Chapter 39 Part 3

But this tenderness, reserved solely for Jiang Xiao, was also like honey laced with deadly poison.

“It seems you already know about what Jiang Mu did. But I had no motive to kill Qin Guan.” Wen Xu said gently. “Xiaoxiao, I’m more curious about another matter right now…”

“When did your eyesight recover?”

Jiang Xiao: “Shouldn’t you know that better than me?”

He looked up, meeting Wen Xu’s gaze.

“Wasn’t the car accident and my blindness… all your doing?”

The disappearance of the debuff was actually also related to Wen Xu.

After Jiang Xiao guessed that the place he was in was actually the basement, and that the ‘Jiang Mu’ he’d interacted with was acted by Wen Xu, his eyes suddenly returned to normal.

【Current debuff: Blindness】

【Failure Condition: Unlock hidden plot [Underground] and guess the truth】

Such a failure condition was really quite harsh.

“The motive for killing Qin Guan is simple, it’s because…” Jiang Xiao took out his phone like a magician, flipping to the text message interface. “He found out about the car accident. You arranged for that driver to hit me, while Jiang Mu planned to put Qin Guan in that car.”

“After finding this out, Qin Guan planned to tell me on the night of my birthday. But he never got the chance to speak again.”

“The only thing I find strange is, why did you take Ying Weizhu’s knife to kill Qin Guan? To frame him?” Jiang Xiao was somewhat puzzled. “But Ying Weizhu… shouldn’t have provoked you, right?”

“Because he’s a very dangerous person, Xiaoxiao. You were with him for so long, you must have sensed something.” Wen Xu seemed a bit helpless. “Did you never discover… he has emotional deficiency syndrome?”

“That’s why he’s indifferent to life. In his eyes, you were just a tool to stimulate inspiration.”

Jiang Xiao: “But he never thought of hurting me.”

Wen Xu shook his head. “…He brought that knife intending to kill you.”

Therefore, before Ying Weizhu could use that knife, Wen Xu had to preemptively turn it into a murder weapon. That way, Ying Weizhu couldn’t continue freely using that knife to kill, right?

In that instant, Jiang Xiao eerily understood what Wen Xu’s next line of thinking was.

But wasn’t this being overly cautious against a potential threat?

Even though his mortality rate increase had been related to Ying Weizhu…

“Even so, you shouldn’t have framed him.” Jiang Xiao said. “Painting… that’s his career. You couldn’t just easily destroy it.”

“I don’t have that much power. Ying Weizhu’s family is enormous, and he’s a candidate to inherit the throne. When that time comes, if he wants to do something to you, you wouldn’t be able to resist.” Wen Xu said quietly. “So, I could only make it so he couldn’t continue staying in the country.”

It was just unexpected that even when facing public disgrace, Ying Weizhu remained unmoved.

“…So, Bo Xiting going abroad, was that also your doing?” Jiang Xiao immediately thought of a related matter.

Wen Xu’s lips curved into a smile. “Xiaoxiao, I don’t do every bad thing. The decision for Bo Xiting to go abroad was his own.”

“His feelings for you were only worth that much.”

“But weren’t you the one who truly wanted to kill me?” Jiang Xiao said. “You planned for me to die in that car accident. But I survived. So then you poisoned me, deciding to make me blind for life…”

“I didn’t poison you.” Wen Xu said. “I don’t know why, but your eyes indeed suddenly stopped seeing.”

Jiang Xiao didn’t believe Wen Xu’s words.

In the hospital, besides Wen Xu, who else had the opportunity to tamper with his eyes?

There was no one else.

“Regarding the car accident… I’m very sorry.” Wen Xu lowered his lashes. “Perhaps I lost my head for a moment.”

Jiang Xiao didn’t dwell on this matter. “So, you killed Qin Guan.”

Wen Xu said calmly: “Yes, I admit it.”

“I killed him.”

Jiang Xiao had originally prepared lots of evidence to support his argument, forcing Wen Xu to admit it. But he never expected Wen Xu wouldn’t even look for an excuse.

It felt like he had armed himself to the teeth, poised to strike, only for the opponent to wave a white flag in surrender.

“So, you also designed it so Bo Xiting would push you. After falling off the cliff, you disguised yourself as Jiang Mu and took me away…”

Wen Xu: “Yes.”

Jiang Xiao: “Before that, you made a deal with Jiang Mu…”

“The content of our deal was: he would let you go, give me intelligence, and I would give the clock pendulum to him.” Wen Xu said. “By that time, I was already prepared. If he broke the deal, I would kill him first.”

Jiang Xiao: “…”

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Wen Xu said gently. “Do you think Jiang Mu would be more soft-hearted than me? If I hadn’t killed him, he would have turned around and killed me.”

“Ying Weizhu too. Do you think that man is safe and harmless?”

