“No one was injured during the second time period. Why didn’t the overseer appear?” she asked.
Sandao immediately burst out laughing.
“You’re looking for the donkey while riding it.”
Ke Xingyun said cautiously, “big shot, Zou Qing scratched a small cut on your face. Have you forgotten?”
Yang Chaoyu was incredulous. “That counts too?”
Sandao restrained his laughter and said, “Don’t underestimate it just because the wound is small and didn’t injure your actual body.”
Qi Yang instantly became as excited as if he had been injected with stimulants, almost jumping up.
“What do you mean by ‘injure your actual body’?”
“It means that the injuries you suffer here will ‘disappear’ after you return, but they won’t truly disappear in the literal sense. Instead, they will affect another place, which you can understand as the soul.”
“Now I understand.” Ke Xingyun suddenly realized. “Last time, I came to the interview with my best friend. During the mission, her forearm was cut. After the task completion, she sent me a message and took a photo, saying that the wound on her forearm had disappeared. I was quite happy for her, but she was hospitalized the next day. She said her arm hurt badly, but the doctor’s examination showed nothing wrong. Her counselor even said she was pretending to be sick to avoid the physical education exam. Later, the pain became unbearable, and she took a month off school.”
The happy expression on Qi Yang’s face instantly turned completely dark.
That young girl had suffered only a superficial injury, yet the pain had kept her from attending class. He, on the other hand, had broken a leg.
Sandao, however, looked thoughtful. “If she was that seriously ill, she was probably cut by a clue item.”
“Exactly, exactly. It was a photograph.”
If a sheet of paper could cut someone, it was hardly strange for a photograph to do the same.
Sandao said, “If you can return, tell your best friend to stay at a temple or Taoist temple for a few days. She should be fine afterward. If her family has money, they can also ask a high monk or taoist priest to take a look.”
“All right, all right. Thank you, Third Brother.”
Sandao said coldly, “Just call me Sandao.”
“Oh, oh. Thank you for your guidance, Sandao Brother.”
Sandao: …
“So after all that chattering, have you solved the problem or not?”
Zou Qing had almost curled into a ball. Her face was blue, and tiny bright-red cuts had split her lips.
Yang Chaoyu no longer hesitated. She explained the elevator’s unusual behavior and speculated that, apart from them and Wen Shaoqiao, someone else was present.
“Based on Sandao’s many ‘interview experiences,’ we know that this is not a normal world, but it still follows certain rules. For example, besides us, the only people who should exist here are victims and perpetrators. What if… that person going downstairs is the perpetrator?”
“What you saw might have been the elevator going downstairs after we came up,” Zou Qing said.
“It wasn’t,” Sandao said. “I arrived first. When I reached Room 1302, one elevator was stopped on the 13th floor, while the other was on the first floor. After Zou Qing and Qi Yang arrived, the elevator paused for about five seconds, then began moving upward. It stopped briefly on the 14th floor before going back down.”
“Why are you only mentioning something so important now?”
The thought that someone or some monster might still be hiding in the shadows terrified Zou Qing.
Sandao remained calm. “You didn’t ask.”
Zou Qing angrily walked a few steps away.
Qi Yang said, “Come to think of it, when Zou Qing and I were about to leave, one elevator was on the first floor and the other was on the 14th floor. We waited for a while before the elevator came down.”
Yang Chaoyu recalled the scene. That was indeed the case.
Qi Yang secretly felt relieved.
Fortunately, Ke Xingyun had stayed by his side the whole time. Otherwise, he would not even have known how he died. He would remember this kindness.
The five people were now positioned like the four corners of a square. Qi Yang and Sandao stood at opposite ends of one side; Zou Qing stood opposite Sandao, while Yang Chaoyu and Ke Xingyun stood opposite Qi Yang.
Sandao and Zou Qing were near the stairwell, while the other three were closer to the door of Room 1302.
Yang Chaoyu asked, “Since that’s the case, shouldn’t you be even more convinced that Wen Shaoqiao didn’t commit suicide?”
