Chapter 7
Chapter 7
“After all, you work for the Emperor and have a personal guard by your side. It would be perfectly reasonable to use his sword. You’re the State Preceptor; it shouldn’t be hard to ask someone for a weapon.”
Zhong Liang countered, “By that logic, everyone here except for that guard could have obtained a sword from an NPC.”
He pointed at Ning Shuo and Murong. “Their statuses aren’t low.”
Then he pointed at Ming Yue. “You’re the Jiang Family’s Legitimate Daughter. Even though you’ve become a sacrificial offering, those guards wouldn’t dare do anything to you.”
Ming Yue said solemnly, “You can say whatever you want, but you must take off your mask.”
“I don’t understand. Since you aren’t the Murderer, why can’t you take it off? What secret are you hiding on your face?”
After a long silence, Zhong Liang finally removed the mask.
It was a face destroyed by fire.
The others were stunned. Zhong Liang calmly put the mask back on. “You’ve seen it now. The difference lies in my appearance.”
“Searching for the Murderer among Players by looking for physical differences… I don’t know if you’ve all gone mad.”
Ming Yue stammered, “Sorry. I thought you might have blood or something on your face that you couldn’t wipe clean, which is why you were wearing the mask from the Script and refused to take it off.”
Zhong Liang replied, “It’s fine. If I were in your shoes, I would have made you take it off too.”
Despite being under suspicion of using a Disguise, Ning Shuo was strolling around nonchalantly, even pausing to pluck a flower.
Jiang Jiang noticed him and frowned. “Why aren’t you panicking at all?”
Ning Shuo said leisurely, “I’m waiting for one of you to slip up so I can go report you.”
Zhong Liang immediately grabbed his shoulder and demanded, “You found the Notary Office?”
Ning Shuo used the motion of plucking the flower to subtly dodge the grip. “I may be untalented, but as an Innocent with nothing better to do earlier, I took a little stroll around the capital. Well, as luck would have it, I suddenly stumbled upon the Notary Office.”
Ning Shuo looked puzzled. “Could it be that before the Murder Case occurred, you were all just playing around bored in your own quarters?”
Ning Shuo looked shocked. “Heavens, you all are far too composed.”
Ning Shuo concluded with certainty, “Such mental fortitude is something a lowly newcomer like me really needs to learn from.”
Everyone: “…”
[That actually made me laugh. This Murderer is being so sarcastic about the Innocents doing nothing.]
[I give this performance of being an Innocent a perfect score.]
Zhong Liang frowned. “You’re an Innocent?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he froze.
Ning Shuo smiled slightly. “There is only one Murderer in this Script. Is it that strange for me to be an Innocent?”
He observed Zhong Liang’s reaction and mused, “Your reaction seems a bit off. You aren’t surprised that I’m an Innocent; you’re surprised that I *admitted* to being an Innocent?”
“Why is my admission so surprising to you?”
Ning Shuo continued, “You saw me reciting the prayers during the day and thought I might not be a novice, right?”
Silence fell. Ning Shuo pressed on with his deduction. “I’m not a novice, yet I admitted to being an Innocent so bluntly. Did I break some kind of taboo?”
“Previously, I had a question: if the Murderer is killed by a Ghost/Monster and no Murder Case ever occurs-to the point where the Innocents don’t even know that player exists-how are the Innocents supposed to win?”
“You were so shocked by my admission just now because you know the answer, don’t you, Mr. Zhong?”
As his theory became clearer, Ning Shuo laughed. “There’s a Hidden Rule, isn’t there? You were shocked that I, someone you took for a veteran, admitted to being an Innocent because, according to what you know, it’s best if an Innocent doesn’t let anyone know their identity.”
“Because reporting the Murderer isn’t the only way for an Innocent to win. There’s another way: killing every other Innocent besides yourself and the Murderer. That’s why even if you are an Innocent, you shouldn’t tell other Innocents who you are. You have to muddy the waters to reduce the risk of being killed.”
