Live Action Murder Mystery-Chapter 47

Chapter 47

(Were all of you possessed?)

The system continued to broadcast: “The huge fire in the camping grounds will be extinguished by the NPCs, there is no need for the players to worry. Once the fire has been extinguished, the players will be allotted 2 hours to explore freely. In consideration of the players’ safety, all the caves in the mountain have been sealed off, entry is prohibited.

“Once the investigation concludes, the centralised discussion will last for 5 hours. Because the camping grounds have been ruined by the fire, there will be no independently built centralised discussion room this time around. Players, please carry on with your discussion in the outdoor environment, the NPCs will send over drinking water and energy bars.

“At 12 midnight, the case solving segment《 The Fifth Person 》will formally come to an end, and everyone will be given 15 days of rest. Since the scenario premise has been burnt down, and will be undergoing restoration, the current grounds will not be used as the resting location for the sake of the players’ health considerations. Thus, the men in black will bring everyone towards Number XX561 public resting area to allow the players to rest properly.

“Okay, please continue to work hard and solve the case! Hope everyone will enjoy the game!”

* * *

30 minutes later, the huge fire was extinguished by numerous men in black.

It was unknown if the system had utilised some special means but the scorched smell emitted by the large fire was completely dispersed, and the air was quite fresh.

Shoulder to shoulder, Gu Liang and Professor Wang walked into the camping grounds that was practically burnt to the point where there was nothing left, leaving only a piece of scorched earth— between their tent and various equipment, all of it had been burnt to waste.

In addition, the three corpses were completely cremated. The student identification and the diary that they previously found which contained a measure of information were all gone as well.

Gu Liang recalled the announcement that the system previously issued— They were prohibited from entering the mountain caves.

This meant that the players no longer had access to the area, and they could not search for the evidence that they had missed.

Given their current circumstances, the situation they were in was less than optimistic— Before they could even begin to make sense of the story in the plot, all the evidence and corpses had already been thoroughly destroyed.

Meanwhile, Doctor Xu was resting on a piece of barren land 50 metres away from the burnt camping grounds instead of searching for clues because the wound to her head had left with a bout of dizziness and blurry vision.

However, since all the objects had been burnt to a scorch, they were extremely scalding to the touch, so Professor Wang and Gu Liang refrained from doing a thorough search for the time being.

After looking through the area briefly, they returned back to Doctor Xu’s side to rest temporarily.

Once he planted his butt on the snow-covered ground, Professor Wang had an expression that conveyed he had nothing to live for, and he was constantly releasing mournful sighs: “The remains of the three corpses, the student identification, the diary… even the corpses themselves, it’s all ashes…. All of it was burnt into ashes, what the fuck is there to see!”

Doctor Xu was still recovering and had no strength to speak. Hence, she could only sit on the ground and hug her knees with a grim expression.

Gu Liang lowered his head and stared at the snow-covered ground in front of him as well, as if he had sunken into deep contemplation.

And because neither of them acknowledged Professor Wang, the irritation in his heart worsened. “And the system even puts on an euphemistic display by giving us two hours to search for clues. All of it has been fucking burnt, what the hell are we supposed to search for? What can you find from a pile of black ashes?

“We can’t go into the mountain caves, and the other places… It’s not like there’s something buried in the snow. Although the perimeters set by the thick fog can’t be considered as large, we only have two hours, it isn’t possible for me to flip all the snow on this mountain once! What is with this script enactment that lacks coherence and logic!”

A gust of wind blew past, causing Professor Wang to sneeze. He glanced left and right before he finally placed his sights on Gu Liang’s person.

Upon seeing how Gu Liang seemed to be a daze, Professor Wang waved his hand in front of his face, saying: “I’m starting to realise that you have great foresight. I’m sleepy and hungry right now… and we have to stay here for 7 hours, which means we’ll have to endure through the night. Had I taken a nap like you did in the afternoon, things would be a lot better right now.”

Gu Liang still kept his silence.

After some time, Doctor Xu eventually recovered some of her wits.

She sat up and gazed at the distant, scorched black camp. Her eyebrows scrunched together in an obvious manner. “All of the evidence was destroyed?”

“What else.” Professor Wang replied.

The scrunch of Doctor Xu’s eyebrows became even tighter. “We have 2 hours to investigate. But it seems like there’s nothing we can investigate, and this isn’t even mentioning the fact that we have 5 hours to discuss the case. But what can we discuss? I’m not even clear about the general state of affairs. Who’s the deceased? Who’s the murderer? Also, who’s the detective? This… This scenario is way too strange.”

