Chapter 35.
"Yes, yes. In ten days, the entire Guya Town will hold a harvest celebration." Facing Xiang Tonghua's question, Yang Mingzhe nodded repeatedly. He swallowed, his eyes filled with fear.
"They celebrate the gift of the gods and offer precious sacrifices to them. The sacrifices are selected from us participants."
Annie's eyebrows turned and she suddenly asked, "The mayor is responsible for selecting the sacrifice?"
"right!"
So that's why the mayor's house is the most dangerous.
The harvest celebration should be presided over by the mayor, which means that the mayor must have special means to make participants become sacrifices.
Xiang Tonghua raised his lips, and said slowly: "So, if you stay at an ordinary town resident's house, you may still have a chance of escaping, but if you go to the mayor's house, then..."
There is no escape!
The sky over Lonely Cliff Town is always gray, and without a clock, it is difficult for people to tell what time it is.
It was already dark before five in the evening, and the people in the town had dinner early and prepared to go to bed.
Although it’s called dinner, it’s actually very simple.
Even when entertaining guests, the mayor's family had no plans to cook meat dishes in the evening.
Aunt Jin went to the alley and picked a handful of those strange climbing leaves. She brought them back and cooked a pot of soup with the hot water in the pot. Tang Yu was very curious about this kind of food, so he watched from the side.
Aunt Jin sparingly put a little seasoning oil and salt into the pot, and then prepared to eat.
There was just enough soup for everyone, so no one had any extra. The children sat on the stools and watched Aunt Jin serve the soup.
After the soup was divided, they began to eat. Tang En looked at the emerald green soup.
The strange leaves are as big as a palm, stacked up one on top of another, floating in the coarse porcelain bowl. Under the dim light of the oil lamp, they give off a deep feeling.
It was as if it was not a bowl of soup, but a small deep pool.
Tang En picked up the bowl and smelled it. A faint scent of grass came to his nose. When he was hesitating whether to drink it, he found that Tang Yu had already taken a sip.
Tang En: “!!!”
Didn’t we agree to be as cautious as possible?
Tang Yu felt Tang En's gaze, she tilted her head to look at him, nodded at him and said, "It tastes okay."
Tang En: "...Oh."
Aunt Jin felt complimented, and her fat face smiled in an unusually kind manner. She said cheerfully, "If you like it, drink more. Green leaves are our specialty. Eating more is good for your health!"
Not sure if it was because Tang Yu took the lead or because he was moved by the peaceful atmosphere, Tang En finally picked up the bowl and drank the soup.
Of course, the two of them couldn't be full just by drinking the soup, so Tang Yu took out the Lao Fan brand bread from her bag and ate it. Since they had drunk Aunt Jin's soup, she also enthusiastically shared the bread with the old Jin family.
At nightfall, Lao Jin arranged for the two of them to stay in a room on the west wing on the second floor.
There are not many empty rooms in the old Jin's house, and this room was vacated by Aunt Jin overnight. Tang En wanted to go and help, but Aunt Jin refused to let him.
"You should take a rest. Look at your thin arms and legs. You should take good care of yourself." Aunt Jin said happily while moving sundries out of the room.
The attitude was so friendly and enthusiastic that Tang En was in a trance for a moment, as if the person standing in front of him was his relative, who was blaming him for not taking good care of himself.
Tang En grinned and nodded randomly, feeling warm in his heart.
The room was originally used to store sundries. It was not very big and there was a small window near the roof, which made the light in the room not very good.
But it didn't matter. At night, Tang En lay in the dry and warm bed and felt very safe.
It was drizzling outside, and the sound of dripping water could be heard on the roof, which was persistent and sounded particularly hypnotic.
"Sister Tang Yu, this place is so nice!" Tang En exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.
When he first entered the dungeon, the fear of the unknown made him nervous.
Along the way, that invisible sense of oppression and weirdness always put pressure on him, and Tang En always felt that he was going to go crazy in the next second.
But since entering the mayor's house, he felt like a weathered traveler who suddenly fell into a warm and comfortable bathtub.
The heartstrings that were stretched to the extreme suddenly relaxed, and he seemed to have returned to the time before the strange invasion.
At this moment, all fear and life and death are forgotten. There are no strange threats and no jungle law of the survival of the fittest.
At this time, he was just an ordinary person living in a normal world.
Tang Yu slept on another small bed separated from him by a curtain. The sheets and quilts Aunt Jin had laid out were washed very clean, and were very dry and warm.
After being caught in the rain all day, she absolutely loved this bed. She fully agreed with Tang En's words, "It's really comfortable."
Tang En: "I really want to live here forever."
