If the words "murderer" weren't mixed in, these letters would be just ordinary love confessions and marriage proposals.
But now, putting these words together, they undoubtedly give off a threatening feeling.
The letter writer is threatening the recipient and has turned love into hate.
The leverage in the threat is that the recipient has committed a horrible crime.
"The recipient of the letter is Xixi, and the writer is Jiao Yu, so, the murderer is Xixi?" Wei Shu asked. "So the detectives have solved the case? The game is over?"
“It’s not that simple,” Xiao Xiao said. “Don’t forget that these are letters from thirteen years ago, and the ‘corpse’ stuffed under the bed is still fresh. If the production team wanted us to investigate a case from several years ago, they could have just put in a skeleton. Why bother with a mannequin with skin and clothes?”
Guard: "..." That makes so much sense, I can't argue with it.
"So why is this woman's death exactly the same as the victim in the story Jiao Yu wrote to Xi Xi a few years ago? Is it a copycat crime?" Lei Miao couldn't quite understand.
Yin Chengjue had been examining the "corpse" and had now pulled an ID card from the "corpse's" pocket. The photo on the ID card looked exactly like the dead woman.
It seems this is what can prove the deceased's identity.
Rong Yu leaned closer, and upon seeing the name on the ID card in Yin Chengjue's hand, paused, her expression faltering: "This..."
"What's wrong? Who is she?" Wei Shu also came over. Yin Chengjue had already read the information on the ID card, so he simply handed the document to him.
The others gathered around to look, and were all taken aback.
"XiXi? The deceased was actually XiXi! And the manner of her death was exactly the same as the woman in the white dress described in the story in that letter—she was hanged in a hotel room. After the woman in the white dress in the story was discovered, she was ruled to have committed suicide due to insufficient evidence, and the hotel therefore sealed off that room and used it as a storage warehouse." Qin Ke was the first to find the letter and remembered this story vividly.
There were seven letters and seven stories in total. Three of the stories involved deaths, all of which took place in the hotel and became unsolved mysteries. The other four were good stories, about a man and a woman falling in love at first sight, a wedding being held, a baby's one-month celebration, or an elderly person's 100th birthday banquet.
The four happy events correspond to the following coded words: the confession, the proposal, and the phrase "I see it's you." The three tragic events correspond to the questioning, the threat, and the final phrase "I'm going to kill you."
It's obvious that the story's content and the emotions conveyed by the hidden code are somewhat related, but this doesn't solve their current problems.
“There are too few clues, we still need to look for more.” Yin Chengjue concluded: “Also, I think that our three mission lines are not unrelated. On the contrary, they are as inseparable as the main storyline and subplots of a story.”
Yin Chengjue raised his head slightly, his dark eyes sweeping over everyone's faces, and said with certainty, "The escape mission requires solving a puzzle to leave this place. Lei Miao can open the key lock, but he can't open the combination lock, right?"
Upon hearing this, Lei Miao sighed with regret: "It was my oversight. I will definitely study hard when I get back!"
Qin Linlin behind the camera: "..." Next time, just give me an electronic combination lock!
Yin Chengjue wasn't very interested in Young Master Lei's side business and continued, "If you want to solve the mystery and leave this place, you'll definitely need to look for clues. But you need to think carefully. There's a murderer hiding in this hotel. Since the murderer has trapped us here, he won't easily let us find clues to leave."
"Hiss!" The guard suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and touched the goosebumps on his hands: "You mean, there's not just us here, there's a murderer?"
Yin Chengjue nodded, then dropped another bombshell: "If nothing unexpected happens, the murderer is among us."
Yin Chengjue curled his lips slightly, his smile carrying a hint of wickedness: "I'd venture a guess that one of us not only has the questline, but also the murderer's card."
"The clues are not enough yet, so we can make two inferences. First, the killer's identity does not conflict with his mission, and he can complete the mission by helping his teammates. Second, the killer's identity conflicts with his mission, and he must conceal his identity to complete the mission."
"According to you, it seems the murderer only conflicts with people on the detective's mission line," Hua Yun said, adjusting her glasses.
“At first, I thought so too, until I made two assumptions.” Yin Chengjue held up one finger: “What if the murderer had the escape line, and his task as the murderer was to trap everyone here?”
Yin Chengjue held up a second finger: "Suppose the murderer takes the treasure hunt clue, but his task as the murderer is to steal the treasure? Is the game ending the same whether the treasure is in the hands of the murderer or in the hands of an ordinary player?"
Following Yin Chengjue's train of thought, the group fell into deep thought.
