Chapter 137

Figuring out where her teammate was was rather troublesome, but figuring out where her teammate was not was simple. Even so, to be safe, Li Zhi still worked through every possibility before telling Pei Hongyu the answer after confirming her teammate's exact position.

Pei Hongyu expressionlessly walked back to the shooting position. "Continue."

His expression was so cold it looked like he'd been gutting fish at a supermarket for ten years.

"I won't doubt you again."

It really made him seem stupid.

The second round of ring tossing began.

This time, Li Zhi chose the red figurine in the fourth row.

You Jingmeng stood nearby, expectant and nervous, hardly daring to breathe.

The plastic ring flew out and landed steadily over the figurine.

You Jingmeng let out a joyful cry and jumped up.

"You got it again!"

The staff member picked up the figurine, smashed it open with the little hammer, and took out a sheet of paper.

The clock on the wall began counting down again.

Li Zhi fell into thought as she looked at what was written on the paper.

You Jingmeng was stunned.

She knew the clue might be complicated.

But she had never imagined it would be this complicated.

What kind of hellish thing was this?!

"You have four ghosts—A, B, C, and D. Four colors—red, yellow, white, and blue. The numbers one through eight. Each ghost corresponds to one color and one number, and Ghost B's number is the teammate's location? This is a clue? This is a heavenly scripture! You used something like this to figure out where I was just now?!"

Li Zhi looked at the seven listed conditions on the paper.

"There are an odd number of odd numbers in total. Ghost D corresponds to white. The ghost assigned number 3 corresponds to red. The sum of Ghost A and Ghost D's numbers is 11. Mixing Ghost A's color and Ghost C's color produces purple. The second largest of the four numbers minus the smallest equals 4. The ghost assigned number 5 corresponds to yellow."

Seeing the boss seriously solving the puzzle, You Jingmeng didn't dare interrupt her anymore.

With a solemn face, she lowered her head and also began trying hard to solve it.

Before she had even understood the question, she heard the boss say to Pei Hongyu not far away,

"The teammate is at Balloon Number 5. Fourth row—avoid Number 5."

Without even turning around, Pei Hongyu raised his gun.

Bang!

The Number 8 balloon exploded once again.

A moment later, Han Wenlin walked out through the passage beside the rack, looking as though he had narrowly escaped death.

Pei Hongyu said, "Continue."

You Jingmeng: "............?"

What was this?

The Strongest Brain live puzzle-solving competition?

From then on, Li Zhi solved each puzzle smoothly.

After understanding the system's pattern for setting questions, they were no longer difficult.

The only unexpected incident was that midway through, instead of a clue, she opened a Puppet Ghost.

Li Zhi had no choice but to stop solving puzzles and start fighting instead.

In the end, she dismantled the Puppet Ghost.

A tiny slip of paper fell out of its body with the number 8 written on it.

Pei Hongyu coordinated with her perfectly.

The sounds of balloons bursting rang out one after another.

In the end, all eight teammates were rescued.

Chi Yi was the last one.

The moment she rushed out, she threw herself into Li Zhi's arms.

"I knew you could do it!"

Li Zhi smiled and gently rubbed her head.

For the first time, the audience outside the screen clearly realized just how powerful Li Zhi's intellect was.

【Strong. Strong beyond what I can even imagine. That number puzzle? She solved it in under a minute.】

【So Li Zhi really is a perfect all-around warrior with maxed-out stats!】

【Those stronger than her physically aren't as smart as her. Those smarter than her aren't as strong as her. Wait... I still haven't found anyone smarter than her.】

【Shu Xinglan might be able to compete with Li Zhi.】

【Shu Xinglan's biggest weakness is her stamina. If she'd been in this challenge, she might have solved the puzzles faster than Li Zhi, but once the Puppet Ghost appeared she'd have been sacrificed.】

【LI ZHI IS THE GREATEST!!! Even Pei Hongyu has admitted defeat! Have you all? If you have, hurry up and vote!】

...