Tang Yu couldn't help but nodded, but she realized something was wrong the next second. She looked in the direction of the curtain and said, "That won't work. We still have to find Xiang Tonghua and the others to avenge Li Jia and Ning Xuanqing!"
Tang En also suddenly woke up, and when he remembered the reason why he entered this copy, he felt a little ashamed for a moment.
He was so blinded by the momentary comfort that he forgot that Li Jia and Ning Xuanqing might be in danger.
He touched his hot cheeks, and was thankful that it was dark at night and there were curtains blocking the view, so Tang Yu wouldn't see his embarrassment.
"Yeah, I wonder how they are doing now."
......
In the amusement park in the city center, the two atmospheres of liveliness and loneliness coexist strangely.
The amusement park in front of me was huge but empty, without any tourists or staff.
However, all the facilities were operating on their own, and one could even hear noises and laughter that seemed to be about to overturn the sky, as if countless invisible people were playing around in it.
Li Jia is in the clown's happy house.
She and the strange clown stood face to face, separated by a square table covered with red velvet, on which a dice was spinning.
The dice spun a few times before losing momentum and stopping, revealing a striking six.
Just before, she inexplicably followed the clown into the room, and the clown took out an exquisite dice from his pocket and wanted to play a game with her.
The rules are very simple. Two people throw the dice to compare the size. It's a best-of-three game. Whoever loses dies.
As for what would happen if they won, in the Joker's own words, "Win first, then talk about it."
For three consecutive rounds, the Joker threw out six points. The strange thing is that Li Jia also threw out six points for three consecutive rounds.
Li Jia looked up and asked the clown: "Whose is the tie?"
The clown was silent for a moment and then answered the question irrelevantly: "Are you cheating?"
Li Jia was shocked: "You are the one holding the dice, how can you cheat?"
clown:"......"
Li Jia couldn't see the clown's expression under the heavy ink and paint, so she subconsciously asked, "Do you still want to play?"
The clown grinned in an exaggerated smile and said faintly, "Play, of course."
The man and the ugly man threw the dice together for six consecutive rounds, but the result was still the same.
"Hey, do you still want to play?" Li Jia had completely forgotten about being nervous and scared at this time. She just felt that the scene in front of her was so interesting that she couldn't help laughing.
She could guess that the clown's killing room was probably a killer spot. As soon as the participants saw the clown, they would be mentally corrupted and controlled to walk in.
Once you enter the Joker's game, you are doomed to lose within three rounds, and the loser will die.
This kind of player either has superb skills to get six points every time, or is a player like Li Jia who has maxed out his luck.
Although Li Jia's skills do not have any offensive power, her luck always brings her surprises inadvertently and may even save her life invisibly.
Li Jia originally thought that she would definitely die in the amusement park this time. After all, one circle of the carousel almost cost her her life.
But now it seems that there is still hope.
At this moment, she was so lucky that even she was scared!
This was the first time the clown encountered such a situation. He raised his eyes and looked at Li Jia. In the exaggerated oil paint, his eyeballs had begun to emit a bloodthirsty scarlet.
The strong murderous intent and malice could no longer be concealed. Li Jia could clearly feel that as long as she lost once, the clown would immediately tear her into pieces.
The Joker really wants to kill someone, especially this hateful woman in front of him!
But it is restricted by the rules it set. The loser must die, and so far, no one has lost.
Since there was no winner, they had to continue, so the dice started rolling again.
Until the fourteenth time, the Joker threw a five and Li Jia threw a six.
The winner is decided!
"You lose!" Li Jia raised her lips, her eyes full of satisfaction. She said fearlessly: "If you don't accept it, we can continue."
The clown stared at the dice, almost staring through it with his eyes, and after a long while he said, "You win."
Li Jia held the golden card in his hand, looked at the clown and said, "Then the loser must die. Do you want to die?"
The clown smiled that exaggerated smile again and shook his head: "I can't die, but since I lost, I can agree to one condition of yours."
"Really?" Li Jia also grinned widely. She moved closer to the clown and put forward her own conditions.
"I want to get out of here alive."
......
In that enclosed space, Ning Xuanqing could not see the alternation of day and night at all. She could only judge which day it was by the number of cases she handled.
This copy, called Seven Days to Hunt a Murderer, presents a case every day, and each person has only one chance to identify the murderer.
Including the case handled by Ning Xuanqing on the first day, the seven people have now solved six cases, which means they have been here for six days.
During these six days, different suspects and victims will walk out of different doors every day, tell their own stories, and then ask participants to identify the murderer.
Those who err will die.
