Wei Lu's scream was particularly shrill, accompanied by the sound of the sea breeze.
Moreover, they didn't stop at just one call; they took a half-breath and continued to call, one after another, incessantly, just like roosters crowing.
Others: "..." Although the production team did not give prior notice for this episode, did they really need to make such an exaggerated claim?
Liu Qingling and Yang Ji couldn't help but start to reflect on themselves. Should they have screamed in response? Otherwise, would the variety show effect be affected?
But when they looked around and saw that, apart from Wei Lu and Guan Haifeng, the others didn't show any expression when they saw the skull rolling out of the refrigerator, and even frowned because Guan Haifeng and Wei Lu were shouting too loudly, they believed they had done the right thing.
Yes, that's the style of this group.
Even the usually boisterous Lei Miao and Wei Shu didn't react much, which shows that this thing really isn't that scary.
The guard even went up first, kicked the replica skull, bent down, hooked the skull's eye sockets, and picked it up.
Guan Haifeng and Wei Lu immediately let out even more terrified screams and retreated away from the garrison.
"Ring ring ring!" The phone rang suddenly not far away, attracting everyone's attention.
Rong Yu was standing closest to the phone, so she picked it up and pressed the speakerphone button.
"Congratulations on discovering the body and triggering our story mission! Now I will announce the game rules, please listen carefully to the rules."
"From now on, in addition to your original identity, each of you will also have a different identity. This identity is known only to yourself. You can choose to keep it a secret, or you can choose to find someone with the same identity as you. However, please note that if you reveal your identity card in front of everyone, we will assume that you have self-destructed, your identity card will be invalidated, and you will be taken away by our staff and removed from this game."
The six people who had previously recorded this show exchanged glances—the rules of the game have changed!
The voice on the phone continued, "You now have three mission lines: the detective line, the escape line, and the treasure hunt line. Each mission line has three people. The detective line consists of: the detective, the evidence-finding dog, and the agent. The escape line consists of: the team leader, the locksmith, and the team member. The treasure hunt line consists of: the captain, the clairvoyant, and the team member."
"The three mission lines are in competition because only one person can leave this place safely, so you need to prepare a plan to deal with it."
"Detective, team leader, and captain all have two lives. During the day, the evidence-finding dog can choose to investigate a person's evidence and motive to determine if they are the real culprit. The locksmith can open a lock that can't find the key or an electronic lock that can't find the card during the day, thus speeding up your team's escape. The 'clairvoyant' can choose to search for a room at night, and we will tell you directly whether the room contains the treasure your team is looking for. Detectives, team members, and squad members do not possess any special skills."
"Once one player completes their main quest, the other players are considered to have failed their quests, and the game ends."
"Friendly reminder: when completing the questline, please don't forget the three instructions left by the villa owner! If you violate these instructions and are asked to leave this place, it will be considered a quest failure."
"Now, take down the cake box from the top shelf of the refrigerator. There are nine slices of cake inside. Each slice contains an identification tag. Please choose the flavor of cake you want and keep your identification tag safe."
"Please note that the identity card can only be hidden, not destroyed. Once the identity card is destroyed, the person who originally held that identity card will also be considered to have lost the game, and the staff will remove them from the game."
"The rules of the game have been read."
As soon as he finished speaking, the other end of the phone hung up, and a busy tone came through the receiver.
Rong Yu put down the microphone and said, "So, shall we start cutting the cake now?"
Lei Miao took the cake box out of the refrigerator and placed it on the table.
The box was opened, revealing nine square cakes inside, each with a different flavor: cheese, strawberry, chocolate, fruit cream, and more.
"How about the ladies choose first?" the guard suggested.
Wei Lu and Ling Ting politely stepped forward and chose their cakes. The others also chose their cakes one after another, and then went to a secluded place to take out their identity tags and put them away.
Yin Chengjue received a matcha-flavored cake. He dipped his spoon in and scooped out a small sign with three words engraved on it: "Thousand-Mile Eyes".
In the rules, "Clairvoyance" is a special skill card in the treasure hunt route. It allows you to choose a room at night and find out if the room contains the secret treasure that your team is looking for.
This is also the only special ability card that operates at night; the other special ability cards in the mission line (Evidence Hound and Locksmith) operate during the day.
Yin Chengjue pinched the small tag, pondering how to hide it.