Certainly, they had a low volume of information, and perhaps this was the difficult part about this script.

Gu Liang had only experienced three scripts ever since he entered the game, and they could not count for much.

In those three scripts, it was nothing more than using the tried and true method of eliminating various characters by referring to their killing motivations and timelines, and then supplementing it with the original plot to solve the case.

Although the settings for Undying Town seemed extremely complicated at a glance, finding the murderer was not a difficult endeavour as long as they paid attention to the details and mutually corroborated all the characters’ timelines.

No matter what the circumstances were, Gu Liang usually had his own predictions about what the truth was before the case investigation segment began.

But this scenario was different.

This was the first time where Gu Liang was clueless as to where he should begin searching, even though the perimeters of the free exploration segment had been directly thrown to his face.

Not only that, he did not even comprehend the story in the plot.

With regards to this game, Gu Liang was best at restoring the original plot, clarifying the relationships between the characters, and borrowing the behavioural logic of said characters to solve the case.

In this instance, however, the plot information and character clues that the system gave were too few.

Honestly speaking, it could even be said that he did not possess a single lead.

There was no story. The deceased was unknown. The evidence was burnt.

What should he rely on to solve the case? Pure imagination?

At this juncture, Professor Wang thought of something and asked Doctor Xu hastily: “Right, after Inspector Liu and I went to the toilet, what happened to Scientist Li? Do you know where he went?”

Doctor Xu said: “After the both of you left, I remained outside the tent to cook more soup, since I was planning to use it as our dinner. Scientist Li said he was going to that mountain cave. As in, the cave where we found the three corpses.”

Professor Wang: “Why did he go to the mountain cave? Is there a secret that he can’t tell us about?”

“I’m uncertain about that. Furthermore, when I was acting out that timeline with him, the one where he was attacked by Xiao Cao, the words he said were rather strange…” Doctor Xu stopped speaking upon reaching that point, “Forget it, I won’t say it first. I’ll wait for a while more and see…”

Gu Liang rose to his feet a moment later. “Let’s go and find Scientist Li first. If Scientist Li is dead, the murderer we have to find in this case should be the person who killed Scientist Li. But if he’s still alive…”

Just as Gu Liang finished saying those words, he saw a person walking over from the midpoint of the mountain. His figure was swaying as he walked, like he had been wounded.

Although the distance was quite a stretch, it was not difficult to discern that the person was Scientist Li.

Gu Liang narrowed his eyes as he watched Scientist Li approach step by step. He said: “He’s still alive, he’s making his way back to us. Hence, the three corpses from the mountain cave are the only dead we’ve encountered. The murderer we have to find in this case should be the person who killed them three years ago.”

* * *

After Scientist Li joined them, the four players settled down on the snow-covered ground, forming a rough circle.

Gu Liang noted that after Scientist Li sat down, he was constantly rubbing his left wrist with his right hand. However, his brows were knitted together tightly as if his actions could not soothe the pain. From the looks of it, it seemed like his wrist had been severely injured.

“Are you alright over there? Did you sprain it?” Evidently, Doctor Xu had noticed the same problem as she asked him: “Was it because the ghost pushed you down this afternoon?”

Scientist Li shook his head, saying: “After they went to the toilet an hour ago, didn’t I go back to the mountain cave to take a look? I fainted as I was making my way there. Because half of my arm was pressed under my body and in direct contact with the snow, it was probably frozen which resulted in some pain. This character of mine…

“I’m talking about the character in script, not myself. In the script, I had a wrist deformity ever since I was young so I had to go through numerous operations, and it would usually start to hurt during dark and rainy weather. Now that it has been frozen slightly, the pain intensified.

“When I was reading the script, I didn’t expect that the pain would be real. My hand actually hurts. I don’t know how the system manipulates everything, to the extent where I feel like I actually have a deformity in my wrist…”

Upon hearing him say that, Gu Liang asked him a question: “The matter regarding your wrist, can you explain it in detail?”

The moment Scientist Li saw Gu Liang, his complexion became uglier and he turned his head away directly.

Doctor Xu was curious about this question as well, thus she persisted in asking: “Truth to be told, I’m also of the opinion that the plot that the script has given us thus far is not substantial. Therefore, any small plot detail or clue that we have been given, are all very important. It’s highly unlikely for the plot to write about your wrist problem for no apparent reason. Can you talk about it in detail?”

