chapter 13

Everyone’s gaze fell on the “Second Miss”-Xia Zeqin’s female companion.

“I…” The companion looked helplessly toward Xia Zeqin, as if begging him to save her.

Xia Zeqin’s tone stayed calm. “Just because someone was castrated doesn’t mean the one who did it is the killer. Is that really so hard to understand?”

Qin Nan thought of how Xia Zeqin had snapped at Lin Junruo earlier-having a brain really was a good thing.

“Since castration’s been brought up, I’ll start with what we found.” Qin Nan stepped in and took over the topic. That companion had probably coasted the whole way on Xia Zeqin carrying her; now she was completely panicking, and there was no way she’d be able to say anything useful for a while.

“We examined the body. There were two-no, three wounds. First: the forehead, struck by a heavy object. Second: the chest, stabbed with a dagger. Third: what you just mentioned-castration. But after doing it, the attacker deliberately covered it up. At the very least, they changed his underwear. We didn’t find any bloodstained underpants at the crime scene.”

The moment Qin Nan finished, everyone looked-without exception-at the “Second Miss.”

“Besides that, we have two more findings. One: a ledger. The contents are strange, and we don’t yet have a reasonable explanation. Two: there are fragments of a broken teacup in the room. We suspect Father had a conflict with someone before he was killed and the teacup got smashed. As for whether that person is the killer, that still needs to be determined.” Qin Nan briefly summarized their side.

“The Second Miss may not be the killer, but I still want to know what happened at the time,” Zheng Jueming spoke again, still aiming his spear at the “Second Miss.” “Did the Second Miss castrate the master? What exactly was the situation? Is it possible you ran into the killer?”

At least for now, her suspicion was indeed the greatest.

Everyone waited for her answer.

“Zeqin, help me.” The companion clutched tightly at Xia Zeqin’s clothes, her voice full of pleading.

“It’s just a question.” Xia Zeqin sounded a little speechless. “You can’t even answer that?”

The companion froze, looking aggrieved. “I don’t know! It only told me I’m the Second Miss, the family’s concubine-born daughter, and that my mother is dead. It didn’t tell me anything else. How am I supposed to answer? How would I know anything about underpants or blood?”

It was true, but no one expected her to say it so blatantly.

What shocked them even more was that the instant her words fell, her body turned into flickering TV static, like a screen with bad signal. Before anyone could react, with a harsh crackle, she vanished on the spot.

Xia Zeqin’s female companion became the first Player in this world to be erased.

“What-the hell?” Xu Tian’s eyes went wide. She sprang to her feet and hurried to where the companion had disappeared, reaching out into the air several times as if trying to grab her. “Where’d she go? That was a magic trick, right?”

The tension and fear in Qin Nan’s chest actually eased a little when he saw Xu Tian’s reaction.

A newcomer witnessing a Player’s death for the first time couldn’t possibly stay calm. He hadn’t expected that, so soon, he’d see his own past psychological process mirrored in someone else.

No one answered Xu Tian.

They were thinking: what had the companion triggered to be erased by the game world?

A Murder Mystery Game was their process of finding the killer. It wasn’t impossible that they could be killed by the killer midway through, but danger usually didn’t come that fast. People couldn’t help clinging to a bit of luck.

But now, in this moment, they realized that aside from a killer lurking in the shadows, this game world still had its own Death Setting. Once triggered, there was no struggle, no chance-just death.

And they had no idea what the trigger was.

With no way to avoid it, that was the most terrifying part.
No one was in the mood right now to clear things up for Xu Tian.

Since she couldn’t get an answer from anyone that would make her feel better, the reality in front of her hit like a brick. She couldn’t hold herself up anymore. Her legs gave out and she dropped straight down, sitting on the ground as she screamed on the verge of a breakdown, “What the hell kind of place is this?”

Qin Nan glanced at her with a bit of sympathy. All of a sudden, he felt like his own reaction back then hadn’t been too bad.

“The game is still ongoing. The Second Miss can’t be the killer,” Xia Zeqin spoke up at that moment.

Even though his female companion had been erased, he didn’t show the slightest grief. Instead, he coolly extracted useful information from it. He didn’t care what anyone thought. His gaze swept over everyone one by one as he continued, “The Second Miss might be related to the castration, but she isn’t the killer.” After saying that, he looked at the only two teammates he had left. “How did your search go?”

Those two had previously teamed up with Lu Jing and were responsible for the initial sweep of the courtyard.

“A lot of areas still can’t be accessed. We just walked around the open parts of the courtyard a few times. Didn’t find anything strange.”

That was basically the end of the clue-sharing. With the sudden death, everyone felt as if a heavy stone had dropped into their chest. Things they’d been about to say were swallowed back down. Who knew if the wrong sentence might trigger a Death Setting.

Silence quickly settled over the room.

It lasted a long time, until the Steward appeared again.

“Young masters and young misses, it’s already dark. You should return to rest early. Tomorrow morning, perhaps you can ask the household servants for some clues,” the Steward said.

As soon as he finished, Jian Fan stood up first. He didn’t bother with anyone else and left straightaway. Xia Zeqin followed right behind him.

Qin Nan swept his eyes around. Xu Tian still hadn’t recovered, and the others were also getting up one after another, looking for their own companions.

This round of clue-sharing was probably over. And judging from the Steward’s words, the next round of evidence-gathering would likely be tomorrow morning, when they could obtain new information from the servants-those NPCs.

As for right now-

This was a game world where you lived or died, not the same as a Murder Mystery Game in the real world. If Qin Nan was right, next would be free time. During this period, they could look for information about their identities and-start forming alliances, or start killing each other.

Everyone left in pairs or small groups. Xu Tian was still sitting on the ground.

Qin Nan glanced at Jian Fan’s retreating figure. Seeing he was about to exit the courtyard, Qin Nan couldn’t spare any attention for Xu Tian or any other Player. He immediately jogged after him.

“Jian Fan!” Qin Nan called.

Jian Fan’s steps paused slightly, then he stopped.

Qin Nan hadn’t expected him to actually stop. Startled, he quickened his pace and caught up. Once he saw Qin Nan had closed the distance, Jian Fan started walking again.

Qin Nan understood Jian Fan’s attitude now. When cooperation was needed, Jian Fan would reluctantly spare him a sliver of attention. But once that was over, Qin Nan wouldn’t even get a glance.

“Jian Fan, you said Xia Zeqin hasn’t played a Murder Mystery Game before. Is that true? He looks pretty damn experienced,” Qin Nan asked, voicing the doubt he’d been holding in since earlier.

Hearing him, Jian Fan’s face grew uncharacteristically solemn. “Xia Zeqin couldn’t have played a Murder Mystery Game.”

Qin Nan chuckled. “What, so he’s not Xia Zeqin, then?”

Jian Fan’s expression remained grave.

That reaction made the smile on Qin Nan’s face slowly stiffen.

Could it be… Xia Zeqin really wasn’t Xia Zeqin?