The so-called stories told by the "people" who walked out from behind these doors became increasingly abstract, and the truths hidden behind them became increasingly outrageous.
Rather than calling it a detective solving a case, it would be more accurate to call it a metaphysical case solving.
The malicious intent of this copy is clearly laid out on the table.
Fortunately, they successfully solved the case for six consecutive days without any death.
The girl named Ning Xuanqing helped everyone point out the correct murderer. At first they were skeptical about her judgment.
But Wilde chose to believe her and was the second to identify the murderer. His companion Ji Anmin was the third to prove that Ning Xuanqing was correct.
The fourth one is Chen Feiluan, the fifth one is Su Xiao, and Luo Ping is relatively cautious and ranked sixth.
Now there is only the seventh case left to be solved, and among the seven people present, only Ma Kangning has one chance to identify the person.
Everyone said that they could trust Ning Xuanqing's judgment, and that everyone would be able to pass the copy in time.
But Ma Kangning didn't think so. In fact, as time went by, he became more and more nervous.
Except for him and Ning Xuanqing, no one knew how they appeared in this copy. Ning Xuanqing himself had never shown any hostility towards Ma Kangning in front of others.
But the calmer and more composed she was, the more Ma Kangning suspected that she was secretly plotting something bad.
As time went by, Ma Kangning's idea became more certain.
On the first day, Ma Kangning controlled Ning Xuanqing and wanted her to go to her own death, but by accident she stepped into the door of life. At that time, he knew that he had missed the best opportunity to kill Ning Xuanqing.
Just when he was feeling frustrated, Ning Xuanqing insisted that she recognized the murderer on her own. Then Ma Kangning thought that his chance had come again.
He instigated everyone to ask her to help identify the murderer, thinking that with so many chances, how would she continue to pretend? If she made one mistake, she would become the target of public criticism.
At that time, no one would say anything even if he killed her.
However, what Ma Kangning did not expect was that this woman had some means and never made a mistake.
He knew that it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to kill her. Now everyone present had psychologically acquiesced that Ning Xuanqing had saved their lives.
In Wilder's own words, "Now, we all owe you our lives."
At this moment, Ning Xuanqing was looking at Ma Kangning calmly. When he turned his head and looked at her, she curled her lips slightly and said, "Don't worry, I will help you well."
Ma Kangning wouldn't believe even a single punctuation mark she said. He was now in a very passive position. The threat of death was gradually looming over him, and he felt the situation was getting worse.
Damn woman!
Ma Kangning really wanted to kill Ning Xuanqing directly, but he couldn't do it.
In this subtle atmosphere, the seventh door in the room slowly opened.
With an unpleasant creaking sound of wood rubbing against each other, the old door slowly opened, revealing a dark corridor behind it.
A heavy and slow sound of footsteps came from afar and everyone couldn't help but hold their breath.
Here we come!
Ma Kangning listened to the jerking footsteps and had a strange illusion in his heart, as if those were not footsteps but the countdown to his death.
He shook his head and told himself to relax, but the more he did so, the more nervous he became.
In fact, it wasn't just him, everyone else present felt nervous as well.
We are all veterans of life and death, and often have an almost intuitive sense of danger.
They have been in this copy for six full days, and no one has died so far.
It is true that Ning Xuanqing played a role in this, but everyone had a feeling.
That is, a huge crisis seems to be brewing in this copy, and the seventh day is the deadline.
The footsteps in the corridor were getting closer and closer, and a tall figure gradually emerged from the dim light until it became clear.
The moment they saw it, the seven people's pupils couldn't help but shrink.
The man was tall, with three-dimensional facial features, and was of typical Western descent. He was wearing a standard police uniform, and it was none other than Weisz!
The real murderer in the sheriff's manslaughter case on the first day!
Ning Xuanqing was lazily leaning against the back of his chair, thinking, but the moment he saw Weisz, his beautiful lake green eyes couldn't help but narrow.
Weisz looked the same as he had on the first day, his face was pale and bloodless, his expression was stiff, but there was a crazy and vicious look in his eyes.
It walked straight to the podium in front of the long table and stood still. Its bloodthirsty and malicious eyes slowly scanned everyone, as if crawling over everyone's body like a snake.
Everyone who came into contact with its gaze could not help but look away.
Immediately afterwards, another person walked in from behind the wooden door.
When she saw that person, Su Xiao took a breath, and her delicate voice became hoarse and sluggish as if it had been smoked by cigarettes.
"Xiao Zhao?!" She seemed to have seen something incomprehensible. After meeting Xiao Zhao's vicious gaze, she quickly looked away, and then couldn't help but glance at Wilde.
