Chapter 107
Chapter 107
Moreover, aside from Song Zhu, every Player in Zone F had left the classroom before Passerby B ran up to the rooftop, and only returned after he jumped.
In terms of timing, apart from Song Zhu, no one else’s suspicion had been cleared.
That included Ning Wang. Zone B’s guesses about him were split into two camps. One believed Ning Wang was the Murderer being covered for. The other believed Ning Wang was merely using his identity as the school bully to muddy the Zone F Murderer’s field of vision in advance, while also avoiding taking up one of his teammates’ legitimate excuses to leave the classroom.
They had tried testing how many times the excuse of “going to the bathroom” could be used before. Personal experience had proven that after more than twice, the homeroom teacher would ask whether you were here for class or here to use the bathroom.
The Murderer’s killing conditions were partly similar and partly different. Not to mention, Zone B was currently facing another problem as well.
Once all the NPCs had left, they tossed out a soundproofing item. Chen Qu’an lowered his voice and said, “Who the hell is the Murderer?!”
Just like in Zone F, no one admitted it.
No one had admitted to being the Murderer for the entire week. By now, even the slowest person could tell something was off. Jiang Zong said, “Don’t tell me the killing condition is that they have to kill with the help of the person in last place.”
Jiang Zong naturally had smiling eyes. He looked at Yu Min and joked, “Then our captain won’t be of much help. Captain’s been studying his heart out lately. At this rate, he’s about to take first place.”
Yu Min glanced at Jiang Zong, then looked at the others, who had clearly bought that explanation. His voice was cold. “Since you said that and that person still didn’t reveal their identity, it proves the condition definitely isn’t that. Stop worrying about nothing. Also, since the Murderer distrusts their own teammates this much, once we get out and pull up the replay, everyone can discuss how to punish them.”
Seeing that nothing seemed off about Yu Min, Jiang Zong withdrew his probe and said, “This Script has other death conditions.”
Everyone on the team knew Yan Xingyi’s acting skills. There was no reason he would have died because of OOC.
Then it could only be related to the plot where the person in last place jumped off the building and committed suicide.
The death of a teammate was painful, but the Script would not give them the chance to grieve.
When NPCs were present, not only could they not show sadness, they could not even mention Yan Xingyi at all.
Yu Min’s gaze fell on Passerby B outside the window. “I’ll find an opportunity to take a look at that body.”
—
Zone F also held a meeting during breakfast.
Ever since Ning Wang came back, he had barely spoken. He kept his head down and buried himself in practice questions. The teachers had always turned a blind eye to him, and in just the short span of morning reading, even the NPCs were starting to think the school bully was about to rise up and seize the top student’s inheritance.
Luo Li used the time to take a short nap and recover some of the energy she had spent on predictions. Song Zhu treated Ning Shuo’s injuries. Ning Wang stood beside them with irritation written all over his face, but his eyes could not help darting toward Ning Shuo’s hand. Only after confirming that his hand had healed did he let out a breath of relief.
He recounted what had happened on the rooftop. Ning Shuo asked, “So, based on the content of the illustrations you described and that little tune, there was actually a case of school bullying here?”
Ning Wang wanted to show that Ning Shuo was right, but he also did not want to answer properly, as if that would make it seem like he supported Ning Shuo using self-injury to look for him. So he only gave a “hmph” in response.
Ning Shuo thought, How childish.
Then he remembered that the night he discovered Ning Wang might be the Murderer, he had also stayed completely silent during the meeting.
Fine. Equally childish.
Zhuang Yao said, “Also, doesn’t the bathroom sometimes give questions too? The question this time was really strange.”
To confuse the homeroom teacher, she had indeed walked toward the bathroom at first.
Who would have thought she simply wouldn’t be able to leave?
Zhuang Yao was trapped in the bathroom, calmly staring at the question pasted to the stall door.
[There is a Vanished Subject at A High School. Do you know what it is?]
At the time, Zhuang Yao had not known.
The sheet of paper was very old. Although the handwriting on it had already been erased, she could still tell the question sheet seemed to have been used many times before.
Perhaps it was a flaw left behind by the Script, a lifeline of sorts for the Players.
Zhuang Yao glanced at the window.
Though the tightly shut window was closed, light still shone through the glass.
Zhuang Yao tore down the question sheet and held it up to the window, letting the light pass through it so she could examine the traces on the paper.
Even if the pencil marks had been erased, the pressure of the pencil tip had left indentations in the paper.
While feeling the raised parts on the back of the sheet with her fingertips, Zhuang Yao used the light to observe the irregular marks on it.
It looked as if countless wrong answers had once been written on this paper. There were traces of erasing and crossing out. Zhuang Yao memorized those wrong answers, then mentally eliminated them one by one.
In the end, only two answers remained in her mind. After hesitating, she wrote one of them on the paper: oil painting.
The Zone F Players’ luck really was terrible. Fortunately, her answer was either one or the other.
The moment she realized she had written the wrong one, Zhuang Yao immediately erased “oil painting” and wrote down “ballet.”
That inexplicable feeling of being watched finally faded. Zhuang Yao tried the stall door handle.
It opened.
After hearing her explain, Qin Genan was shocked. “It’s good you’re okay, but something this big happened and you didn’t even think to tell us right away?”
Zhuang Yao said, “I didn’t die.”
“If you had died, that would’ve been a disaster!”
With no NPC around, they were left free to argue. Song Zhu said, “Zhi Xing also said they were going to the bathroom. Maybe that’s how they disappeared.”
Ning Wang looked thoughtful as well. “The illustration was very simple. I could only be sure it was a skirt. I couldn’t really confirm it was a ballet costume.”
When his eyes met Ning Shuo’s, Ning Wang remembered that he was still giving him the cold shoulder. With a cold snort, he turned his head to look elsewhere.
Rao Lin summed things up for everyone. “So for now, aside from the person in last place needing to be careful, we also need to learn more about You Ge and the ballet at A High School to avoid stepping into any traps.”
Ning Wang suddenly remembered a detail and hurriedly said, “There’s one more thing.”
He looked at Ning Shuo, no longer caring about his superficial little act of “throwing a tantrum.” “The top student in the whole school comes from the elite class. Last week’s first place in the elite class was under 667, wasn’t it?”
Ning Shuo paused. “You’re saying that in the illustration, You Ge scored 667?”
“I’m not too sure. The writing in that illustration was tiny, and the focus was on the certificate. The score on the test paper off to the side was small and easy to miss.”
But in fact, that was exactly the case.
The elite class had an Elite Ranking List. Every Monday, after announcing the bottom eight, the homeroom teacher would post the Elite Ranking List on the bulletin board.
For things unrelated to the Murderer, Zone F would not keep everything hidden. Many Players were the same. Unless it harmed their own interests, they would not want evenly matched opponents to be eliminated by the plot just like that.
They openly went to check the bulletin board.
On the Elite Ranking List, half the names were things like Passerby A, B, C, and D. Only one NPC had been given a proper name.
A girl named Fan Jiangnan had ranked first in two consecutive weekly exams. Her scores were basically all above 660, but they had subtly stayed under the 667 mark.
A score of 667 was already very high for most people, but for the top student in the elite class at No. 1 High School, it somehow did not seem ideal.