Faced with Doctor Xu’s softly-spoken question, Scientist Li finally loosened his mouth: “It’s honestly nothing, it’s just an inborn deformity which resulted in more than ten corrective surgeries, starting from when I was young. The script only mentioned it briefly.”

Gu Liang could not dissect the relation between Scientist Li’s wrist injury, the script’s main storyline, and the serial homicides from his response for the time being.

Doctor Xu continued to ask: “You said you fainted as you were making your way towards the mountain cave just now. What happened afterwards?”

“I wasn’t aware of anything else afterwards. When I woke up again, I was surprised to find myself behind the mountain cave we went to previously. I woke up because I heard the system broadcast. The murderer probably knocked me out and brought me behind the cave.”

Scientist Li: “As I was climbing to my feet, my legs were a little numb which slowed down my movement. Hence, I arrived later. Right, Xiao Wan—”

As Scientist Li held onto his own wrist, he stood up and walked to the front of Doctor Xu and said: “I don’t trust anyone, I only trust you. There are some clues that I wish to discuss with you alone.”

Against his abrupt request, Doctor Xu seemed to find it quite odd as well.

Standing up, she observed Gu Liang and Professor Wang’s expression, but she still acquiesced in the end with a short nod of her head. Thus, the pair trekked towards the temporary toilet together.

After watching Scientist Li and Doctor Xu walk a distance away, Gu Liang rose to feet and turned around to look in the direction of their camp. “I saw the men in black dealing with the area with some special methods just now. The exhibit should have cooled down enough, and since we’re wearing gloves, we don’t have to be afraid of the temperature. I’m going to take a look.”

“I’ll go together with you.”

After hearing Gu Liang’s words, Professor Wang decided to tag along as well. While they were journeying towards the camp, he would look behind intermittently to eye Doctor Xu and Scientist Li: “Both of them are having private words again. I don’t know what kind of secret they’re concealing from us. From how I see it, if they’re going to form a group, we should form a group too.”

What was the point of forming groups in a case solving game?

Gu Liang did not reply.

Professor Wang added: “I can’t shake off the feeling that they’re conspiring something. That Scientist Li was particularly odd, he couldn’t be the murderer, could he?”

Gu Liang did not look back, only stating: “There are two types of players in this game, the first type are those who hold suspicions in their heart and want to find someone to talk to individually but don’t dare to make the request, because they’re afraid that everyone will suspect them on those grounds; the second type are those who see other people communicating individually and suspect that the person is a murderer based on that point alone. These two types are usually new players.

“Scientist Li isn’t a novice, he knows that everyone will not suspect him based on this point alone, which is why he dares to be so blatant and open about it. You shouldn’t be a novice either.”

Professor Wang, who had been caught off guard by Gu Liang’s jab: “……”

Gu Liang continued: “Yes, Scientist Li might not be the friendliest person, but I can perceive that his intelligence isn’t low. Maybe he’s really doing this because he doesn’t trust us enough, and he only wants to share the ideas he has with Doctor Xu for the time being. It’s not a cause for concern, you can let them talk it out first.”

Professor Wang: “Can you tell me what are the thoughts you have gathered thus far, with regards to how we can solve this case?”

Gu Liang: “Sure.”

“One, what is the point of the scenario telling us that ghost story at the beginning of the plot?

“Two, there is no denying that we have encountered a ghost, and he’s called Xiao Cao. Xiao Cao then asked us if we believed him, which conforms to the details in the story. But how is Xiao Cao related to the story?

“Three, there are three dead people, but we’ve only met Xiao Cao’s spirit, so what of the other two spirits?

“I think, as long as we have the answers to these questions, we can attempt to restore the full story, or perhaps make sense of what the actual plot is. Following, we can deduce the murderer from the foundation we’ve built.”

A moment later, Professor Wang remarked: “Although you don’t speak on a regular basis, you speak of the decisive points the moment you start talking. Based on your observations, how do you think we should go about answering these questions? Do you have any brain holes?”

Gu Liang halted in his tracks and glanced at him: “How about I tell you the answer directly after I find the murderer?”

Professor Wang: “That would be great!”

Gu Liang: “……”

Gu Liang promptly ignored Professor Wang as he lifted his head to gaze into the distance.

800 metres north of the camp was the cave at the midway point of the mountain— that was the place where they discovered the three corpses.

