However, Jiang Xiao still couldn’t determine what exactly that knife represented. Who intended to kill whom? Or was Ying Weizhu’s knife just a smokescreen, and the Mysterious Knife was the true murder weapon that killed Qin Guan?
Fifth, regarding the person who kissed Jiang Xiao that night, the three accounts differed. Bo Xiting, Jiang Mu, and Ying Weizhu each claimed it was them. Only Wen Xu never mentioned this matter. Could the culprit be among them?
It seemed only the murderer would need an alibi.
Sixth, Wen Xu held a secret of Bo Xiting’s. What exactly that secret was, Jiang Xiao couldn’t know, but for it to make Bo Xiting’s expression change, it must have been something extremely important.
Seventh, the relationship between Jiang Mu and Bo Xiting didn’t seem good. Yet the Attendant saw Bo Xiting go looking for Jiang Mu early in the morning, and Jiang Mu even said Bo Xiting was the murderer. Very suspicious.
But Bo Xiting also said it was Jiang Mu who intercepted that message and replied on his behalf. If what Bo Xiting said was true, what was Jiang Mu’s purpose in doing that?
Was there an intricate web of connections between the car accident, Qin Guan’s death, and Wen Xu’s fall from the cliff? The most crucial part, he still hadn’t found.
But Jiang Xiao had a premonition that he was already very close to the truth itself.
Perhaps he just needed a catalyst, or…
To search again for clues he might have missed.
Suddenly, someone approached. Jiang Xiao’s train of thought halted as he heard a cold voice say:
“Tell me, what else do you need me to do?”
——
Bo Xiting hadn’t left at all. He pretended to walk to the stairwell but actually hid behind a pillar, secretly watching Jiang Xiao, observing what he planned to do now.
Ultimately, Jiang Xiao could find someone else to help him. At worst, he could just go back the way he came; Jiang Mu’s location was right next door. Why did he have to toy with him again and again, watch him make a fool of himself? Was it very amusing?
Bo Xiting thought with a kind of masochistic cruelty: if he went to find Jiang Mu, then he’d never bother with Jiang Xiao again.
Someone else was willing to bother anyway, why should he keep butting in?
However, what surprised Bo Xiting was that after realizing he had left, Jiang Xiao’s face showed surprise, and then he just leaned against the wall motionlessly, head bowed as if deep in thought.
That exceptionally young and handsome face, which had drawn the gazes of so many admirers, actually displayed a lost and helpless expression, as if Bo Xiting’s abandonment had left him directionless.
Bo Xiting watched him quietly.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Jiang Xiao remained perfectly still, as if he had solidified into a lifeless sculpture. Only his hair stirred slightly as the wind brushed it. A ray of winter sunlight fell through the tracery window, painting a touch of icy gold on those jet-black strands.
So many loved his divinely painted features, and Bo Xiting was merely the most insignificant among them. What others loved was only that moment, but what Bo Xiting sought went far beyond that.
Perhaps it was precisely because he sought more than others that he failed more miserably than all of them.
In the end, Bo Xiting couldn’t remain completely cold. He walked over, and saw that the moment Jiang Xiao heard his voice, his entire aura seemed to become cheerful.
“Senior, you didn’t leave?”
When guilty, Jiang Xiao called him by name; when happy, he retreated back inside the line and properly called him Senior.
Yet even in those two simple words, there seemed to be a hint of ambiguous tenderness.
Bo Xiting didn’t respond. His eyelashes lowered, and he said coldly:
“Caring for the disabled is everyone’s responsibility.”
“…”
Jiang Xiao decided he’d better not bicker with Bo Xiting.
After all, he wasn’t only sarcastic towards him.
“Could Senior stall Jiang Mu for me? Just one hour will do, okay?” Jiang Xiao was indeed very happy. Besides Bo Xiting, no one else would be willing to help him with such a task.
If he asked Ying Weizhu—
Who knows what price he’d have to pay.
Perhaps only Bo Xiting wanted nothing from him.
That actually showed Jiang Xiao’s understanding of Bo Xiting wasn’t deep enough.
What Bo Xiting wanted was far more profound than the shallow, one-sided returns Ying Weizhu sought.
Bo Xiting nodded, then remembered Jiang Xiao couldn’t see, and changed it to a “Mn.”
Jiang Xiao smoothly snuck into Jiang Mu’s room.
Although searching for items was truly unfriendly for someone who couldn’t see, Bo Xiting was needed to stall Jiang Mu, and Ying Weizhu was also hard to use. He could only do it himself.
Fortunately, he still remembered the layout and furnishings of Jiang Mu’s room.
Before starting, Jiang Xiao specifically had the System set a timer for him to avoid mishaps.
Starting from the desk, Jiang Xiao’s movements were fast and steady. Plus, he had the System as a cheat—
The System, which verbally said it wouldn’t help him, was physically very honest. Seeing Jiang Xiao linger too long on a certain object, seemingly unsure if it was the right one, it would chime in with a hint:
“Not this one.”