The phone call didn't explain how to find his teammates, and the sign doesn't indicate how either. This means he needs to rely on the actions of other people to determine their mission lines and identify enemies or teammates.
This is somewhat similar to the game Werewolf, but the difference is that in Werewolf, two-thirds of the villagers are good people and they have to find the werewolves who are one-third of the villagers. The werewolves win if they eliminate all the villagers or all the gods, while the good people win if they eliminate all the werewolves.
In this game, players on the same questline need to complete their own quests first, or prevent players on the other two questlines from completing their quests.
Of course, there is another way, which is to eliminate the people in the other two mission lines.
“It’s 9:30 in the morning. Before we got the other identity card, we found a skull in this refrigerator. Putting everything else aside, Butler Liu, can you explain why there’s a human skull in the refrigerator?” Rong Yu spoke first, breaking the silence.
Liu Qingling carefully put away her identity token and said, "I don't know what's going on either."
Lingting, who hadn't said much, said, "We all entered this villa this morning, which means that the only people who had the opportunity to place the skull are Butler Liu, Maid Yang, and Lawyer Lei, who arrived here a few days ago, right?"
As soon as she said that, everyone's attention immediately turned to Liu Qingling.
This incident could very well be the key to finding the killer, and the detective team will definitely be paying close attention to the answer to this question.
Yin Chengjue immediately took this opportunity to look around and observe everyone's eyes and micro-expressions.
Then, unsurprisingly, his gaze met Rong Yu's.
Rong Yu was also observing.
Their eyes met briefly before looking away, landing on the faces of other people.
Yin Chengjue quickly noticed Guan Haifeng and Wei Lu, whose expressions were the most obvious.
The two had been startled by the skull and were still in a daze when they heard the game rules. They were probably still confused when they received their identity tokens. Although they put them away like everyone else, they couldn't hide the expressions on their faces.
Upon hearing Ling Ting's question to Liu Qingling, Guan Haifeng's face immediately showed obvious excitement, clearly indicating his keen interest in the answer.
Those who are interested in the real culprit are undoubtedly on the detective side.
Wei Lu's expression was the opposite; she seemed uninterested in the question. She had been so scared just now, but now she was not paying attention and was just thinking about something with her head down.
This shows that she has now recovered from her initial shock and is starting to think about how to win the game. She is clearly thinking seriously, but she is not focusing on this very important issue for the detective storyline, which shows that her task is not the detective storyline.
As for Ling Ting, who raised this question, there's a 50% chance she's on the detective route, but we can't rule out the possibility that she said it on purpose to make the detective route players reveal a flaw.
The other five players have already tried the game, and they managed their facial expressions very well, so there are no particularly obvious flaws to be seen yet.
Despite the stares of everyone, Liu Qingling did not appear flustered. He said, "Ling's illegitimate daughter, I think you are wrong. Although you came this morning, you did not arrive at the same time. After I led you to the hall, I went to do my own things. During this time, you could move around freely without anyone noticing, since there are only a few people in this house right now."
Liu Qingling looked around and said, “So I think everyone here has the opportunity to commit the crime. It’s just a matter of putting a skull in the refrigerator. It won’t take long.”
Yang Ji said, "Butler Liu is right. It's not just Butler Liu and me. Lawyer Lei had time to commit the crime, and everyone did. Besides, all of you young masters and ladies have stayed here before. In terms of familiarity, you are no less. Today, I'm just bringing you all here to familiarize yourselves with the place again, in case you haven't been back for a while and have forgotten the location of some rooms."
This explanation is acceptable. Lingting nodded, indicating that she had no further questions.
“If there’s nothing else, let’s split up now. That’ll be better for everyone’s mission.” Yin Chengjue casually grabbed a can of coffee from the refrigerator, but along with it came a note stuck next to two coffee cans.
The note fluttered to the ground, and the others looked over as well. Lei Miao, who was closest, picked up the note and read, "Those who do not follow the rules will be punished."
The others looked at each other in bewilderment.
Rong Yu glanced at the note in Lei Miao's hand, her eyes suddenly lighting up. She pointed to the skull still being held by the guard and said, "Just now, wasn't that skull placed on the two coffee cans behind the refrigerator door? That's why it rolled out when the refrigerator door was opened."
Rong Yu: "So, that note wasn't placed next to the coffee can, but inside the skull."
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