Chapter 12: The Returner on a Snowy Night (6)
Lunch for eight people, each harboring their own ulterior motives.
The meal was a deeply stewed beef and potato dish. The pot that Li Shuangshuang had poisoned filled the room with a tantalizing aroma when it was brought out, but everyone could only smell the fragrance while eating pickled vegetables.
This was called bringing disaster upon oneself.
Jin Cheng had absolutely no interest in such a lunch. Better than nothing, he made himself a cup of instant coffee. Leaning back in his armchair with his long legs crossed, his smiling eyes appraised the people in the room. He tapped the side of his cup with his knuckles, seemingly curious as he asked Tang Cuo, “You don’t look like you suspect Zhang Zhiqiu at all.”
Tang Cuo: “Do I?”
Jin Cheng: “You do.”
Tang Cuo glanced at Zhang Zhiqiu and said, “Our names weren’t in the vote just now.”
If the system was manipulating things, the voting results were illogical. Li Shuangshuang had three votes, but Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, the two blacklisted players, had none—and they were the only two without a single vote. This felt more like someone deliberately avoiding them. Perhaps out of fear they would retaliate, or perhaps as a deliberate attempt to curry favor. Regardless, it carried an undeniable scent of intentionality.
Over there, Li Shuangshuang was deeply worried and completely lost her appetite. The show of hands wouldn’t happen until after lunch, making the wait agonizing, because no matter how she thought about it, the final result would either be her or Zhang Zhiqiu.
It felt like a knife suspended over her head. It looked like she could still struggle, but how could she? She had absolutely no ability to fight back.
“Don’t worry too much. It most likely won’t be you,” Zhao Ping comforted her.
Zhao Ping had already noticed that this mission was different from previous ones. If this had been the teammates he encountered in his past few runs, they probably would have recklessly attacked Li Yingjun by now, or simply hidden in their rooms, too afraid to come out. But not only did these people maintain their rationality, their behavior mostly adhered to the rules of human society.
However, Li Shuangshuang wasn’t comforted in the slightest. She knew her own capabilities. If Zhao Ping hadn’t been helping her all along, she wouldn’t have survived this long.
She couldn’t rely on others’ help forever.
“I’m going to the restroom,” Li Shuangshuang said, her mind unsettled, wanting to splash some water on her face to wake up. Zhao Ping felt it inappropriate to follow her, so he nodded and let her go.
An Ning, sipping her pickled vegetable soup nearby, remarked, “She seems to have figured things out on her own without making a fuss. The more you help her, the weaker she becomes.”
Zhao Ping understood this principle perfectly well, but didn’t everyone need time to grow stronger?
With this in mind, Zhao Ping replied, “I know. Maybe this time is an opportunity.”
An Ning shrugged and said no more. Ten minutes passed, and Li Shuangshuang still hadn’t returned. Feeling the occasional glances from the others, Zhao Ping started to get antsy.
“I’ll go to the restroom too,” An Ning stood up and walked out with light steps.
She went to the kitchen first and saw Xiao Yuan muttering something while washing dishes. She stood there for a moment before heading to the restroom. The restroom was right next to the linen closet. There was a small window on the linen closet door, so she peeked inside at Li Yingjun.
Li Yingjun was still tied up in the net. The moment he saw her, his eyes widened, and he struggled frantically.
“Mmph, mmph!”
An Ning shook her head and casually strolled to the next door.
Amidst the sound of splashing water, Li Shuangshuang was washing her face. She cupped cold water and splashed it on her face. Between heavy pants, the weakness between her brows seemed slightly diminished.
“Are you okay? Everyone is waiting for you to go back,” An Ning said.
“Sorry,” Li Shuangshuang smiled apologetically. “I’ll be right out.”
“Wait for me to use the toilet first.” An Ning casually used a stall. Just as she pulled down her pants, she felt a cool breeze blow over the top of her head. Looking up, she realized this stall shared a vent with the linen closet next door.
Can’t even use the toilet in peace, my butt is freezing.
An Ning finished her business quickly and returned to the lobby with Li Shuangshuang. Only upon returning did they realize Zhang Zhiqiu and Qian Wei had also gone to the restroom, though they had gone to the one on the second floor.