Xiao Zhao was the real murderer identified by Wilde himself the next day!
Before everyone could be shocked, four more people came out from behind the door. They knew all seven people in the room.
Esther, Lu Jun, Song Hao, Mieko.
Without exception, they were all the real culprits of the murder case six days ago, and they all appeared here again without exception.
The wooden door slammed shut, and a sense of horror arose in everyone's heart.
Is this a seventh day case?
Ji Anmin couldn't help but whisper, "Are you going to find the real murderer among these six people?"
No one could answer his question.
These six people came from different countries, it was impossible for them to even know each other, and the crimes they committed had no overlap at all.
But why do they appear here in such an orderly manner?
Chen Feiluan pondered and said, "Is it possible that these people had contact after being imprisoned, and conflicts arose between them and then the murder occurred?"
The others were thinking about this possibility silently. Ning Xuanqing pursed her lips and frowned. She did not rule out the scenario mentioned by Chen Feiluan, but she always felt that things were not that simple.
This is a C-level multiplayer copy. Even if all the participants are top masters, Ning Xuanqing will not be so lucky as to underestimate this copy.
Solving the case in the past few days was not difficult, at least for Ning Xuanqing.
Although the stories told by those weird NPCs were ambiguous and confusing, and it was impossible to judge the case from their descriptions, Ning Xuanqing did not use conventional methods to solve the case.
When others asked her to help solve a case, they all thought she relied on her brain, but only she knew that she relied on her intuition.
Those who identify the wrong person will die.
Her skill is the sixth sense, which can be used not only on herself but also on others.
Her sixth sense comes into play most when she helps others identify the murderer.
When Ning Xuanqing was ambushed by Ma Kangning, she woke up at the critical moment and chose this copy at the last minute. It is hard to say whether it was the optimal solution made by her sixth sense.
For example, at this moment, Ning Xuanqing had an intuition.
Ma Kangning will die today.
What made her feel bad was that she had a hunch that she would face a life-and-death crisis on her last day!
There was not much time left for everyone to think, as Weiss had already taken a step forward and began his opening speech, just like on the first day.
"Thank you all for helping the police department solve one bizarre case after another. Everyone here is an excellent detective. Now we just need to solve the last case, and then you can leave. Now, please allow the victim to speak."
When Weisz said this, his stiff facial muscles pulled into a strange smile, revealing his neat and sharp teeth.
Everyone stared at Weisz's every move. After it finished speaking, it did not show any intention of retreating, but continued to speak.
"I was a victim who died in prison."
Only now did Weiss finish his speech, take a step back and stand among the team.
The second person to speak was a man named Xiao Zhao. He stepped forward and said expressionlessly, "I am a victim and died in prison."
A third person: "I am a victim and died in prison."
Even though these narrators were very frugal with their words, the people present listened carefully, and they quickly thought about the details and doubts in their minds.
So far, there have been three victims. If the ones behind them are all suspects, then...
At the same time, a fourth person began to speak: "I am a victim who died in prison."
The scope of suspects has been narrowed again!
It doesn't seem so difficult this time?
Just as this thought came to everyone's mind, the fifth person stood up and said the same thing.
"I was a victim who died in prison."
The seven people fell silent for a moment.
Five of the six people were victims, do we still need to rule out the real murderer? !
Person 6: "I am a victim and died in prison."
Seven people: “!!!”
Until this point, everyone gradually realized that things seemed to be moving in an uncontrollable direction.
After the sixth person finished his story, he returned to the team.
Weisz stood up and made his final statement: "Please point out the murderer within thirty minutes."
After the words fell, the whole room fell into a long silence.
On the seventh day, six victims walked in, none of whom were suspects.
Then it is obvious where the suspect is!
The real murderer has now changed his identity and become a victim who died in prison, and the seven of them have turned from detectives into suspects.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Of the seven people present, except Ma Kangning, the other six have come forward to identify the real murderer. In other words, the six of them caused the deaths of the six people on the stage.
They are all the real murderers!
Ma Kangning felt everyone's ambiguous gazes at him, and cold sweat slowly flowed down his forehead.
If Ma Kangning wants to correctly identify the real murderer, he must implicate all six people.
The murderer's fate can be directly referred to the six dead people on the podium, which means that the lives of the six people are in the hands of Ma Kangning alone.
The puzzle was right there on the surface, and this time Ma Kangning knew the answer even without Ning Xuanqing's hint.
The murderer was easy to identify, but he couldn't point it out at all.
As early as two minutes ago, Luo Ping's knife was already against his throat.
At the same time, he felt a faint tingling sensation in his solar plexus, which was Su Xiao's mental attack.
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