Chapter 18

Chapter 17: Longevity Town 17

【One player has pressed the vote button】

【Reminder: If more than three players press the button, the system will start voting】

In the central square, all players received this notification.

Shi Zong’s move was somewhat unexpected, but on second thought, it made sense. After a brief moment of surprise, most players withdrew their gaze from Shi Zong and refocused on the case.

Zuo Sanqiu, however, stared at Shi Zong for a while longer.

After entering the game, he realized he understood Shi Zong less and less.

Before, he thought Shi Zong was emotionally stable, friendly and considerate, with a particularly good temper.

Now he realized there had to be some element of disguise.

On the surface, he was gentle and kind, like spring rain, but the next second, he could quietly stab someone in the back.

Yet, no matter what, Shi Zong could endure, could pretend, and never acted impulsively.

Why exactly would he do this?

Confused, Zuo Sanqiu noticed Shi Zong sitting down again. Their eyes met accidentally, and a hint of frustration flashed in Shi Zong’s gaze, as if he thought he had overreacted.

But his frustration was brief; he soon returned to calm.

Hiss… alright, alright.

Zuo Sanqiu thought to himself. Being drawn into such a terrifying game, life and death at a moment’s notice, with clueless players targeting someone clearly without motive—who wouldn’t be irritated?

Moreover, with only Shi Zong pressing the red button, no public vote could be initiated, so it didn’t matter much…

Thus, Zuo Sanqiu stopped overthinking and refocused on the case itself.

Second Young Master Li was silent for a moment, then smiled at Shi Zong. “See, don’t be impulsive…

“Honestly, I don’t expect to use game points to gain immortality or resurrection. The game designers didn’t pull us into this game to give us love and warmth, right? Whoever believes that is a fool.

“But, using points to exchange for life-saving items in the game is possible. Jiang Wan’er, are you really willing to gain nothing? I don’t believe it.”

At this point, Second Young Master Li’s fox-like eyes narrowed, and his tone suddenly shifted. “So I think you deliberately acted out this scene. You wanted to make us think, through frustration, that you really aren’t the killer.”

Shi Zong looked at Second Young Master Li calmly, seemingly not bothering to respond.

At that moment, he noticed that although Second Young Master Li spoke to him, he inadvertently glanced at Wang Zhi’en.

Shi Zong immediately saw through Second Young Master Li’s plan.

This person had been targeting him, but probably not because he was Chen Li’s accomplice, nor because he was the killer.

He was testing the other players—

In Second Young Master Li’s view, whoever mindlessly followed him to attack Jiang Wan’er would be the most suspicious.

Shi Zong chose to watch silently.

Second Young Master Li continued, “The game can’t let us drag on indefinitely. If we delay any further, we’re all in danger. How about this: everyone says who they think the killer is, okay?

“I still believe Jiang Wan’er is more likely.

“The killer poisoned Dongtian Fudi between 3:20 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. The hotel is very close to Dongtian Fudi, and anyone traveling there would pass through the commercial street. People were staying up playing cards and drinking. Why didn’t anyone see the killer?

“There were no witnesses from start to finish. It can only be because the killer is a ghost.”

Having spoken, Second Young Master Li immediately looked at the other players, seemingly observing their reactions.

The first to respond was Fourth Young Miss Li.

She raised her hand. “Agreed. The core of this story has always been Jiang Wan’er. She initially had the deceased card, and now she’s flipped it for herself.

“From a game design perspective, turning the deceased card into a way to flip the outcome by killing others makes sense. The deceased card can thus become the killer card.”

Fourth Young Miss Li’s pupils were deep, her expression indifferent, maintaining that cool, aloof demeanor.

Shi Zong glanced at her faintly, saying nothing.

Next was Wang Zhi’en’s turn to speak.

He had been quiet, brows constantly furrowed. His fists occasionally clenched the hem of his clothes, as if struggling internally.

After hearing Fourth Young Miss Li, he quietly exhaled, his frown relaxing, shoulders no longer tense.

He looked at Second Young Master Li. “Agreed. Then it’s Jiang Wan’er! No doubt!”

Next to speak was First Young Master Li.