The staff member's expression was as dark as a toy stall owner who had watched tourists win every single prize until all he had left was his underwear.

As Li Zhi accepted the clue box from him, she smiled politely.

"Your ring-toss game is actually pretty easy. You're a conscientious businessman. If we get the chance, we'll definitely come back again."

Staff Member: "............"

Powerless fury!!!

After obtaining the clue, the ten of them left through the passage.

Ou Wendong was standing outside eagerly waiting.

The moment he saw everyone, he excitedly rushed over.

"You're finally out!"

While waiting outside alone, he'd felt as though he were the only living person left in the entire amusement park.

The waiting time had felt unbearably long.

Once everyone had come out, Li Zhi finally opened the clue box.

This last amusement attraction was a single-round challenge.

Inside the box were three cards.

The first card showed an iron ring.

The second card depicted a red robe.

The third card showed a single shoe.

After so many rounds, the players with exceptional memories had almost memorized all the ghosts on the Hundred Ghost Wall.

The moment Tang Nanshan saw the three clues, she immediately gave the answer.

"It's Empty Consumption."

According to legend, Empty Consumption was an evil ghost that brought misfortune to people.

It wore a red robe, had a bull's nose with an iron ring through it, wore a shoe on one foot while the other shoe hung from its waist, giving it the appearance of having only one leg.

The iron ring on the card corresponded to the nose ring.

The red robe and single shoe matched as well.

At this point, all nine ghosts in the amusement park had been identified.

Only one thing remained...

Li Zhi slowly opened the second layer of the clue box.

All the clue boxes they had received before had only one compartment.

But this final box had a hidden layer.

Among the players present, only Li Zhi and Pei Hongyu had completed all nine challenges.

Their hidden clue had finally appeared.

Although Han Wenlin believed Li Zhi was still missing one round on the carousel, with Pei Hongyu there to cover for her, he didn't suspect anything.

Everyone, however, was puzzled.

"We've already identified all nine ghosts. What's the point of an extra hidden clue now?"

Li Zhi took out a black card.

Black background.

Red lettering.

A sinister smiling face was drawn on the card.

In childish handwriting, as though playing a prank, it read:

There's a ghost among you too.

Just as expected.

Li Zhi looked toward Pei Hongyu.

Both of their expressions became grave.

Just as they had predicted earlier, the system's hidden clue merely informed them of the mole's existence.

It did not provide any clue about who the mole actually was.

The other players exploded the moment they saw the hidden clue.

"What does this mean? There's a ghost among us too?!"

The quicker-thinking players immediately realized why Li Zhi had asked everyone about their identities outside the dungeon in the previous round.

Chi Yi looked at her in disbelief.

"Zhi Zhi... you already knew?!"

Li Zhi nodded.

Her calm gaze swept across everyone present.

Every player her eyes passed over felt a chill run down the back of their neck. Almost instinctively, everyone fell silent and listened as she said,

"As you've all seen, one ghost is hiding among the eleven of us. It slipped in the moment we entered this dungeon."

Everyone's expressions turned ugly.

Very quickly, the group split into two camps.

One side, led by Li Zhi and Pei Hongyu, consisted of well-known celebrity players. Chi Yi, Chen Tianran, and Tang Nanshan all moved over, and the five of them stood together.

On the other side, the remaining six unfamiliar faces stood where they were in panic, none of them daring to get close to anyone else.

Li Zhi beckoned to Qi Yongyi.

"Little Qi, come over."

Qi Yongyi walked over.

You Jingmeng and Ou Wendong immediately looked excited, waiting for Li Zhi to call them as well.

But after calling Qi Yongyi, Li Zhi said nothing more.

The two of them immediately became flustered.

