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MTL - I Only Like Your Character Settings-Chapter 17 Oedipus
Cen Cen looked at the empty bed, feeling a little anxious, "Is there still no clue..." She turned to look at Shang Sirui, "Sirui, what should we do now?"
Shang Sirui sighed, "Let's wait for the execution vote later." He took out his phone, and the countdown to the vote was displayed on the screen, "There are still thirteen minutes."
"Then who do we vote for? Is it the same as before?"
Shang Sirui pursed his lips and frowned, like a child who hadn't snatched candy, "Sister Cen Cen, you won't be convinced by Xi Qing so quickly, do you really think Ziheng will be the killer? Anyway I don't think that Ziheng's various performances look like a villain, not to mention that he is a top student, isn't it normal for him to think clearly and solve problems quickly? What we have to do now is to get the most possible people cast out."
Cen Cen hesitated for a while, and asked uncertainly, "Then shall we lobby Ziheng to join us?"
Shang Sirui shook his head, "Forget about Ziheng, he has been with Xi Qing before, and he may not listen to our votes for him. Ruan Xiao has already agreed with us, if we vote for all three..." Suddenly , he heard something, so he opened the wardrobe door lightly, and Ruan Xiao's voice came from another room.
"Alright then, I'll vote for Ziheng with you."
Xia Xiqing's voice also appeared.
"Trust me, there must be something wrong with him."
Hearing the footsteps of two people approaching, Shang Sirui backed away quickly, Xia Xiqing and Ruan Xiao walked out from the closet, saw Shang Sirui and Cen Cen standing beside the moved bed, Xia Xiqing said, " Did you find any useful clues?"
Shang Sirui sighed, "No... I feel like I can't find it."
Xia Xiqing raised his eyebrows, and winked at Ruan Xiao, "Then I'll go find Ziheng first, do you want to go together?"
Ruan Xiao looked at Cen Cen, Cen Cen also looked at her, and winked at her, Ruan Xiao showed some hesitation on his face, "I... I'll stay here first."
The expression on Shang Sirui's face was visibly relaxed.
Seeing that the three of them had no intention of leaving, Xia Xiqing breathed a sigh of relief. He left the female painter's room calmly, and closed the door behind them thoughtfully.
If Xia Xiqing's guess is correct, Shang Sirui and Cen Cen will try their best to persuade Ruan Xiao to follow them and vote him out. During this period, Ruan Xiao and the two of them can spare him time to find evidence.
Shang Sirui is not stupid, he will definitely find that his plan is falling through the cracks, and he will "kill" Xia Xiqing out of desperation because he is afraid that things will be revealed.
And that's exactly what Xia Xiqing wanted. He wanted to force the killer to use up his only right to take the initiative to kill, so that he would no longer pose a threat to Zhou Ziheng.
The prerequisite is that he can really find evidence to prove Shang Sirui's identity to Zhou Ziheng before his death, otherwise Zhou Ziheng's prejudice against him may not believe his one-sided words.
The living room was empty, Xia Xiqing didn't know where Zhou Ziheng was now, and he didn't have time to find out.
He took out his phone and glanced at the countdown, there were still eight minutes.
Xia Xiqing, who was walking quickly towards Shang Sirui's original room, rolled up his white shirt to his elbows. After entering the door, he walked directly to the empty wall facing the camera, and confirmed again that the two nails were still there, and they were indeed there. there.
There must have been paintings here.
Xia Xiqing took out every piece of clothing in the closet and threw it on the ground. The closet suddenly became empty, with nothing left. Xia Xiqing tried to consider Shang Sirui's thinking at that time.
Judging from the paintings in other rooms, the painting here should also be framed, unless he removed the frame, no, no, it's too troublesome and there are no tools. Shang Sirui didn't even bring out his medical records, so such a large painting is even more impossible.
Xia Xiqing looked around the entire room, and it must have been hidden in a corner of the room.
Where, exactly where?
The situation was so tense that Xia Xiqing felt his palms were sweating.
He took a breath, trying to calm himself down. Standing in front of the closet, he scanned the entire room carefully. This room is not big, and there is not much room to hide a painting.
carpet? Impossible, they stepped on it several times. Xia Xiqing lifted the carpet, but there was nothing. Under the round table? No, he still bent down to check, but there was nothing on the back.
It won't be such an obvious place.
He walked to the standing cabinet next to the bed and opened all the drawers. There were no paintings in it, and in fact, there was no room for a painting.
Xia Xiqing's eyes finally stayed on the bed.
It suddenly occurred to him that when they got the memo about picking up the pen, Shang Sirui was reluctant at first when he proposed to move the bed away to check.
Thinking of his expression at that time, Xia Xiqing was almost certain that there must be something wrong with the bed. He immediately tore off all the bedding on the prop bed and threw them on the ground one by one, leaving only the bare bed board.
No. still none.
impossible.
Xia Xiqing tried to put Shang Sirui's perspective on it again, recalling all the details back then, the expression on his face, and what he said.