Sandao said indifferently, “You have no evidence. I would rather believe that after experiencing all this, the girl chose to jump from the building under the pressure imposed by her classmates, relatives, and neighbors.”
Zou Qing glanced at him, gritted her teeth, and said in a trembling voice, “I think so too.”
Qi Yang sighed. “Then I lean toward an accident.”
Yang Chaoyu looked at Ke Xingyun.
Ke Xingyun said, “I’m not entirely sure, but I feel there’s a slight possibility that the girl was killed by someone.”
Yang Chaoyu said, “I believe she was killed.”
She was very composed.
Regardless of whether this scene was real or fake; regardless of whether these cold buildings were the victim’s imagination or had always been this way; regardless of whether these were the only clues or whether the clues were guiding them into believing that the girl had committed suicide…
She had always felt that Wen Shaoqiao, who had worked hard to live and tried to provide her family with a better life, whose eyes still held light even when she cried, would not have committed suicide—especially when she could have been killed beneath the overseer’s hammer and left unable to move before being eaten by a monster.
Everyone fell silent.
Ke Xingyun ventured, “Since we still have some time, why don’t we go take a look at the 14th floor?”
Sandao smiled. “There isn’t enough time.”
As he spoke, he waved his phone.
The scene seemed strangely familiar. Then, the group received a message from the MN company.
【MN】The third time period has ended. Congratulations on successfully surviving and finding all the clues. Next, your results will be announced.
【MN】Number 520 found clues No. 1 and No. 2, scoring 300 points. Because of their death, their merit points will be distributed among the survivors. Congratulations to Number 742 for finding clues No. 8 and No. 3, scoring 300 points; congratulations to Number 702 for finding clue No. 9, scoring 300 points; congratulations to Number 662 for finding clues No. 7, No. 6, No. 5, and the only hidden clue, scoring 1,000 points; congratulations to Number 744 for finding clue No. 4 and analyzing the sequence of events, scoring 1,100 points.
Before the others could react, Yang Chaoyu had already stepped in front of Sandao.
“Master, you helped me a lot. I want to thank you.”
Sandao was still staring at the text message and had not yet recovered. “?”
He could hardly believe that he had actually done it again…
【MN】HR announcement: This time’s outstanding grade recipient is Number 744. The acceptance notice has been sent. Reward awaiting collection. Number 743, with zero points, has been eliminated. Everyone else is in pending status.
Sandao: “!”
Ke Xingyun looked at Yang Chaoyu. “See? That’s why I said she’s a true big shot.”
【MN】The area will be cleared in 50 seconds. Please prepare yourselves.
Yang Chaoyu smiled sweetly as she walked up to Sandao. She looked him up and down, then slowly circled around to his side, near the stairwell.
“Master.”
“Don’t call me master.” Sandao was furious from embarrassment. “I don’t have a disciple like you who would betray their master and destroy their own ancestry!”
“What are you talking about, master? How can you slander me over something I haven’t done?”
Sandao’s chest heaved violently as he stared at her.
“But… just because I haven’t done it yet doesn’t mean I won’t do it in the future.” Yang Chaoyu flashed a toothy smile.
“What do you mean?”
Yang Chaoyu held her phone behind her back, its screen paused on the livestream page.
The comments currently scrolling across it read:
“Wait, she actually got the optimal rating?”
“What the hell kind of HR is this?”
“How dare the person above insult my Qiao God? You’re asking for death.”
“I’m new here and don’t understand. Who is Qiao God?”
After that comment, the page seemed to freeze for a moment. Then the next comments floated up:
“That expression, those movements?!”
“All right, it’s decided. Miss Rainy Waves is my new god.”
“Sandao, run! She’s about to power up~”
Yang Chaoyu asked with a sweet smile, “cuties, could you do me a favor?”
Author’s note:
Yang Chaoyu: master, I want to thank you. Sandao: …（Although he pretends to be annoyed, he’s secretly looking forward to it）Yang Chaoyu: Die! （Facing the livestream interface）Help me, cuties~ Sandao: …I really shouldn’t have believed your nonsense.