But getting to the cave from the camp was not a straight road north, rather, they had to trek in the northeast direction to use the small path to avoid the precipice and then reach the cave.

However, the fact that the cave had been shrouded by the thick fog could be vaguely perceived from their position, and they had no way of entering it again for a search.

Withdrawing his gaze, he saw the footsteps on the snow underneath the illumination of the moonlight and head lamp.

The footsteps were messed up; there were footprints that the four of them had created as they were going up and down the mountain yesterday.

Presently, it could be observed that some footprints were deeper and more distinctive since they had been made recently, which should be the work that Scientist Li left behind just now.

Gu Liang shifted his gaze eastwards. The footprints in this direction were even messier.

The men in black arrived from that direction just now, and they had left the same way after they extinguished the fire. Hence, nothing could be distinguished from the footsteps.

It appears that, trying to deduce something from the footsteps in the snow was a near-impossible task for the time being.

In the end, Gu Liang could only retract his gaze and stare ahead into the pitch-black camping grounds. Subsequently, he knelt down, lowering his head to scavenge for something.

Professor Wang heaved a sigh. “Stop wasting your effort for nothing. When you were staring at the mountain peak, thinking, I flipped through everything once, there’s really nothing left. The tent was burnt down, the sleeping bags were destroyed, the gas fuel was burnt off, and all the other hardware and equipment were turned into ashes. Sigh, though there are some suitcases that weren’t completely eviscerated, and it can still be recognised. But there’s no meaning to them either.”

Professor Wang kicked the box that was essentially left with a corner after being burnt. “There’s still some dehydrated vegetables here. Unfortunately, we can’t even drink the vegetable soup anymore.”

Hearing that, Gu Liang squatted down next to it. Due to the gloves he was wearing, the box was no longer scalding to his hands.

He pulled open the box and noted a lump of black and circular objects, and they should be the vegetables that had been scorched before they could be cooked.

And when Gu Liang touched it gently, they crumbled into powder.

He retracted his hand and turned his attention towards the other two boxes at the side.

Those two boxes were used to store the energy bars.

There was one box that was still sealed, which contained the energy bar that Gu Liang had personally requested from the system. However, the box and energy bars inside had been burnt into nothingness.

The box at the side was empty as can be, and there was nothing left inside. When Gu Liang prodded it gently, the entire box collapsed directly.

And if Gu Liang remembered correctly, the last remaining box was where the vodka was stored.

Oftentimes, strong alcohol was brought along to cold climate camping trips to stave off the cold.

Right now, however, the box was also empty.

The alcohol bottles could not be found; it was unknown if they had exploded into smithereens and was later integrated into the piece of scorched black land.

Professor Wang: “The system probably has a limited budget, and all the equipment it prepared for us are relatively simple. There weren’t a lot of items in our camp, and most of it was burnt. The only useful items were those bags but they were also burnt. Look, I reorganised them and moved them to one side.”

After looking through the evinced objects that had turned into ash, Gu Liang walked over to three cremated corpses, knelt down and carefully scrutinised them.

These three corpses were completely destroyed by the fire. Their whole bodies were soot-black, and they were nearly carbonised.

— The boxes containing the dehydrated vegetables and energy bars still had remains, so why were these corpses burnt so thoroughly?

At this moment, the moonlight reflected on the snowy landscape, and the scenery was beautiful.

But the various incidents that had occurred were not beautiful in the least.

In Professor Wang’s perception, Gu Liang was continuously staring at the three corpses, zoning out, and there was no one around to talk to him.

Apart from that, he did not know if the ghost in scenario would continue to make his appearance to scare people, which only served to increase the terror and panic he felt. Thus, he could resist asking Gu Liang: “Why do you keep staring at the corpse? It’s all ashes, you can’t observe anything from it.”

Without lifting his head, Gu Liang only asked, “How do you think the fire started?”

Professor Wang: “Perhaps… When Doctor Xu was cooking some vegetable soup, she wasn’t conscientious enough, and the gas fuel canister exploded. Since she was cooking at the entrance of the tent, the explosion caused the tent to catch fire, and the fire gradually spread out, thus burning everything that could be burnt. That’s probably how it went.”

“There are two ways to ignite a gas fuel canister, the first is when the gas leak mixes with the air at a certain proportion, and is then detonated by an open fire; the second is that the gas canister itself suffered a violent impact, pressure, or… It was heated up by fire.”