They waited a while, but the two still hadn’t returned. Li Shuangshuang suddenly patted her pockets, stood up looking slightly nervous, and said, “I think I left something in the restroom. Wait for me a moment, I’ll be right back!”
With that, Li Shuangshuang ran towards the restroom.
“What did she leave…?” An Ning muttered suspiciously. Peng Mingfan also furrowed his brows slightly. However, since Li Yingjun—the only danger in the hostel—was locked up, and considering Li Shuangshuang was timid, they weren’t overly concerned.
Tang Cuo, however, felt something was off.
At that moment, Jin Cheng leaned in with a half-smile and said, “You deliberately dragged this out for so long just to see this?”
Of course not.
Deliberately prolonging lunch was to see what other tricks Zhang Zhiqiu had up his sleeve. His intention behind going to the restroom right after An Ning left was highly questionable.
And this Li Shuangshuang…
“I’ll go check.”
Tang Cuo’s intuition told him something was very wrong. The moment he stepped into the hallway leading to the first-floor bathroom, sounds of a violent struggle and heavy impacts came from ahead.
It was the linen closet!
His expression changed instantly, and he immediately accelerated.
“Bang!” Tang Cuo kicked open the linen closet door, only to be met with a spray of blood the moment the door swung open. He barely had time to raise his arm to shield his face before focusing his eyes, met with a shocking scene—
Li Shuangshuang was pinning Li Yingjun down, both hands gripping the metal handle of a broom, forcefully plunging it into his chest. She stabbed him once, then frantically pulled it out and stabbed him again like a madwoman. Blood continuously gushed out, dyeing her hands red.
Li Yingjun was already dead, yet his body was still convulsing.
“What are you doing?!” Zhao Ping’s voice erupted like thunder, startling Li Shuangshuang so much she dropped the broom handle. She slowly turned her stiff neck to look back. Her gaze swept over the shocked and bewildered faces, then quickly darted back to the bloody, mangled Li Yingjun, as if only just realizing what she had done.
“I-How could this happen? Just now, suddenly… I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to!” Li Shuangshuang broke down, covering her face. Tears and blood mixed together, staining her collar.
At this moment, Qian Wei and Zhang Zhiqiu finally rushed down from upstairs. Seeing the scene, they froze in their tracks.
“Oh my god…” Qian Wei gasped.
Zhang Zhiqiu wasn’t much better. But right then, Zhao Ping suddenly turned on him. Grabbing Zhang Zhiqiu by the collar with both hands, Zhao Ping shoved him against the wall and demanded angrily, “Did you do something?!”
“Are you crazy!” Zhang Zhiqiu shoved him away with all his might. “Someone followed me when I went out to the restroom. What could I possibly have done?!”
Qian Wei quickly tried to break up the fight. Fortunately, Zhao Ping hadn’t lost his rationality entirely; he simply couldn’t believe someone like Li Shuangshuang would do such a thing. Even if she had taken the initiative to attack Li Yingjun, a single fatal strike would have been enough. How did it end up like this!
Peng Mingfan was utterly baffled as well and couldn’t help but look at Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng. “What do you two think?”
“Take her back first. At least two people keep an eye on her.” Tang Cuo naturally meant Li Shuangshuang. He then asked An Ning, “Did you see the waitress?”
An Ning nodded. “She’s in the kitchen.”
Tang Cuo: “Call her over.”
An Ning froze for a moment, then ran to get her. Qian Wei clicked his tongue slightly. “Brother Tang, is there a need to specifically call her over to see this? It’s terrifying.”
Tang Cuo didn’t answer. His cold gaze swept towards Jin Cheng, who was leaning casually against the wall. “And you?”
Jin Cheng spread his hands helplessly. Seeing Tang Cuo still staring at him, he finally sighed, walked over, found a clean pair of gloves on the linen closet shelf, and crouched down to examine the corpse.
“The bones are turning black. Poison works, but not quickly. The fatal wound is definitely the stab. His heart is completely mangled,” he reported.
“Didn’t you say his defense is very strong?” Tang Cuo asked.
“It is, but there are exceptions. Anything metal works.”
“Like your arrow?”