“So, reasoning backward, if an extreme situation occurs where all the Innocents kill each other or are all killed by Ghosts/Monsters, the Murderer might just win directly.”
[Congratulations to Player Ning Banxian for unlocking the second Hidden Rule: An Innocent is sometimes only an ‘Innocent’ relative to the Murderer. Compared to other Innocents, that Innocent might not be so innocent.]
[Congratulations to Player Ning Banxian for unlocking the third Hidden Rule: Under certain circumstances, Ghosts/Monsters are the Murderer’s best friends.]
[Why?! Why was it censored again!!?]
[Ha, in less than 24 hours, he’s figured out another Hidden Rule.]
[LMAO, I’ve played through two instances and I still don’t know a single Hidden Rule.]
[Wait, is he some kind of rule-excavator?]
Zhong Liang stood with his mouth half-open, unable to say a word.
Seeing this, the other players were certain that Ning Shuo was right.
Perhaps Ning Shuo knew even more than Zhong Liang did.
Zhong Liang frowned. “Are you really not a veteran?”
Ning Shuo replied, “Of course not.”
Zhong Liang looked relieved and even leaned a bit closer to Ning Shuo.
Ning Shuo asked, “Aren’t you afraid I’ll kill you?”
Zhong Liang said, “If you really intended to kill us, you wouldn’t have revealed the Hidden Rules just now.”
“That’s hard to say,” Ning Shuo’s gaze swept over the other three, finally landing on Murong, whose face was visibly pale. “I might not kill you, but that doesn’t mean other Innocents won’t.”
“Besides,” Ning Shuo looked back at Zhong Liang, his eyes twinkling with a smile, “is it that you aren’t afraid of me killing you, or do you think I *can’t* kill you?”
“According to the rules, an Innocent can’t kill the Murderer, right?”
Zhong Liang’s expression changed drastically. “What do you mean?!”
Ning Shuo-the Murderer-spread his hands. “What are you afraid of? You aren’t the Murderer, and the Innocents can’t report you anyway. Reporting you would cost us our lives.”
The others remained silent. There was nothing more for the quiet Innocents to discuss with the leisurely Murderer, so they began searching the vicinity for bloodstains, hoping to find clues regarding the primary crime scene.
The bucket used to transport the body, which had been tossed nearby, was soon discovered.
The bucket was located in the direction Zhong Liang had just come from.
Ning Shuo shrugged.
This time, he really hadn’t done it on purpose. He had specifically chosen a path that didn’t lead to the players’ quarters; who could have known the fifth player would come from that direction?
Zhong Liang felt as though a heavy accusation had been dropped right on his head. “It wasn’t me!”
Murong asked, “If it wasn’t you, why are you so worked up?”
Zhong Liang realized she had a point, but after he calmed down, Murong interpreted his composure as a forced act of tranquility.
Murong asked Ning Shuo directly, “Where is the Notary Office?”
Ning Shuo hesitated. “Are you sure you want to go? What if the Murderer intentionally left the bucket there to frame Zhong Liang? What will you do if your Accusation is wrong?”
Murong’s expression crumbled again. She didn’t notice at all that Ning Shuo had used the excuse of looking out for her to brush her off once more, avoiding revealing the location of the Notary Office.
Ming Yue glanced at him indifferently before looking at Zhong Liang. “Did you not see this bucket when you arrived?”
Zhong Liang replied, “Buckets are everywhere near the Palace Wall. Plus, it’s pitch black at night; I didn’t notice if there was blood on it.”
He paused. “I did smell blood, but I thought it was coming from the corpse.”
In the end, they gained nothing. With only ten minutes left of their hour of free time, they needed to return to their quarters to ensure the night-watch NPCs didn’t notice anything amiss.
Wolf Shuo peacefully fed the Sheep People a bunch of information, peacefully returned to his large bed, and peacefully prepared to fall asleep.
“Quite fierce, actually.”