The System was truly the only warmth in this cold Murder Game!
While searching, Jiang Xiao chatted with the System: “Do you have an employee ID? I’ll give you a five-star review.”
“T012.” The System: “…Also, we don’t have that kind of thing.”
Jiang Xiao: “Then can you level up? Like from a regular system to an advanced system or something.”
System: “I’m already an advanced system.”
When it said this, there seemed to be a faint gritting of teeth.
“Oh, sorry.” Jiang Xiao smiled apologetically. “Then is there anything I can do for you? You’ve really been a huge help to me.”
“Right!” Jiang Xiao suddenly remembered, “If you help me like this, and the Main System finds out, you won’t be punished, will you?”
“No,” the System said, then suddenly paused. “If I disappear, don’t look for me.”
Jiang Xiao: “?”
“Systems have no emotions.”
Jiang Xiao suddenly understood. So the reason his System was so human-like was because it was secretly evolving?
From the desk to the wardrobe, from the Living Room to the Bedroom—he searched everywhere that could be searched, but found nothing like so-called Surveillance Monitors.
Instead, Jiang Xiao was exhausted and broke out in a sweat. Just as he was considering searching again, the System warned: “Ten minutes left.”
Ten minutes—not long, not short. But Jiang Xiao had a feeling that if he didn’t leave now, he might invite trouble.
But he was unwilling to leave just like that.
He’d finally gotten in here once; he had to have some kind of gain, right?
If all else failed, he could just take Jiang Mu’s computer, crack its contents later.
No sooner said than done. Jiang Xiao closed Jiang Mu’s computer and was about to take it when he suddenly detected an unusual disturbance.
…Footsteps.
Jiang Mu had actually come back early?!
Alarm bells screamed in Jiang Xiao’s mind. Bo Xiting, you bastard, you promised me so confidently, yet you couldn’t even stall Jiang Mu for an hour? If it really wasn’t possible, couldn’t you have just knocked him out?!
The problem was now left to Jiang Xiao. He was already committed past the point of no return.
Jiang Xiao was truly unwilling. Listening to the footsteps getting closer and closer, he could only grit his teeth fiercely, put the computer back in its original spot, thought for a moment, bent over, and dove under the bed .
Better to be covered in dust than discovered by some pervert.
Even so, the floor was still very clean. It just wasn’t carpeted, nor did it have heated flooring like the original house. The icy cold air from the marble relentlessly seeped upward. Jiang Xiao’s calves and knees were freezing, a chill making him shiver.
“Creak—”
The bedroom door was opened.
Jiang Xiao didn’t move a muscle, but his fingers seemed to touch something. Curious, he felt it—round and plump, he didn’t know what it was, but it shouldn’t be trash.
He quietly grasped the object in his palm.
The footsteps grew closer. Leather shoes trod unhurriedly across the floor, producing a nerve-wracking tap-tap sound.
Had Jiang Mu discovered something and rushed back in a hurry? That shouldn’t be. Even if he knew Bo Xiting was stalling him, how would he know Jiang Xiao was in his room looking for something?
Could it be…
Jiang Mu wouldn’t have installed Surveillance Monitors in his own room too, would he?!
In that instant, Jiang Xiao’s hairs stood on end, a chill running down his spine from that conjecture.
The footsteps suddenly vanished, seeming to stop right in front of Jiang Xiao.
This scene was far too reminiscent of a horror movie. Jiang Xiao felt as if he could hear his own heartbeat rapidly accelerating, pounding thump, thump.
Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed Jiang Xiao’s ankle!
Startled, Jiang Xiao instinctively kicked out. The other party grunted, and the fingers loosened.
Jiang Xiao realized the other must have discovered him long ago. He had no idea how long the person had been watching him. His heart raced again, his entire body tensing up.
What a psycho!!!
Jiang Xiao quickly scrambled out from under the bed, completely blind, unable to tell east from west, and charged for the exit. Someone wrapped an arm around his waist, trying to take him down. Jiang Xiao kicked backward but missed. Still, this move effectively thwarted the other’s interception.
Jiang Xiao ran further out, but the person blocked him again. Regardless of anything else, Jiang Xiao just kicked first.
But no matter how capable Jiang Xiao was, being unable to see rendered it all useless. In the next second, something seemed to trip his legs. Jiang Xiao pitched forward violently, and just as his knees were about to hit the floor, someone caught him by the waist and pulled him back.
Jiang Xiao threw a backward elbow strike. However, before he could succeed, he felt something hard and unyielding pressing against his waist.
“Don’t move.” The man panted slightly, his voice still carrying traces of barely concealed pain, but there was even a hint of light laughter in his tone. “You really can run, Jiang Xiao.”
“Don’t want to die? Then don’t move.”
That object jabbed lightly against his waist again.
A chill spread through Jiang Xiao’s entire body.
…Was Jiang Mu actually holding a Gun right now?!
Had Jiang Mu completely dropped all pretense?!