According to Yin Chengjue, they might not only have three factions in the questline now, but also a fourth faction, and that faction only has one player...
Wait a minute? How many people are the murderers?
There is too little information available at the moment, and they can only rely on inferences!
"Let's split up and look for clues, then share the information and see which team completes the mission first," Hua Yun suggested.
No one else had any objections. This was the result Yin Chengjue wanted, so naturally he wouldn't have any complaints.
In just a few words, he had placed the murderer that their detectives were looking for on the opposite side of the other two camps.
Sometimes a variety show episode is only one or two hours long, but it's actually been filmed for one or two days and then edited together.
Just like here they are now, conducting a thorough search for clues, five hours have passed in the blink of an eye, and their stomachs are starting to rumble.
Fortunately, Qin Linlin remembered to leave food and drinks at the hotel restaurant, not daring to let the young masters go hungry.
As they ate, the group shared the clues they had found, gradually piecing together the entire storyline and revealing the truth of the matter.
It turns out there was no "thirteen years ago" at all; those letters misled them.
Just like when people tell stories, they like to say "a long, long time ago." The purpose is simply to fill in a time period and fulfill the basic elements of a story. Intentionally pushing the time to the past is to make it impossible for the listener to verify the story. Because of the distance in time, it gives people a sense of psychological distance and makes them feel that the story is far removed from reality.
So the so-called "thirteen years ago" is just a hoax; these things didn't happen thirteen years ago, but rather in the last few days.
They only realized this after reviewing the hotel's surveillance footage.
Another piece of evidence is that Xiao Xiao found a cell phone, unlocked it, and found a video recording "Jiao Yu" writing a letter to "Xi Xi". The time of writing the letter was three days ago.
They started off in the wrong direction; the timeline of the story in the letter wasn't accurate, but rather the time the letter was written.
"...So, the letter was written not long ago, and the story it describes is a death omen, threatening the recipient that if they don't agree to marry, they will die in the manner described in the letter," Hua Yun concluded.
"Wait a minute, since the recipient saw the contents of the letter, even if they didn't believe it, they wouldn't come to this hotel to die. They should at least avoid this hotel, right?" As soon as Yang Ji finished speaking, he suddenly realized something, exchanged a glance with Liu Qingling beside him, and stomped his feet and clapped his hands, excitedly shouting, "Ah! It's for the treasure!"
The two exaggerated their excitement, only to be met with seven pairs of disdainful looks as if they were looking at idiots.
Liu Qingling cleared her throat. "Everyone, variety shows need to be entertaining, please understand."
The guard's eyes immediately filled with sympathy: "You guys have it so tough!"
Yang Ji sniffled and pretended to wipe away tears and sigh.
Liu Qingling nudged Yang Ji with her elbow: "That's enough, you've acted it out."
Yang Ji's furrowed brow immediately disappeared: "Oh, alright then, let's get back to business. Where were we? Oh right, the treasure!"
"Regarding the treasure, I've found a clue." Rong Yu's figure floated out like a ghost, holding up two quick-printed photos: "These are the blood-written words I took under the bed in the last room on the third floor. They contain a string of numbers. I used the code to open a lock in the room and got a golden box, but it was empty. The velvet print inside shows that a necklace had been placed in the box before."
"Wow! So the treasure hunt storyline has appeared too?" Wei Shu stared at Rong Yu: "Xiao Yu, are you on the treasure hunt storyline?"
Rong Yu smiled faintly and remained silent.
Yin Chengjue tapped the table lightly to divert everyone's attention and said, "So, the known timeline of events is that Xixi did something unspeakable, Jiao Yu wrote a letter to blackmail Xixi, Xixi risked coming to the hotel in the story in the letter for the treasure, and Xixi was indeed killed according to the description in the letter. Therefore, the murderer is Jiao Yu, and Jiao Yu is among us."
After a pause, Yin Chengjue continued, "Now that the object that appears to be the treasure box has been found, who took the treasure inside? Since it wasn't on the deceased, we can only guess that the murderer took it."
“Um…” Rong Yu slowly raised her hand: “Actually, it’s also possible that someone else took it, but that person’s questline isn’t treasure hunting, so…”
The words were left unsaid, but the others already understood.
Other characters in the other quest lines found the key treasure in the treasure hunt quest and then hid it again, preventing the treasure hunt quest line members from completing their quest first!
"What the hell! Is this how you play the game?!" Wei Shu's eyes widened, his gaze towards the others changed, and he wailed, "What happened to the most basic trust between people?!"
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