After leaving the restroom, the lights in the ward quickly went out.
Perhaps because Gu Zhan had run out before, the head nurse didn’t forget to lock the door this time.
They couldn't go anywhere and had to stay obediently in the ward.
When they woke up the next morning, there was indeed a new stamp on Gu Zhan's arm.
He touched the stamp and fell into deep thought.
His time was limited.
The director’s watch was the original for the stamp; in fact, he could print as many as he wanted.
One per day, or maybe just one after answering a question—this was merely his personal wicked interest.
Perhaps it was to coincide with that black live stream; after all, a live stream needed some excitement.
In reality, everyone was shrouded in his clutches, at any moment becoming a collectible.
During breakfast, Gu Zhan discussed the boundaries of this instance with Zhao Xiaoyue. They had previously assumed that the instance was just the hospital, not realizing that there was a map outside the hospital... But Zhao Xiaoyue's task involved the outside world, and the superior she could contact was certainly not someone who appeared out of thin air.
Zhao Xiaoyue hesitated, “Should we go to the edge of the hospital and take a look?”
Gu Zhan said, “We should check it out.”
Zhao Xiaoyue immediately gained confidence, “Then I’ll go check it out today… Maybe I can find some useful clues!”
After breakfast, Gu Zhan wanted to talk to Xiao Ling again, but it was easy to be discovered outside, so he chose to return to the ward.
Zhao Xiaoyue had nothing to do for the moment, so she went back with Gu Zhan.
As soon as they reached the door of the ward, they heard people arguing inside.
“He hasn’t come back yet; he must be missing!”
“He is definitely missing… One of us is a murderer!”
“I know, I just know!”
Zhao Xiaoyue paused her steps, “That voice… it’s Meng Shan.”
Her relationship with Meng Shan was actually quite good.
But ever since she was left in the side space by Jiang Weichen, she hadn’t spoken to them.
Meng Shan sounded extremely agitated, as if something significant had happened.
Zhao Xiaoyue couldn’t understand why they were having internal strife and wondered, “What’s going on?”
Someone is missing? Meng Shan even concluded that the missing person was killed by a player? The murderer was among them?
Isn’t it normal for someone to die or go missing in this instance? They didn’t come out of the side space, nor did anyone look for them.
Why was it suddenly a murderer here?
Zhao Xiaoyue became interested, “Let’s go in and take a look.”
Since Gu Zhan had originally planned to rest, he naturally went in.
The moment the two entered, the arguing in the ward stopped.
Everyone turned to look at the door.
It felt strange, as if they were one entity. Gu Zhan and Zhao Xiaoyue, having just entered, felt like two outsiders, diving into a world that didn’t belong to them.
The people in the ward instinctively fell silent, likely to avoid Gu Zhan and Zhao Xiaoyue overhearing any important information.
Their tension filled the air. After a moment of silence, someone quietly said, “Maybe it’s true that there’s a murderer among us.”
“Of course it’s true,” Meng Shan replied, “I have no reason to lie to you. I hope you can help me find this person… Finding him would be beneficial for me and for everyone.”
They reached a consensus in an instant.
No one explained anything to Gu Zhan and Zhao Xiaoyue.
Zhao Xiaoyue stood at the door, dissatisfied, “Hey, what are you talking about? Shouldn’t you explain this to us?”
Meng Shan looked at her, “Didn’t you notice someone is missing from the ward?”
Zhao Xiaoyue scanned the room.
Wen Ge sat in the corner, two boys huddled together beside him, and Meng Shan… huh? Where was that most annoying person?
Zhao Xiaoyue raised an eyebrow, “Where’s Jiang Weichen?”
Meng Shan explained, “Jiang Weichen is missing.”
“Missing?” Zhao Xiaoyue raised an eyebrow. “It’s only morning; how can you be sure he’s missing? Maybe he’s outside looking for clues.”
Meng Shan said, “You’re standing here, and you haven’t gone insane or been taken away by the head nurse, which means you’ve also unlocked your personal task. Everyone's progress is similar; I have no need to hide it any longer. To be honest, my personal task is to identify the murderer among the players.”
“So I’m sure he was killed by someone from our group… and the murderer has more than one target. If we don’t find the murderer, everyone could be in danger.”
Zhao Xiaoyue didn’t expect Jiang Weichen to die so suddenly; she hadn’t even had a chance to confront him about throwing her into the side space.
Meng Shan’s personal task forcefully pulled everyone into the next phase.
The previous issues seemed less important; their main goal now was to protect themselves from being targeted by the murderer and to complete their personal tasks.
Gu Zhan didn’t express any opinion regarding Meng Shan’s words; his thoughts likely aligned with Zhao Xiaoyue’s.
After spending some time with him, Zhao Xiaoyue understood his character and didn’t ask for his thoughts; instead, she directly asked Meng Shan, “So, do you have any clues?”
“I don’t have any at the moment…” Meng Shan’s gaze flickered slightly.
At this moment, one of the two boys in the corner suddenly said, “Maybe it was you who did it.”
Zhao Xiaoyue exploded upon hearing this, “What do you mean I did it?! Do you have any evidence?”
The boy replied, “Jiang Weichen left you in the side space. You hold a grudge against him, so it’s normal for you to look for a chance to kill him! Besides, you’ve already turned into a monster in the side space… how could you still get out? Maybe you’re not even human anymore…”
“You… what nonsense are you talking about!” Zhao Xiaoyue never thought that her being left in the side space would be brought up in such a way.
Jiang Weichen was fighting for his life, harming her for his own benefit, and she had nothing to say.
After all, in such a place, anything could happen.
But she was still a victim in this incident.
How could being a victim also become a reason for baseless suspicion?
“It’s perfectly reasonable for me to have such suspicions; otherwise, why would it be Jiang Weichen who died!?”
