
But is it possible that Liu Ke wasn't referring to the murder, but rather to another secret?
All seven of them shared a secret that they couldn't even utter in their oaths, and it led them to make an unbreakable pact.
Lai Jie was stunned. He hadn't expected Liu Ke to mention this information to Wu Wangwang separately. But why hadn't Liu Ke said it? What exactly was the extra information he had found?
That information couldn't save Liu Ke's life, but now, are Liu Ke and Yang Bin really missing?
Or have they gone into hiding?
Lai Jie grew increasingly frightened. He grabbed Wu Wangwang's clothes and pleaded, "Fu Mei, you have to find a way to save us! Liu Ke and his group are no longer reliable. You received the announcement; they're definitely the ones who can clear this dungeon. Think of something! I really don't want to die..."
No one who enters the dungeon wants to die. Wu Wangwang sighed helplessly: "At most, we can try to find out the truth and then hide in the safe zone. But don't forget, the requirement to clear this dungeon is to get on the vehicle, not just to survive."
In games that use this kind of rule, the final day is similar to a battle royale game; you can't survive to the very end just by finding a way to survive.
After hearing Wu Wangwang's words, Lai Jie was filled with despair, but he quickly rallied: "At least, at least I can live until September 1st, right? Tell me, I will definitely help you."
After thinking for a while, Wu Wangwang said, "I need to know more about the nine of us. We can't find the others anymore, and we have to be careful not to be caught by ghosts. We still don't know what the conditions for disappearance are. Here's what we'll do: you look for information about your identity. If you have any new information, we'll contact each other by phone."
That's all we can do for now, so Lai Jie had no choice but to agree.
Afterwards, Wu Wangwang left the rented room and returned to Fu Mei's temporary house. Wu Wangwang checked again, this time even looking through the cracks in the walls, but still found nothing.
After starting work, Fu Mei rarely went home because her company didn't give her holidays. Wu Wangwang found her parents' contact information on her phone, which showed that they would only come home once a year for the Spring Festival, and they didn't contact each other at other times.
It's no longer possible to investigate Fu Mei's matter silently; she handled it too cleanly. Since it's related to high school, Wu Wangwang set his sights on the class monitor, who has a great love for gossip and is the person with the most information in the class.
He was able to chat with Wu Wangwang about harmless gossip all the way on the bus that day, so there must be more to it than that.
Just before the weekend, Wu Wangwang took another day off to meet up with her class monitor at a restaurant with private rooms.
The class monitor found it rather strange, but Wu Wangwang said she wanted to ask him for help with something. He assumed that Wu Wangwang wanted to find a job, since the job Wu Wangwang was currently doing didn't sound like something a human being could do.
Wu Wangwang arrived early and, in accordance with human interests, only ordered some fruit and tea; the rest would have to be served to the guests.
When the appointed time arrived, the class monitor opened the door right on time. He saw that Wu Wangwang was already there and said with a smile, "Sorry I'm late."
"No, I was waiting in advance so I could organize my thoughts beforehand." Wu Wangwang used all the polite phrases she had learned recently.
The squad leader smiled but didn't respond. After sitting down next to him, he got straight to the point: "Let's talk first. What kind of help do you need from me?"
As a ghost, Wu Wangwang couldn't understand the hints and hints from humans, so she said bluntly, "I recently heard some gossip that I'm really curious about, but I'm too embarrassed to ask others, so I came to you, class monitor, for help."
"Gossip?" The class monitor was dumbfounded. He went to all that trouble to invite him over, only to find out it wasn't for a job interview, but for gossip? Was Fu Mei out of his mind?
"Yes, this matter is also related to what happened at the party. I've been thinking about it and it seems a bit strange, so I came to ask." Wu Wangwang didn't realize that the class monitor was angry and continued to answer.
The class monitor, who was initially angry that he felt like he had been tricked, understood when he heard that it happened at the party. The situation was quite chaotic at the time, and the deaths of Guo Tianyin and Chu Ping were a thorn in the side of almost every classmate. They would definitely want to know if there was anything wrong with it.
Moreover, the class monitor himself was also very curious about what exactly happened.
The class monitor's expression softened: "Oh, about that? What did you hear?"
Wu Wangwang gave the excuse she had prepared: "It's like this, I accidentally stumbled upon a forum while advertising online, and I found traces of Yahe there. She was cursing Chu Ping there, but I didn't pay much attention to it at first. However, at the party, she happened to say that she saw Jiaojiao hitting Chu Ping. Could there be something going on?"
After listening to Wu Wangwang's words, the class monitor smiled and made a teasing expression: "I didn't explain it very clearly on the bus that day. Now that no one is around, I can speak frankly. Ya and those three people are the small group that is being criticized online. They may have talked to each other, but before that, there was an ambiguous period."
This was the first time Wu Wangwang had realized that human emotions could be so complex.
Yahe played with Yang Bin and Li Hu every day, and they lived close by. Since childhood, they were often teased about which boy would end up with Yahe.
It seems that the three of them have a good relationship and that Yahe will choose one of them to marry, but in reality, none of them have ever confessed their feelings to each other. So, on the surface, each of them will have their own boyfriend or girlfriend.
But their boyfriends or girlfriends have to come after each other.
Simply put, all the boyfriends and girlfriends he makes are part of his three-way relationship, and not many people can stand it.
Chu Ping had dated Yang Bin.
Wu Wangwang's eyes widened in shock: "Why was Chu Ping able to date Yang Bin? Did the two of them have any connection?"