Jin Cheng nodded. “Exactly.”
Tang Cuo understood. So this involved the principle of the five elements countering each other.
The others quickly caught on as well. Just now, Li Shuangshuang used a metal broom handle to kill Yingjun, and the murder weapon used when he was killed the first time was a bronze statue.
What does metal counter? Metal counters wood.
Wood, like wood? A woodcutter?
Qian Wei suddenly couldn’t make sense of the connection anymore. As he was pondering, hurried footsteps approached. He looked back and met Xiao Yuan’s panicked face and a sudden, uncontrollable scream.
“Ahhhhh!” She fainted right on the spot.
Tang Cuo took a step back, narrowly avoiding being crushed by her.
Jin Cheng gloated, “What else do you want to see now?”
You’re so annoying.
Two minutes later, the group was back in the lobby.
Peng Mingfan and Zhao Ping brought Li Shuangshuang back first. Zhao Ping comforted her while Peng Mingfan tried to extract some clues from her. But Li Shuangshuang repeatedly said she couldn’t remember anything; she felt compelled to enter the linen closet as if possessed, and when she snapped out of it, things were already as everyone saw.
“Do you remember what you went back to pick up?” Peng Mingfan tried to soften his tone.
“I, I…” Li Shuangshuang clutched her head, looking very much in pain. After a long while, she suddenly remembered, “It was the bronze statue, that bronze statue!”
As soon as she finished speaking, you could hear a pin drop in the lobby.
Tang Cuo walked in and asked, “The bronze statue is on the second floor. You went to the first floor to find the bronze statue?”
Li Shuangshuang shook her head again. “I don’t know. All I know is that I had to go find that thing…”
Tang Cuo: “Then why didn’t you use the bronze statue to kill him?”
Li Shuangshuang: “I don’t know, I really don’t know…”
“Perhaps this is the system’s intention.” Zhang Zhiqiu, who had been silent since earlier, suddenly spoke up. “The bronze statue is a key trigger for the plot. Regardless of what was used to kill him, it foreshadows Li Yingjun’s death. We didn’t even get to choose who killed Li Yingjun; it was designated by the system.”
Peng Mingfan: “I don’t think so. That setup is too simple and crude.”
Zhang Zhiqiu narrowed his eyes. “Do you have to play your deduction game to feel superior, kid?”
Peng Mingfan argued his case. “This is basic logic.”
The two clashed again, neither looking pleased. Tang Cuo couldn’t make a definitive judgment either, because there were too few clues and too many distractions. He needed to observe more before he could string everything together.
For example, observing if Li Yingjun would come back from the dead again.
“Li Yingjun has died once more, yet we haven’t cleared the instance.” Having comforted Li Shuangshuang, Zhao Ping pondered repeatedly before finally offering his own suggestion. “Arguing further is useless. I think we should all stay together from now on, try not to be alone, and wait until tomorrow morning.”
An Ning surprisingly agreed with him. “This method is indeed the safest and most effective. If someone acts up, we’ll see it immediately.”
No one objected, so the plan was settled.
It was currently 1:30 PM, leaving sixteen and a half hours until 6:00 AM.
Jin Cheng started working on his jigsaw puzzle again.
Tang Cuo brought the bronze statue down from the second floor and observed it carefully. The bloodstains were still on it. The style resembled an Oscar statuette, but after studying it for ages, he found nothing special about it. He began flipping through the books on the shelf again, but even after checking nearly every single one, he found no useful clues.
An Ning had also asked the waitress about the bronze statue, but Xiao Yuan only said it was something belonging to the inn and wouldn’t elaborate further.
“Sometimes the game gives you hints, but you have to find them yourself,” Jin Cheng suddenly remarked.
Tang Cuo looked up. “Hints?”
Jin Cheng placed two similarly colored puzzle pieces next to each other, traced them with his finger, hovered briefly, then picked the correct one and slotted it into the puzzle. “What is a distraction and what is a hint, you have to distinguish that yourself.”
“Are you teaching me?”
“Yeah. If you die too early, how will you ever repay me?”
You are truly a prodigy at collecting debts.
Tang Cuo went back to studying the bronze statue.
