"Tell the truth?" Qin Liu was surprised for a moment, then looked intently at his teammate. He then saw that after a brief moment of shock, Wan Sheng's face showed a look of wild joy. He suddenly realized something.
"Squad leader, let me do it!"
"Do you have something to tell us?"
Wan Sheng nodded vigorously. He was almost going crazy from holding it in, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it. Now that he finally had the chance to pass on the message to his brothers, how could he not be excited!
Qin Liu frowned and pondered as he thought about how Wan Sheng had become very strange after losing his arm. These people were all battle-hardened and resolute, and it was rare for them to have a mental breakdown. He had initially thought that Wan Sheng's sudden outburst was due to the negative emotions that had accumulated over the past few worlds, which were now erupting all at once. But now it seemed that there was another reason.
Qin Liu didn't easily give Wan Sheng this opportunity. Instead, he asked first, "Was your emotional breakdown not long ago intentional? Were you trying to send us a message?"
Wan Sheng once again didn't know whether to shake his head or nod.
"Squad leader, I need this opportunity."
Qin Liu looked at him for a moment and then handed him the note. "Okay, you only have twenty words."
Wan Sheng held the note, let out a deep breath, and said slowly, "The scapegoat will replace me in the main hall. 304 is trustworthy. The other teams have scapegoats."
After Wan Sheng finished speaking, the note he was holding disappeared completely. He couldn't say anything more and could only look helplessly at Qin Liu, who was filled with shock. "Class monitor, only the people in 304 can be trusted."
So far, the rules of this game world have been following the established order, and there has been no situation where the rules themselves would try to trick them. Since the reward they received was to make Wansheng tell the truth, he was unable to lie the moment he received the slip of paper.
"There's so much information in those few words, I need to process it all!"
Wansheng glanced at his teammate who was speaking, but remained silent.
"When you say 'after the main hall,' does that mean you were replaced after we left the main hall, or that you were replaced after we arrived at the main hall when the people from 304 came?" Qin Liu asked, keeping a close eye on Wan Sheng's expression, afraid that he would miss the message Wan Sheng wanted to convey.
"Squad leader, Wansheng seems to be unable to move at all."
Qin Liu sighed, "It must be the game rules that restricted him, no wonder..."
Wan Sheng, who had suppressed the urge to answer, was soon able to move again. He said, "I can't. I can't move if I want to speak. The rules of the game don't allow it. I can't even make gestures."
“It’s alright. At least we know now that whether you were replaced after we first entered the main hall or the second time we went to the main hall, it only proves that the guy who grabbed you to be his scapegoat knew you very well. Except for just now when you—he suddenly called me captain and gave a little hint, he acted flawlessly the whole time.”
"Ugh, squad leader, I'm getting goosebumps."
“Me too. I never doubted that Wansheng was a fake before. He disguised himself too well.”
Qin Liu was pondering some questions when he heard this, and his brows furrowed. "We haven't had any contact with those people who want to capture us as scapegoats before, have we?"
"No, even if they did, they're all dead." In other words, it's impossible for anyone to know them that well, let alone infiltrate them and remain unsuspected for so long.
Wan Sheng knew, but he couldn't bring himself to say it, and could only helplessly watch as the class monitor and the others guessed.
"Like this." Qin Liu took two scrolls and placed them on either side of his hands. He quickly made several gestures, then pointed at the two scrolls with his fingers and looked at Wan Sheng.
Wan Sheng nodded. "I understand."
"Hmm, why do you say 304 can be trusted? Is it because during the time you were replaced, you had a way of knowing if anyone on their team was used as a scapegoat?"
This question didn't involve any core rules. Wan Sheng tried it and found that he could nod, so he tentatively said, "There is indeed no one on their team who can be a scapegoat for the time being. When I said 304 is trustworthy, I wasn't referring to their team, but to Mo Shuwan. I was able to come back this time thanks to her."
After saying this, Wan Sheng himself showed a look of surprise. "Actually, these words had been running through my mind when I came back, but I couldn't say them. Why can I say them now?"
"Maybe it's because of that note? By the way, you weren't in any trouble after you were replaced, were you?"
Wan Sheng shook his head. "No, I was just watching."
"What's the meaning?"
The other team members hadn't yet grasped Wan Sheng's meaning, but Qin Liu suddenly looked up and asked, "What are you looking at? Are you looking at us walking with that fake one?"
Wan Sheng nodded helplessly.
After a moment of stunned silence, the other teammates all let out an angry curse: This game world is shameless!
"If I'm not mistaken, while you're looking at us, there's another group of people who want to use us as scapegoats, watching us and observing our every move."
After Qin Liu finished speaking, he added, "You're right. The people in 304 can be trusted. The punishment game just now was able to be completed smoothly partly because of the people in 304. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't have been able to come back safely."
The details of the punishment game couldn't be revealed, but since Qin Liu had told them so frankly, the people in 304 must have been a great help to him.
The young man in black muttered, "Now we're really indebted to them."
Qin Liu nodded, then suddenly remembered the three elemental scrolls Wan Sheng had given him earlier. He squinted and asked, "When did you get back? Before or after I went to do the punishment game quest?"
Wan Sheng pointed to the scroll to Qin Liu's right.
“You were just trying to return the three elemental scrolls to me, and you said you used two of them—” Before he could finish speaking, Wan Sheng took out the three elemental scrolls again and handed them to Qin Liu.
"It's yours, she gave it to me."
Qin Liu smiled, did not take the elemental scrolls, and continued, "So you met the fake you from earlier, and it seems she wasn't the one who wanted you to be a scapegoat, otherwise these three elemental scrolls wouldn't be in your hands. That person is Mo Shuwan from 304?"
Wan Sheng neither nodded nor shook his head; he simply smiled, but that said it all.
Qin Liu suddenly sighed, "Those people in 304 are really interesting...and they're all very smart, and they can definitely be trusted."
Some team members recalled Mo Shuwan's furious, murderous expression when she first met them, and immediately became displeased. "We kindly told them crucial information, and she still wanted to kill us. She doesn't seem trustworthy at all."
“They came in much later than us, so there was an information asymmetry. Besides, if they believed everything someone said unconditionally, how could they have gotten this far?”
Even so, there's no guarantee they won't be replaced by people who catch scapegoats later.
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