The class monitor knew Wu Wangwang would react this way: "Yes, coincidentally, Chu Ping works part-time at the supermarket owned by Yang Bin's aunt. Chu Ping's family is really poor, so she works on weekends to earn some living expenses."
Yang Bin's aunt's supermarket is located near the school. It's a small supermarket. Chu Ping was disliked in class because she worked as a part-time worker. Many people didn't realize that when high school ended, everyone would have to face life alone. They felt that working was degrading and far removed from their own lives.
As a class monitor with informants everywhere, he had more information than Fu Mei, so he was one of the first to know about Chu Ping's relationship with Yang Bin.
"But the relationship ended pretty quickly. I remember it didn't even last a semester before Yahe ruined it. You know Chu Ping's personality; she couldn't stand Yahe's antics," the class monitor said with some disdain.
Therefore, there is another reason for Yahe and the other two to kill Chu Ping: Chu Ping is dating Yang Bin, and Yahe is also someone in the class who dislikes Chu Ping. Besides her family background, he probably also dislikes his backup girlfriend. It just adds up, making him even more disliked.
The class monitor didn't know anything more, and then Wu Wangwang asked Chu Ping how she had offended Hua Jiao.
The class monitor thought for a while before saying, "Oh, Chu Ping offended Hua Jiao because one day Liu Ke brought Hua Jiao breakfast, and Chu Ping was also included."
Wu Wangwang was stunned: "Doesn't Jiaojiao's family have a nanny who cooks and delivers everything? Why does Liu Ke still need to take care of her?"
"You don't understand. Liu Ke was Hua Jiao's boyfriend at the time. She asked Liu Ke to bring breakfast, but actually she was giving him money so he could buy his own food. She could just bring him some snacks. But Hua Jiao didn't expect Liu Ke to use his own money to buy breakfast for Chu Ping," the class monitor replied with a laugh.
"Chu Ping... is she that popular with the boys?" Wu Wangwang felt that it was strange that Chu Ping was in this class. All the boys wanted to date her, but all the girls disliked her? What a strange TV drama setting.
The class monitor quickly waved his hand: "No, no, no, you misunderstood. Liu Ke doesn't like Chu Ping. He just likes Hua Jiao. But isn't Chu Ping poor? She doesn't meet the criteria for a poor student. She wasn't even voted for in several rounds. She's really poor. Liu Ke happens to be a poor student. He has a scholarship and money from Hua Jiao. Chu Ping just wants to borrow from Liu Ke. She doesn't need much, just enough to eat. She'll work during the holidays to pay him back."
Because high school is not compulsory education, Chu Ping worked for two months during the summer vacation after graduating from junior high school. After paying a bunch of fees, she had no money left. Although Yang Bin provided some financial assistance, her family did not give her any money, so she could only try to mooch off her classmates.
The money she earned from her weekend job was only enough for the cheapest meals, but her family was unwilling to pay for her school fees, so she had to use her own living expenses to make up for it. Therefore, after asking Yang Bin for help, she felt embarrassed and went to ask Liu Ke for help instead.
Liu Ke figured that Hua Jiao gave him a lot of money every day anyway, and he could save it all since he couldn't finish it all. Besides, Chu Ping was just borrowing it and would pay him back when she worked during the holidays. It was just a small amount, some food, and it added up to less than a hundred yuan.
Hua Jiao misunderstood and beat up Chu Ping. After Liu Ke explained the situation, he didn't touch Chu Ping again.
But Hua Jiao's interest came and went quickly; soon she had a new servant and kicked Liu Ke out.
Hearing this, Wu Wangwang was almost certain that Chu Ping was killed by Ya and the trio, and that Hua Jiao's people must have killed Guo Tianyin, but she didn't know the specific reason. Just as she was about to ask, she heard the class monitor give her a mysterious look.
The class monitor winked at her: "Guess who will be Hua Jiao's new boyfriend after Liu Ke?"
Wu Wangwang simply picked one from the players: "Lai Jie?"
"No, you're mistaken. It's not Lai Jie yet, it's Guo Tianyin," the squad leader whispered.
Upon hearing this name, Wu Wangwang confirmed her guess: Hua Jiao and her two companions had definitely killed Guo Tianyin, but why?
Yahe killed Chuping because Chuping disrupted the balance among the three of them. Why would Huajiao, a spoiled young lady, kill her own servant?
Wu Wangwang was puzzled, but the class monitor misunderstood. He said, "You also find it strange, right? Guo Tianyin looks frivolous and lewd, which doesn't fit Hua Jiao's aesthetic. But he managed to get Hua Jiao to agree to his proposal. He must have become Hua Jiao's lapdog. Otherwise, he couldn't have squeezed Liu Ke out. Liu Ke is 1.85 meters tall!"
Wu Wangwang didn't understand human standards for choosing a partner. She touched her face and said, "Maybe Hua Jiao just doesn't like men who are 1.85 meters tall."
The class monitor denied it decisively: "Impossible. She writes novels. Nowadays, the male protagonists in novels are all two meters tall. There's no way she wouldn't like him. Believe me, it's definitely because Guo Tianyin is very good at serving people. Hua Jiao chooses people based not only on the novels but also on the standards of a nanny."
Wu Wangwang: You humans really know how to have fun...
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Author's Note: [End of Chapter]
Wu Wangwang: Then I should be the standard human ideal partner! Over two meters tall, imposing, emotionally stable, and incredibly strong—definitely a hot commodity! [Starry-eyed]
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