Chapter 26

Chapter 26

The second round of discussion came to an end.

Although they had made significant progress with the clues, they still couldn’t definitively identify the killer.

The Steward reappeared and instructed everyone to return to their rooms and rest. The next round of evidence collection would begin after the lunch break. The group split up into their respective pairs and departed.

Considering that Mu Xin might become their new teammate, Qin Nan paid a bit more attention to her.

Mu Xin was with Zheng Jueming and Lin Junruo.

This was no different from before, but Qin Nan vaguely felt that Mu Xin seemed to be distancing herself from Zheng Jueming; she was wary of him.

Zheng Jueming was indeed a suspect. However, Mu Xin’s attitude suggested there might be more to the story.

“Let’s go,” Jian Fan took the initiative to call out to Qin Nan.

Qin Nan immediately withdrew his gaze and raised an eyebrow at Jian Fan. “I’m flattered.”

Jian Fan: “…”

“I’m trying to get used to it,” Jian Fan said.

“Keep it up.” Qin Nan reached out and patted Jian Fan on the shoulder.

The two of them left the main hall together.

“Jian Fan, do you think the killer has been identified yet?” Qin Nan asked. Logically speaking, the killer should have been determined by now. After all, they had already regressed to the time before the murder occurred. Since Qin Nan could see himself knocking the victim unconscious, the killer must have seen themselves committing the murder.

But just in case, he needed to be sure.

“Yes,” Jian Fan replied.

“Then who do you think it is?” Qin Nan asked.

Jian Fan didn’t answer directly. “What’s your take?”

“Let’s use the process of elimination first. Xia Zeqin, Qin Weiyi, Lu Jing, and Mu Xin-those four have witnesses for their alibis. You and I are ruled out, which leaves only five people. That Second Master… I don’t think he was lying. As for Xu Tian, I think she’s the one who stabbed the victim, which makes the likelihood of her being the actual killer relatively low. That leaves only Lin Junruo, Zheng Jueming, and the person who drew the role of the Third Young Master.”

With this analysis, the killer was essentially narrowed down.

“Among the remaining three, one of them should be the person who castrated the victim. But since the victim wasn’t stabbed to death, wasn’t bludgeoned to death, and likely didn’t die from the castration, what was the cause of death?” Qin Nan suddenly asked.

Jian Fan frowned slightly. “In the next round of evidence collection, we should probably examine the corpse again.”

Qin Nan nodded. “We might find something. If we set that aside for a moment, personally, I feel like castration is something a woman would be more likely to do. In that case, Lin Junruo probably did it. If we peg her as the castrator, then the killer must be one of the last two.”

“Do you think my analysis is correct?” Qin Nan looked at Jian Fan expectantly.

The corner of Jian Fan’s mouth curved slightly. “Barring any unforeseen circumstances.”

Hearing this, Qin Nan’s mood lightened a bit.

A one-in-two choice made the difficulty much lower. Perhaps they would obtain further clues during the next search. Moreover, Mu Xin had clearly begun to suspect Zheng Jueming. If she could find more evidence, they might be able to clear this game world very soon.

Dreams were always beautiful, but reality tended to be a bit harsher.

Qin Nan and Jian Fan soon parted ways and returned to their respective rooms.

Not long after returning to his room, a line of text appeared before Qin Nan’s eyes again.

“Five years ago.”

With his previous experience, Qin Nan was much calmer this time. He had even accepted this process. Search for evidence, discuss, and then move to their individual choices-it was nothing more than a cycle of these three steps until the killer was voted out and the world ended.

However, this particular time regression was a bit different from the last one.
Last time, Qin Nan had been a participant, only becoming a bystander after making a choice. This time, however, he was a bystander from the very beginning.

The Faceless Person representing himself soon appeared before his eyes.

Currently, the figure was sitting at a desk, writing a letter.

Qin Nan stepped forward, taking in the contents of the letter at a glance.

He was writing to the girl he loved.

The Second Young Master was an educated man; even when expressing his love, he wrote with extreme subtlety. If Qin Nan hadn’t dabbled in some light research for work, he really wouldn’t have understood it.

At the end of the letter, the Second Young Master told his beloved that he intended to mention their marriage to his father and hoped she would wait for good news.

Seeing this, Qin Nan knew where the problem lay.

In his role as the Second Young Master, the character had remained unmarried up until the victim was murdered.

After finishing the letter, the Faceless Person stuffed it into a nearby envelope and began to wait anxiously. He paced the room from time to time until, after an unknown amount of time, a servant shouted from outside: “The Nephew Young Master has arrived.”

The Nephew Young Master?

Qin Weiyi’s character?

A sense of strangeness rose in Qin Nan’s heart.

A Faceless Person soon walked in from outside. Although they had no face, their height and clothing indeed matched Qin Weiyi’s character. There was interaction between these two, and it was very likely related to the girl his character loved?

The Second Young Master’s actions quickly confirmed Qin Nan’s suspicion.

He handed the letter to the Faceless Person who was likely Qin Weiyi.

After receiving the letter, the Nephew Young Master left quickly, followed by a rapid jump in scenes.

The Second Young Master received a reply from his sweetheart. Filled with anticipation, he prepared to find the victim, intending to ask for permission to marry her.

Qin Nan followed the Faceless Person first to the victim’s study. The study was empty, so they moved on to the victim’s courtyard.

The old woman he had seen before appeared again and blocked the Faceless Person’s path.

“Second Young Master, the Master is busy. Please come back later,” the old woman said.

The Second Young Master hesitated for a moment and asked, “Roughly when will Father be finished?”

“This old servant does not know. When the Master is finished, I will pass on the message that the Second Young Master came by,” the old woman replied.

Helpless, the Second Young Master cast a lingering look at the victim’s room before turning back to leave.

Time jumped forward to nine o’clock that night.

The Second Young Master in the Script began to grow restless.

It was still afternoon when he went to find the victim, but it was already nine o’clock now, and there had been no word from the victim’s side. The Second Young Master began to hesitate: should he wait until the next day, or go find the victim now?

The second choice Qin Nan needed to make was laid out before him.

Qin Nan was actually a bit hesitant.

Not coming to find the Second Young Master for so long proved that the victim had been busy until now. What kind of matter would keep the victim busy for so long that he didn’t even have time to see his own son? This was clearly a bit strange.

If he chose to go, he would surely encounter something; conversely, if he chose to wait until the next day, perhaps nothing would happen at all.

Jian Fan hadn’t told him what choice to make in such a situation.

Qin Nan decided to take a risk.

Fortune favors the bold. Besides, even if events from years ago influenced the character relationships in the Script, it shouldn’t be enough to directly turn him into the murderer, right? Logically, the murderer should have been determined during last night’s rewind. Therefore, his priority now should be gathering more clues.

Qin Nan chose to go find the victim now.

As soon as he made his choice, the Second Young Master began to move, heading toward the victim’s courtyard once again.