He seemed stunned by Second Young Master Li and Fourth Young Miss Li’s logic, wanting to argue but unable to find the flaw.

Glancing around, he said, “In my view, the probability that Jiang Wan’er is the killer… is about fifty percent. I really can’t say. I feel none of you properly analyzed the case.”

Apart from First Young Master Li and Shi Zong, the other three who thought Jiang Wan’er was the killer were all seen as fools by Zuo Sanqiu.

He looked at them incredulously. “What the hell? Jiang Wan’er is the least suspicious. She explained her story clearly. But the three ‘ex-husbands,’ we know nothing about your story with Elder Gong!

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about, why are you all targeting Jiang Wan’er?

“This story is complex with fantasy elements, but the case itself, as far as I can tell, is straightforward deduction.

“I agree with First Young Master Li; shouldn’t we first reconstruct the killer’s method?”

After a brief pause, Zuo Sanqiu summarized and reasoned from the perspective of the deceased, Elder Gong:

Around 12:05, Elder Gong left the Zhang family.

Around 12:45, he arrived at the central square, finding Jiang Wan’er hadn’t come as promised.

After a while, he returned to Dongtian Fudi to rest. Around 1:50, he met Ah Hua, who had escaped the Zhang family, asking her to find Jiang Wan’er.

At 2:30, Jiang Wan’er and Zhang Ye checked into the hotel, seen by many on the commercial street.

Ah Hua quickly learned of this, so she returned to Dongtian Fudi. She didn’t see Elder Gong in the living room, so she left a note.

Elder Gong’s absence could be because he was in another room of Dongtian Fudi, or because he was too anxious and, despite instructing Ah Hua, decided to go out himself to find Jiang Wan’er.

Later, Elder Gong was knocked unconscious by Zhang Ye on the commercial street.

At 3:20, kind-hearted people returned him to Dongtian Fudi.

Between 3:20 and 6:30, he got up and casually drank the poisoned pear soup. To continue searching for Jiang Wan’er, he left the living room and collapsed outside.

Zuo Sanqiu excluded himself and Shi Zong, and then Fourth Young Miss Li, who had no time to commit the crime. He thought First Young Master Li was fine, so the killer must be either Second Young Master Li, who constantly attacked Jiang Wan’er, or the blindly following Wang Zhi’en.

After Zuo Sanqiu shared his thoughts, Shi Zong spoke again.

“How the deceased actually died still needs discussion. I don’t fully agree with Second Young Master Li’s analysis.

“There was blood in the deceased’s mouth, due to gastrointestinal bleeding from vomiting—I agree.

“However, the blood on the arrowheads was minimal. Does that mean the deceased was already poisoned dead when shot? I don’t agree.

“We aren’t coroners. We can’t dissect the deceased. Blood volume alone isn’t enough to judge.

“According to your analysis, Elder Gong got up in the middle of the night, went out, and suddenly succumbed to poison halfway.

“Let me ask you one thing: if he was already dead from poison, how did he get shot?”

Oh right. The arrow!

Zuo Sanqiu frowned. If the deceased had already died from poison, would the other person need to shoot the arrow?

Shi Zong continued, “Of course, the archer crouched on the wall, seeing Elder Gong fall, didn’t know if he was unconscious or dead. He might have thought to shoot him first, just in case.

“Don’t forget—we observed the angle of the arrow wound. The arrow struck his back from above at an angle.”

Drawing quickly, Shi Zong pointed to A and B. “A is where we found footprints on the low wall; B is the arrow wound on the deceased’s back.

“If he was already poisoned on the ground, an arrow from A to B would create a steep or nearly horizontal wound. But the wound’s angle was limited. This means he was standing when shot.

“Therefore, I think the deceased died from the arrow, not the poison.”

He paused briefly. “Of course, Elder Gong was poisoned; he was vomiting blood, so the poison was active. But he was still alive when vomiting, meaning he wasn’t dead yet.

“If the archer hadn’t shot, Elder Gong might have fully succumbed to the poison in a minute.

“Unfortunately, in the night, the archer didn

Xiaoshi: Helping the real killer escape is actually pretty fun.

So you all must already know what’s going on, right?

The story reconstruction, the case reconstruction, and why Shi Zong did this will be explained soon~