“You!” Zhao Xiaoyue was so angry her face turned red, and she blurted out, “So it’s Jiang Weichen who died? It seems like you really want him dead!”
“Zhao Xiaoyue!” The boy got angry as well, wanting to argue with her but was held back by his companion.
In terms of strength, Zhao Xiaoyue was indeed a level weaker than him. She regretted her outburst; her habit of letting her mouth run ahead of her brain was hard to change.
But at that moment, Gu Zhan spoke up: “If the killer received a special personal task, then the motive for murder wouldn’t hold. This would just be a random killing without a target, unrelated to personal grudges.”
“Right! Right!” Zhao Xiaoyue suddenly remembered this point. “Meng Shan’s personal task hinted at a murderer, which means the appearance of this murderer is related to personal tasks! What do you mean I have a grudge against them? Now, all of us could be murderers!”
She looked at Meng Shan, “Even Meng Shan could be lying!”
Meng Shan remained silent.
However, the boy who had clashed with Zhao Xiaoyue caught the loophole in his words but still refused to back down, muttering, “What do you know, woman… I just feel like you might be the murderer.”
He was unreasonable; Zhao Xiaoyue couldn’t argue with him and could only fume silently.
Gu Zhan looked at Wen Ge, “What do you think?”
Among this group, Wen Ge was still the leader.
Since his appearance, he had remained silent, clearly having other plans in mind.
Wen Ge finally moved, slowly saying, “It’s simple; let’s play a game of werewolf. Just tell me what you’ve been doing lately to prove your innocence.”
Meng Shan said, “Yes, if you want to clear your suspicions, you need to tell us what you’ve done.”
The man who had just clashed with Zhao Xiaoyue nodded repeatedly: “Right, right! We’ve all talked to each other, and we’ve been together all this time. Instead, you two have been missing all day; who knows what shady things you’ve been up to?”
“You…” Zhao Xiaoyue said incredulously, “You’ve already talked to each other?”
Everyone nodded: “Yeah, we talked.” “We only suspected you because we talked.” “Come on, it’s just you two left.”
【So cunning; doesn’t this mean they’re unilaterally revealing their actions to us?】
【Why not all say it together? Why only share the actions of two people?】
"I refuse,” Gu Zhan said decisively.
Wen Ge raised an eyebrow. “Then we can only treat you as suspects. Meng Shan has the right to vote. He will hold a vote tomorrow morning. Even if it’s a wrong vote, the person voted out will be considered a murderer and can no longer leave this scenario.”
【Isn’t this the same as threatening?】
【Those two guys have a strange attitude. I wouldn't believe it without Wen Ge encouraging them from behind.】
【It’s fine to have a bad relationship with Wen Ge, but why does everything get blamed on Wen Ge?】
【I truly believe Wen Ge is behind this. Given the circumstances, I even suspect he’s the murderer, trying to steer things.】
Meng Shan stood nervously to the side, rubbing his palms together.
Gu Zhan simply said, “Whatever.”
“…”
Wen Ge’s expression twisted slightly, grinding his teeth. “Fine, but if one of you gets voted out, don’t blame others.”
【I picked such a strong wife!】
【But is this really okay? What if Meng Shan…?】
【Meng Shan isn’t an idiot. He has to vote correctly to complete the task.】
【If I were Meng Shan, I’d definitely go find him privately. If he votes wrong, he’d be in trouble too.】
Zhao Xiaoyue approached Gu Zhan and whispered, “What should we do? I feel like they’re targeting us…”
Gu Zhan replied indifferently, “Don’t worry about it.”
Zhao Xiaoyue felt conflicted about Gu Zhan. He was very nice, willing to rescue her in the side quest space and share clues with her.
But he was also very cold. He didn’t say anything except for the important stuff.
Zhao Xiaoyue could clearly sense that he was uninterested in her.
Or rather… he seemed uninterested in many people and things around him.
It suddenly struck her that Gu Zhan, who had just entered the scenario, was silent and didn’t speak up during the questions, not out of fear but because he simply wasn’t interested in the scenario or the assessment itself.
What a willful person! Arriving in a brand new, dangerous place, yet he could just do nothing because he was “not interested.”
“You really know how to keep your cool,” Zhao Xiaoyue muttered under her breath.
At that moment, Wen Ge spoke again. “Since you won’t reveal your personal tasks, we can only treat you as suspects. Meng Shan said that the murderer will kill again. How about this… from now on, we’ll move in pairs, proving each other’s innocence. How does that sound?”
【Wen Ge is really a dog! Isn’t this just giving the murderer a chance?】
【He can’t be the murderer, right?!】
【It’s possible; he’s definitely capable of that!】
Wen Ge said, “I’ll pair up with Zhao Xiaoyue…”
That left only Gu Zhan. The two men in the corner were unwilling to partner with Gu Zhan and quickly said, “We’ll team up!”
Meng Shan: “…”
But Gu Zhan said, “I’ll pair with you. Zhao Xiaoyue will team with Meng Shan.”
Wen Ge raised an eyebrow, seemingly waiting for him to say that.
“Okay, then you’re with me.”
Zhao Xiaoyue instinctively sensed something was off, but she didn’t dare say anything… Wen Ge was not someone she could handle. If Gu Zhan had any plans and she spoke out recklessly, it might ruin things.
Gu Zhan calmly walked over to Wen Ge. As he passed Zhao Xiaoyue, he said, “Go do what you need to do.”
Hearing him say that, Zhao Xiaoyue felt her heart settle in an instant.
She turned to Meng Shan and said, “Let’s go.”
Meng Shan was anxious about his actions. After Zhao Xiaoyue called him, he glanced back at Wen Ge before following Zhao Xiaoyue out.
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