The memory became blurred, the only thing Xia Xiqing was sure of was that Shang Sirui didn't want him and Zhou Ziheng to move the bed away.
This shows that "moving the bed" itself can easily expose his hidden paintings.
He thought of an almost improbable possibility.
Xia Xiqing moved the bed by himself. To be precise, it was not moving, but it was moved to the wall and lifted on one side. This light prop bed was easily placed on the ground by him, with the bed surface leaning against the wall, and the entire bottom of the bed was completely exposed in front of his eyes.
As he expected, there was an oil painting on the bottom of the bed, fastened hastily with wide tape.
The protagonist in this painting is a beautiful young man with long light brown hair, who is tightly entangled by a banshee with a human face and a beast body. The beautiful face of the banshee looks up at the serious eyes of the young man. The animal's sharp claws tightly grasped his chest, and his eyes were full of temptation.
Xia Xiqing is very familiar with this painting, which is "Oedipus and the Sphinx" by Gustave Moreau.
Oedipus is almost one of the most famous and tragic characters in ancient Greek mythology.
He is kind and intelligent, full of the beauty of humanity, but he never escaped the oracle of patricide throughout his life.
"Oedipus...killing his father..." Xia Xiqing frowned, sure enough, he was deceived from the beginning.
This painting is the biggest clue indicating the identity of the killer. The cheating father and the tense parents have no intention of caring for him.
The well-behaved son who can only use notes to communicate with his father is in the low ebb state of depression.
During the onset of mania, he killed his father who betrayed the family.
Such a plot was so real that Xia Xiqing felt uncomfortable, but the current tension slightly diluted the physical discomfort. He half-kneeled on the ground, trying to tear off the tape to take out the painting, but it was too tight, and he only pulled off a few pieces of tape with great effort.
"Xi Qing? Where are you, Xi Qing?"
It was Shang Sirui's voice.
Xia Xiqing's heart beat faster, he judged the urgency of the matter as quickly as possible, and chose to give up tearing apart the painting.
He can't be the only one who knows about this, he has to tell others. He originally planned to give this painting to Zhou Ziheng who didn't believe him no matter what, but with the strongest evidence, he will believe what he said. But it's too late now, let's explain it to him directly.
His time is running out, Shang Sirui must not be able to wait.
Before he killed himself, he had to bet all his odds on Zhou Ziheng.
Xia Xiqing immediately walked to the door between Shang Sirui and his original room, trying to try his luck to see if he was inside, if not, it would be troublesome, Shang Sirui was already blocked in the living room.
As soon as he opened the door of the study, Xia Xiqing found that it was pitch black inside.
For a moment, he felt a strong shortness of breath, and even felt dizzy.
He hesitated a little, and his footsteps froze uncontrollably, the black room was like an endless black hole, dangerous and unknown, the viscous black penetrated from the boundary between light and dark, and stuck to his toes, his body. His feet, his calves, dragged his whole body into it alive.
So sad…
Xia Xiqing reached out and frantically touched the light at the door of the room, but his wrist was suddenly grabbed by the other hand, dragging him for a few steps, and walked directly into the room. Xia Xiqing felt extremely uncomfortable, and even lost control of his emotions and wanted to swear. Just when he couldn't help but want to speak, the unreasonable man pushed him against the wall and covered his mouth.
"Shh. I found a clue, I can go out..."
It was Zhou Ziheng's voice.
Xia Xiqing even forgot to ask Zhou Ziheng why he knew it was him in the first place due to the excessive stress response, when he couldn't see anything.
Outside the door, Si Rui's voice was getting closer.
His mouth was covered and he couldn't speak, but Zhou Ziheng was so strong that Xia Xiqing had to bite his palm hard.
Zhou Ziheng let go of his hand in pain: "What are you doing?"
"I can't get out." Xia Xiqing leaned his back against the cold wall, panting, his voice a little hoarse.
In the dark, he groped and grabbed Zhou Ziheng's hand with great difficulty, his voice was deep and urgent, "Shang Sirui is the Killer, you believe me, I will never lie to you this time."
He said these words hastily and flustered, and Zhou Ziheng's heartbeat suddenly became much faster, pounding against his chest violently. He couldn't explain why, but he probably felt that Xia Xiqing in the dark was too strange.
Before I had time to say one more sentence or explain one more sentence, the familiar metallic voice came from the ceiling.
"Player Xia Xiqing, dead. Player Xia Xiqing, dead."
Repeated death notices hovered overhead, spreading in the darkness.
Even though everything in his field of vision was endless black, Zhou Ziheng could feel that the cold hands that were holding him loosened, and his fingers gradually left the pulse that was beating faster in his wrist.
"From now on, player Xia Xiqing loses the right to speak, please go to the exit seat in the living room and wait for the exit."
The author has something to say: the next chapter is Zhou Ziheng's carry to end the game.
Zhou Ziheng: I recognized my wife in a second and was bitten, angry.
Xia Xiqing: Aren’t you excited? My little heart is thumping~
Zhou Ziheng: Well, that is so angry!