Ou Wendong said excitedly,

"Boss! I'm not a ghost! If I were a ghost, I wouldn't have taken the initiative to team up with you the moment we entered the dungeon! You're so smart—what if I let something slip? I'm really not!"

You Jingmeng also hurriedly said,

"Boss Li Zhi, neither am I! I was the one who chose to team up with you too!"

On the other side, Han Wenlin looked at Li Zhi unhappily.

"Wei Xiao and I can vouch for each other. We're not ghosts."

Wei Xiao nodded as well.

"That's right. Wenlin and I can prove it. We've done livestream collaborations together."

As the two of them spoke, they started walking over.

Chi Yi quickly stopped them.

"Don't move yet! That clue never said there's only one mole. What if both of you are ghosts? Besides proving each other, does anyone else here have proof for you?"

Everyone thought about it carefully.

That was true.

The clue only said there was a ghost among them.

It never said how many.

Cheng Jiayue was so anxious she was about to cry.

"It's not me! It really isn't..."

She looked pleadingly at Chi Yi.

"Yi Yi, we acted in the same drama together. The director was Gao Liu, and the screenwriter was Kang Xiaoman. Right! On the first day of filming, you were shooting the flying pages scene. You strained yourself on the wire rig and took a week's leave. I remember all of it!"

Chi Yi nodded repeatedly.

"Right, right! She's telling the truth!"

Ever since Du Jia died, Chen Tianran had seemed listless.

Only now did she finally perk up a little.

"The three of them have been teamed with me the whole time. None of them acted like ghosts."

She turned to You Jingmeng.

"But Little Meng... during our conversation earlier, I heard you survived falling off the roller coaster. Then in the maze, vines burrowed into your body, and you still survived. Escaping death twice like that... doesn't really seem normal, does it?"

You Jingmeng's eyes widened in anger and anxiety.

"What are you trying to say? So being lucky enough to survive is suspicious now?! If you're going to put it that way, then I think Ou Wendong is suspicious! Is it normal for someone to be this lucky all the time?"

Ou Wendong jumped up.

"Why are you biting my head off?! We're on the same side!"

You Jingmeng spat in his direction.

"Who's on the same side as you?! What if you're the ghost? Then I'd be taking the blame for you! Stop trying to cozy up to me!"

Ou Wendong was furious.

"I can perform a belly dance for everyone right now to prove I'm innocent! Can you prove yourself?!"

You Jingmeng refused to back down.

"Give me a makeup kit and I can too!"

Suddenly, the surroundings lit up with a red light.

The eerie crimson glow illuminated every face.

The arguing and attempts at self-defense came to an abrupt halt.

Li Zhi said,

"Let's go back and vote first."

She smiled at the five people opposite her.

"Don't worry. We still have one entire round to find this ghost."

The atmosphere on the way back was heavy and silent.

Li Zhi walked in front.

Chi Yi lowered her voice beside her.

"Zhi Zhi... do you already know who it is?"

She had a feeling that Li Zhi's words just now had carried a subtle threat toward the mole.

Li Zhi smiled.

"More or less."

Chi Yi couldn't contain her curiosity.

"Who is it?"

She looked a little upset.

"Please don't let it be Mengmeng. If it's really her, I'll be heartbroken."

Li Zhi silently mouthed a name.

Chi Yi understood the name she had formed.

Her face changed dramatically.

"How could it be that?!"

Li Zhi simply smiled without saying anything else.

The group returned to the Verification Center.

Both doors had already opened.

This was the eighth round.

Li Zhi's team voted for Bear Grandma, the answer they had obtained from the maze.

After everyone finished voting and came back out, the red light disappeared, and colorful lights illuminated the amusement plaza once more.

The eleven players stood in the center of the square, each wearing a different expression.

"When the ninth round of voting begins, the blank area beneath the Hundred Ghost Wall will most likely display the players' voting panel."

Li Zhi smiled.

"So before the red light comes on for the next round..."

"Let's play a game of Catch the Ghost."