Gu Liang asserted, “Our camp site is outdoors. We can essentially and directly eliminate the first circumstance. Therefore, I’m more partial towards the possibility where someone committed arson in our camp, and the fuel canister exploded as a result of the fire.”

“That person…. why would they commit arson here?” Professor Wang said.

Gu Laing said: “Look, these two paper boxes still had some fragments, but these three corpses were completely destroyed by the fire. I theorise that the corpses were the origin of the fire. I remember that none of us had drunk the alcohol, but the box containing the vodka is empty. Someone must have poured the alcohol on the corpses and set them on fire.”

Professor Wang’s eyes widened: “What you mean to say is, someone burned the corpses on purpose? And the explosion occurred because of the fire?”

“Yes.” Gu Liang nodded, “Someone set the corpses on fire, and their purpose should be to destroy the corpses without leaving a trace.”

“Therefore… the person who committed arson, might be the person who killed these three people three years ago?”

Professor Wang came to a sudden realisation. Then, he seemed to think of something and his expression contorted a little, “Hey, since you and I went to the toilet, and if Scientist Li was not lying, he went to the mountain cave. Who has the opportunity to light the fire? It can only be Doctor Xu.

“It happens that she was also the one doing the cooking. She could have burnt the corpse and catalysed the explosion, and once she was done with everything— she accidentally made a mistake, causing the fuel gas canister to explode, which in turn gave rise to the false appearance of a fire. She has to be the murderer!”

“Not necessarily,” Gu Liang replied.

“Why?” asked Professor Wang.

Gu Liang stood up and looked at Professor Wang: “After going to the toilet, I passed out. You have the time to commit the crime, and for Scientist Li, there are even more reasons to doubt him. Therefore, everything is possible.”

“In all honesty, I passed out with you back then. I only woke up when the system made its broadcast. Only ghosts would know what happened—”

Once he said that, Professor Wang made an abrupt remark: “Hey, speaking of the ghost in this instance… say, why did we end up fainting without any rhyme or reason? Could it be that the ghost… used some sort of spell to knock us out? And then the ghost committed arson?”

“If the ghost could use spells to commit arson, he’s capable of directly using the spell to commit arson from midair. What’s the point of him knocking us out?” Gu Liang refuted him with a question.

Professor Wang thought about it before he said: “Think about it, that Xiao Cao, when I bumped into him, he didn’t do much to me. And while Xiao Cao attacked Scientist Li when Doctor Xu and Scientist Li bumped into him later, you can’t say that he maimed him to death.

“Xiao Cao only asked a few weird questions, but he did not hurt anyone. So I’m guessing that if he was the one committing arson, he might have knocked us out because he didn’t want us to return to the camp and burn ourselves to death.”

After listening to his words, Gu Liang issued a faint comment, “If that’s the case, the ghost possesses quite a bit of conscience.”

Professor Wang: “Right?”

Gu Liang: “If Xiao Cao was responsible for the fire, what is he burning the corpses for?”

Professor Wang: “… Don’t know…”

After saying that, Professor Wang looked over his shoulder. Roughly 400 to 500 metres out, Scientist Li and Doctor Xu were still discussing something.

The pair’s body language was extremely vivid, making it apparent that they were disputing over something.

Professor Wang: “In any case, I feel that Scientist Li is acting the strangest. What purpose did he have in going back to the cave alone? Right, did your script ascribe this line, wherein Scientist Li was the first person to suggest that we head over to the mountain cave?”

Gu Liang turned his head back to look in Scientist Li and Doctor Xu’s direction as well.

The moonlight shone down, the snow reflected upwards.

If the supernatural and horror elements were excluded, and the anxiety-inducing homicides were removed, the two of them would look extremely compatible.

Their shadows were stretched out under the illumination of the moonlight, and on the snow-covered ground, their shadows were entangled together like they were lovers in an intimate relationship.

And before Gu Liang’s eyes, a scene from three years ago slowly emerged in his mind.

Three years ago, four university students came here for an adventure.

There were three boys and one girl.

The girl’s appearance was as lovely as flowers, and was treasured in the palms of the boys’ hands. She was called Xiao Hua.

Later, due to some unforeseen circumstances, three of them died here, which included the pretty girl.

The ones who accompanied her to her death were Xiao Cao and Xiao Dong.

Xiao Dong was hugging Xiao Hua as he died, Xiao Cao died with his back against the rock wall.

Three years later, the whereabouts of Xiao Yuan were unknown.

