chapter 18

As an Old Player, Jian Fan already had a decent grasp of the Realm of Death.

The instant the game began, he started searching his room, not letting even the smallest detail slip by.

He pulled out everything in the room that might pose a risk to him, as well as anything that might be tied to his own storyline.

Three items in total.

First: a love letter addressed to no one in particular. Jian Fan read it-every line was praise for the recipient, but even by the end it never said who the person was. It was so generic it could fit anyone; there was no way to tell who it was meant for.

Second: the toy dagger he’d used earlier to scare Qin Nan. Jian Fan didn’t quite understand why it had appeared in his room, but it had to be suspicious. Still, the reason he’d hidden it had nothing to do with that-when he saw it, he’d already decided to use it to test Qin Nan.

Third: a bloodstained pair of underwear. In other words, aside from the Second Miss’s room, there was also a bloodstained pair in his own room. As for which one actually belonged to the victim, that was still unclear.

Jian Fan hid all of it.

He wasn’t afraid of others knowing he was sitting on clues. This wasn’t a normal Murder Mystery Game, so it couldn’t be approached with normal logic. Everyone knew anyone could be implicated; holding onto extra clues would only give others more reason to suspect you.

Jian Fan didn’t do that.

And now-

During the first round of searching for evidence, they’d found something in Eldest Miss Lin Junruo’s room: a medical record handwritten by the household doctor. That implied there was a connection between his identity and the Eldest Miss. If so, the love letter he’d found was very likely written to the Eldest Miss.

In a Murder Mystery Game, finding the killer wasn’t the only goal-you also had to complete your own storyline. And in this world, it was obvious that everyone had a storyline built in.

Jian Fan believed that at the end of each storyline, there would be a crucial clue hidden.

If he wasn’t going to the victim’s courtyard, then he was also curious-how was the bloodstained underwear he’d found supposed to play out?

Lost in thought, Jian Fan had already reached the Eldest Miss’s courtyard.

Lin Junruo was in a foul mood.

Everything that had happened during the day made her feel stifled and wronged. She’d already developed some resentment toward Jian Fan and Qin Nan, though she hadn’t shown it in front of others. Once she returned to her room and was alone, she vented-cursing everyone she could think of, from start to finish.

After she’d exhausted herself and finally sat down to rest, the words “the night of the murder” appeared before her eyes.

Lin Junruo froze for a moment as well, but she made her choice quickly.

She left her room and headed straight for the victim’s courtyard.

When Jian Fan arrived, he happened to see Lin Junruo running out. But what he saw wasn’t the real Lin Junruo-it was a Lin Junruo-shaped figure wearing the same clothes and with the same build, only with no face.

Jian Fan thought it through.

Each person’s space should be independent. Different choices would be reflected differently within each person’s space. For example, if Lin Junruo chose to leave her courtyard, then in terms of timing, when the doctor came to see the Eldest Miss at that moment, he would naturally see her heading out.

Jian Fan paused briefly, then quickly followed.

After walking for a while, he immediately confirmed Lin Junruo’s destination-the victim’s courtyard.

Once he realized that, Jian Fan stopped where he was. Lin Junruo’s choice wasn’t strange, but he had no intention of getting dragged into that mess. He turned around and left, heading straight back to his own room.
By the time he returned to his room, the line of text reading “On the night of the murder” had already vanished.

He had come back.

Jian Fan accepted this calmly, then went straight back to bed to rest, waiting for the arrival of the next day.

That night, everyone was given a chance to return to the night the murder took place. Different people made different choices, and because of that, the entire course of the story shifted.

Some might have spent the night on edge; others, like Jian Fan, remained composed.

They all waited for dawn.

Qin Nan had been irritable and unsettled at first, but after stewing in it for a while, he drifted into a “since I’m here, I might as well make myself at home” sort of acceptance. In the end, drowsiness washed over him, he flopped onto the bed, and actually slept quite soundly.

He was woken up by an NPC.

“Second Young Master.” When he didn’t respond, the voice called from outside the door every so often.

Qin Nan scrubbed a hand through his hair, got out of bed, and went to open the door.

Outside stood an NPC dressed like a young servant. Seeing Qin Nan open up, the servant spoke: “Second Young Master, the Steward sent this servant to inform you that everyone is ready. Second Young Master may begin questioning them.”

The second round of evidence-gathering had begun.

Qin Nan nodded and followed the servant out.

The eleven Players gathered once more in the main hall of the central courtyard.

After a night apart, meeting again, each Player had their own thoughts. They pondered their own situation while quietly guarding against everyone else. Aside from people like Jian Fan, most had been deeply affected by the choices they’d made last night.

Once they were all present, the Steward appeared again.

“Young masters, young ladies, the servants are all assembled. However, there is still much work to be done in the household. The servants cannot be delayed for too long. You have half a shichen; once that time is up, they must return to their duties. Young masters, young ladies, do you wish to begin now?” The Steward laid out the basic rules for them.

Half a shichen-which meant one hour in game terms.

Outside the courtyard stood a dense crowd. At a rough glance, there had to be sixty or seventy people. Divided evenly, that came out to about one minute per person.

“Same as yesterday, we split into teams,” Xia Zeqin once again stepped up to take the lead.

No one objected.

But the team assignments needed to be reshuffled.

Qin Nan’s gaze immediately locked onto Xu Tian. The last time he’d seen her the previous night, she’d been on the verge of collapse. Now, though her face was still blank, her condition seemed much better. She must have calmed down.

In that case, he should make contact with Xu Tian as well, see if he could recruit her as an ally.

“Jueming, I’ll go with your team today.” Lin Junruo spoke up first. After what she’d experienced yesterday, the last thing she wanted was to be grouped with Qin Nan and Jian Fan again.

Zheng Jueming froze for a moment. Qin Nan noticed his gaze flick briefly toward Mu Xin before he nodded. “All right.”

Seeing this, Qin Nan was just about to speak and bring Xu Tian over when Jian Fan suddenly beat him to it.

“We’re short one now that Lin Junruo’s gone. Mu Xin, why don’t you join our team?”

Mu Xin?

Qin Nan shot Jian Fan a surprised look.

Mu Xin also lifted her head then. She looked a bit lost, her eyes wide and skittish like a startled fawn, full of fear. She clearly hadn’t expected Jian Fan to call on her. She nodded carefully, and in a voice as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, replied, “Okay.”

Jian Fan, Qin Nan, and Mu Xin formed the new three-person team for the day.