“Can you view everything whose execution was merely prevented as if it never happened at all?”

No, in this script, even Qin Guan wasn’t actually a good person.

Qin Guan had indeed sent him a text. It read that he had investigated the truth of the car accident. After the birthday party ended, he would go to the props room to get a key, and then kill those two people.

As for the reason, Qin Guan said he couldn’t tolerate the existence of anyone who wanted to harm Jiang Xiao.

Therefore, if Qin Guan hadn’t died, that very night, another corpse certainly would have appeared.

The only person with absolutely no motive for murder turned out to be just Bo Xiting.

But was Bo Xiting really the only good person among them?

“Then you… cough.” Jiang Xiao was about to continue speaking, but thick smoke had already spread to the flower window. He coughed wretchedly a few times. Faint firelight had already entered his sight.

“Xiaoxiao, come with me.” Wen Xu extended his hand. “Since you let them go, I won’t lay a hand on them again. I promise.”

What Jiang Xiao saw before his eyes, however, was different from what Wen Xu saw.

His field of view was already entirely blood-red.

Strong exclamation marks flashed.

[Mortality rate about to reach 100%. Player, please fill in the answer immediately!]

A wooden plank upstairs seemed to be loosening. If Jiang Xiao hesitated any longer, it would directly crash down on his head.

Jiang Xiao turned and stood up. He looked at Wen Xu and shook his head.

“I’m not going with you.”

“Let’s break up.” Jiang Xiao said. “It’s better for both of us.”

Obsessive love merged with twisted malice, ultimately becoming utterly grotesque.

Jiang Xiao stepped over the railing.

Wen Xu seemed to know what he wanted to do. His pupils constricted sharply. He immediately rushed forward wanting to grab Jiang Xiao—

Jiang Xiao leaped down.

Following the same trajectory Wen Xu had fallen, he jumped.

Only this time, he probably wouldn’t be as lucky as Wen Xu.

And just then, a terrifying breaking sound came from upstairs. A main beam, under the baptism of the great fire, finally could no longer bear the weight, collapsing with an earth-shattering roar—

“CRASH—”

This European-style hotel, once used as a filming location for breathtaking beauty and bloody horror, thus disintegrated in the great blaze.

No survivors.

——

The space for filling in answers was a space frozen within the plot.

Side Mission (A-Rank):

Before your birthday, you were in a car accident that caused blindness. After investigation, you narrowed down the suspects to three people. You thus decided to invite them under the guise of a birthday party to find their flaws.

You believe ( ) orchestrated this car accident.

Hint: You only have one chance to fill in the answer. Completing the Side Mission grants generous rewards. Mission failure has no consequence.

Jiang Xiao filled in: Wen Xu, Jiang Mu.

Main Mission:

On the day of the birthday banquet, a blizzard trapped everyone in the hotel. Yet on the first night, someone died. The murderer is among you.

You believe the murderer is ( ).

Hint: You only have one chance to fill in the answer. Completing the Main Mission grants a clearance reward. Mission failure results in elimination.

Jiang Xiao filled in: Wen Xu.

Finally done…

Those last few minutes in this world were truly heart-stopping. Jiang Xiao let out a long sigh of relief. However, after filling in the Main Mission answer, he received no prompt about whether it was right or wrong. The screen began flickering, and a bad premonition arose in Jiang Xiao’s heart.

No way, is there still more?

After the screen flickered for a few seconds, an unfamiliar question appeared, along with a blood-red countdown timer that was nerve-wracking just to look at.

Hidden Mission (SSS-Rank)

(1-Minute Limit)

You believe the person who caused your blindness is ( ).

Hint: This mission is forcibly activated after unlocking hidden plot details. It is treated as a Main Mission. Completion grants generous clearance rewards. Incorrect answer results in elimination.

Jiang Xiao: “I #@?★@?!”

No one told me there would be this too!

Only one minute time, eliminate if wrong, what to do?

Jiang Xiao hesitated a moment, then filled in “Wen Xu”.

This question, Jiang Xiao had already reached a conclusion long ago.

But why, in his heart, was there still an extreme feeling of unease?

In the last second before the countdown reached zero, Jiang Xiao clicked submit.

A familiar red blood mist enveloped Jiang Xiao like a giant net. A familiar smiling face appeared before him, though now damaged, its smile’s curve pitted and scarred, looking exceptionally terrifying.

【Dear Player, congratulations! Your answer is wrong!】

How… is that possible?

Jiang Xiao’s body involuntarily grew heavy, as if drowning. His thoughts similarly drifted uncontrollably away.

That eerie, madly laughing voice still echoed in his ears:

【The souls of eliminated players are to be offered to us…】

——

Tutorial Stage: ‘Hotel Night of Terror’ — Complete