Whereas Xiao Cao turned into a stranded spirit.

— Where was Xiao Hua and Xiao Dong’s spirit then?

Professor Wang asked Gu Liang: “You’re observing them too? What are you thinking about?”

Gu Liang: “I suddenly thought of a brain hole. But it’s not the most mature.”

Professor Wang: “Talk about it?”

Gu Liang: “Do you think soul possession is plausible in this script?”

Professor Wang shuddered at the prospect. Then, he heard Gu Liang say: “When we entered the cave, Xiao Cao, Xiao Hua and Xiao Dong’s spirit was actually there. It’s just that… Xiao Hua and Xiao Dong found two suitable vessels, hence they possessed them.”

Professor Wang might be a man close to his sixties but he bounced up like an eighteen year old upon hearing that. Fear and excitement could be detected in his voice even though he restrained his volume, as if he was afraid that he would be overheard.

“What you’re trying to say is… the current Scientist Li, is actually Xiao Dong? That would mean Doctor Xu is Xiao Hua! This…”

Professor Wang swallowed: “This might actually be possible! Xiao Cao didn’t attack me, and it’s only when he saw Scientist Li that he flew into an abrupt rage and attacked him! Because he knew that Scientist Li was Xiao Dong. He was jealous of Xiao Dong because of Xiao Hua’s matter! Therefore, Scientist Li was lying when he said he fainted just now!”

* * *

Number XS007 Control Centre.

There were countless screens broadcasting different images, but each perspective was related to the《 The Fifth Person 》scenario premise and its real time happenings.

In front of one of the screens was a seated man in black.

When he saw what Gu Liang and Professor Wang were discussing through the monitor, the man in black could not help but laugh. Subsequently, he asked the person by his side: “I’m genuinely awed by this brain hole. Is this your first time observing live? Say, do you think that this player by the name of Gu Liang will find out the truth?”

The person by his side was still wearing his white-robed prop costume.

He was sitting close to the window, and the distant, pure white snow and bright moon was reflected into the depths of his eyes.

Upon hearing the man in black’s question, he chuckled. “Why would he fail to find it? It’s not like it’s a difficult script.”

The man in black said: “Ming Yue, you wrote this script. The murderer’s psychology that you wrote is best described as perverse; most people would struggle to guess it out.”

Ming Yue turned his head back to gaze at the man in black: “Do you know what was the incident that drew my attention towards Gu Liang for the first time?”

The man in black asked: “What was it?”

Ming Yue: “In the first year of senior high, there was one preliminary examination where I didn’t do well.”

Man in black: “What was your score?”

Ming Yue: “701.”

Man in black: “……”

Ming Yue said: “Gu Liang was the top scorer in the entire school, scoring two points higher than me, 703.”

Man in black: “What happened afterwards? When you continued to compete, who won and who lost?”

Ming Yue shook his head: “There weren’t a lot of chances afterwards. Contrary to my expectations, he chose the arts when the classes were being divided up into arts and sciences, even though he had excellent science results.”

Man in black: “Why?”

Ming Yue said: “Back then, his parents had just divorced. His father was a homosexual who cheated on his wife. He absolutely loathed his father, and he wanted to be the opposite of his father in everything. Since his father studied science, he chose arts. And naturally, he also hates homosexuality with a passion. Ah, that’s not the important point, the important point is—”

“He will definitely discover the truth. This point has never been in doubt. But which perspective he uses to approach the truth, that is what I need to observe.”

Ming Yue turned his gaze towards the Gu Liang displayed on screen. The smile hanging on his lips was quite intractable. “After all, only when you know yourself and know the enemy, will you never be defeated.”

Hearing that, the man in black seemed to be struck by something hilarious. He fiddled with the bottom of the display monitor to rewind back to the scene where Gu Liang shoved Ming Yue’s corpses down the mountain, and he even replayed it several times. “I’m truly struggling to see how you were classmates.”

Ming Yue pursed his lips. “I never expected that he would wind up in this game either.”

The man in black stretched his body lazily. “If he can walk to the end like how you managed to in the previous round, I think I might be interested in your teacher-in-charge. I really want to see the ilk of highly intelligent people he had in your class that year.”

“High intelligence quotients were not rare. Our class was the best, cream of the crop class in an elite school. It’s just…”

Ming Yue smiled again, “People who have the likes of my antisocial behaviour, come in far less numbers. And what this game challenges in the end, is not a person’s intelligence.”