Shortly after, An Ning came over to ask if he had made any progress. Receiving a negative reply, she went back. Peng Mingfan stubbornly continued his deductions. His current topic was:
What if Li Yingjun comes back to life again tomorrow?
Qian Wei: “If he comes back to life again, does that mean our method of killing him is wrong?”
An Ning: “Then shouldn’t we be discussing the correct way to kill Yingjun? What exactly do we have to do so he doesn’t resurrect?”
Zhao Ping actively voiced his opinions, and even Zhang Zhiqiu chimed in. If Li Yingjun truly resurrected again, it meant the cycle of death persisted. What about the cycle of disappearances?
Would a second person disappear?
Peng Mingfan said, “Maybe the person we killed isn’t Yingjun at all. He’s Li Yingjun; there could be a Wang Yingjun, a Zhao Yingjun. And the real Yingjun is the non-player hidden among us.”
What he said made sense. However, at this moment, they felt everyone’s theories made some sense because no one had solid evidence; any deduction was possible.
Acting rashly was unfeasible. If they killed the wrong person, the players themselves would die.
“Whether you believe it or not, I’m truly just a regular player, no different from any of you,” Zhang Zhiqiu repeatedly emphasized his identity.
No one responded, but the differences were temporarily submerged beneath the surface, and no one stirred them up again.
The wait was long and agonizing.
Three hours of the sixteen and a half hours passed, and it was finally dinnertime again.
Only then did the group remember that Xiao Yuan the waitress was still unconscious by the linen closet door.
“Ahem,” Zhao Ping stood up, volunteering. “Shuangshuang still needs to rest for a while, I’ll go cook. Can someone help?”
He looked around, but all the “big bosses” remained firmly seated. Perhaps to salvage his damaged image, Zhang Zhiqiu took the initiative to stand up and help. Seeing him volunteer, Qian Wei also offered his assistance.
At quarter past six, dinner was finally served, and Xiao Yuan the waitress, who had fainted in the linen closet, miraculously woke up. She let out another scream, fled the murder scene in a panic, rushed into the lobby, and then saw—her guests gathered together eating dinner.
Grumble. Her stomach beat the drum of injustice.
The scene was extremely awkward for a moment.
Xiao Yuan burst into loud tears.
Qian Wei really couldn’t stand it. Being the most warm-hearted of the bunch anyway, he invited her over to eat with them. Peng Mingfan intended to fish for information from her, but aside from repeatedly complaining about the weather and expressing horror over Li Yingjun’s death, she had nothing else to say.
“What about the person coming to replace you?” Tang Cuo asked.
“Newbies are so hard to train. I just hope I can go down the mountain quickly,” Xiao Yuan said, growing aggrieved again, as if possessed by Xianglin Sao. “How did Brother Yingjun die? How could this happen…”
After mourning for a while, she claimed she felt unwell and excused herself to her room.
It was currently 7:00 PM.
The group cleared the dishes, chatted for a while, and then found spots to rest, waiting for tomorrow. Before closing his eyes, Tang Cuo stared at Li Shuangshuang for a moment. She sat in a corner near Zhao Ping, burying her head in her arms, quiet and haggard.
“Have you figured anything out now?” Jin Cheng asked.
“No.” Tang Cuo closed his eyes.
Jin Cheng smiled and placed the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle.
Before long, the entire lobby sank into deep slumber. Even the sound of breathing seemed swallowed by the darkness, until—
Bang! Bang! The familiar sound shattered the silence, like a gale slamming against the wooden door, startling the sleeping individuals from their dreams one by one. Tang Cuo was the first to wake. He turned to look at the clock on the wall.
Exactly 6:00 AM.
Hearing the sound, Xiao Yuan hurried down from upstairs. Seeing everyone sleeping in the lobby, she was momentarily surprised before running with a smile to open the door. “It must be the woodcutter!”
The main doors opened, and the bone-chilling blizzard poured in once again.
Entering with the blizzard was a tall man. Around thirty years old, with short hair and stubble, wearing a black fur-collared leather jacket, carrying a bundle of firewood on his back and an axe in his hand.
It was Li Yingjun again.
Turning to look at the corner of the lobby, Li Shuangshuang was gone.
