Chapter 9: CH 9

APRIL 28, 2021~ 8ONI

Editor : Jue

“What’s the matter? What are you all talking about?” The door on the second floor opened silently, and a figure stood behind the door. She was wearing the white halter-night dress that had been allotted to her room, a silk dress with little elasticity wrapped around her delicate figure, revealing only a little bulging and flabbiness in her waist and belly that could be seen as a sign of having given birth.

The child stood behind his mother, poked his head from behind his mother’s legs, rubbed his eyes, and looked well-behaved.

Li Sinian straightened up and explained: “Since you are awake, come down to the meeting. It seems that nobody will be able to sleep tonight. Someone has already been attacked.”

Du Wei went up to knock on the doors, and woke up everyone. The two girls helped Ding Zihui go downstairs, and the others expressed they would go back to their room and put down their biscuits and clothes. Yang Song stared at these people as they walked into the room one by one, her face was a little pale, and she was uncharacteristically silent.

“What do you think?” Li Sinian followed Fang Daichuan into the room, opened a bottle of ice water, and pushed it to Fang Daichuan.

Fang Daichuan stared at the shadow on the bedside, then shook his head slightly: “I don’t have any thoughts, to be honest, I’m still processing everything that happened, I still can’t understand what is going on.”

Li Sinian smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“If you have anything you want to say, just say it directly.” Fang Daichuan stared at him.

“Actually, there are three possibilities,” Li Sinian drank water and said, “The first is that Ding Zihui was really attacked. When she was attacked, the two of us, Yang Song, Du Wei, Chen Hui, boss Du and the beer belly were in the lobby on the first floor. In other words, there is at least one werewolf among the five people on the second floor, and that person had tried to murder someone. Let’s rule out the child first, even if he has courage and IQ, he is not tall enough to hurt Ding Zihui, so the rest are four adults.”

Fang Daichuan blinked, raised his head and frowned for a while, then nodded: “I think you are right.”

How could he be so cute? Li Sinian couldn’t stop himself from smiling: “Nonsense, anyone with a brain can think of it.”

“What about the other possibilities?” Fang Daichuan asked.

“Second, this play was directed and acted by Ding Zihui. There was no other werewolf at all. Ding Zihui is a wolf. She cut her arm when no one was around.” Li Sinian said, the light was on him. A shadow was cast under his straight nose, making the lips look particularly thin and gloomy.

Fang Daichuan shook his head: “No. Don’t forget, she invited me to come with her when she went upstairs. What if I agreed? She would have no chance to use this trick. And when I rushed up, she was really scared. The pupils were dilated, her muscles were very stiff and she could barely stand. This kind of act, only a few professional actors can do.”

Li Sinian nodded: “It is reasonable, you pass*.”

(T/N: The pass are on English in raw)

“Is it that simple to convince you?” Fang Daichuan was a little surprised, he scratched his head, “I don’t even trust myself.”

Li Sinian felt embarrassed, brought his fist to his chin and coughed, then said with a smile: “Actually, while I was checking her wound, I touched her waist and thighs. All the pockets are flat. There was nothing bulging up. There was no needle or poison. When I saw it, the wound was still bleeding. If she cut herself and then disposed of the needle, then such a small wound should stop bleeding.”

Fang Daichuan’s face changed: “You touched a girl’s waist and thighs?!!!”

Li Sinian’s face was calm, and he comforted him: “It was a special circumstance, I had no other thoughts. My hands were so light that the other party wouldn’t notice it.”

“You can do something like that?” Fang Daichuan had a look of disbelief.

Li Sinian raised his right eyebrow: “I practiced. My family’s situation… is complicated. When I was a child, I had to join a scam gang, specializing in gathering children, letting them beg, petty theft, etc. There was a master who taught me the technique.”

Li Sinian talked like he didn’t care, but Fang Daichuan couldn’t tell whether he was bluffing or if it was real. However, a young man with a healthy body and an attractive face, instead of looking for a decent job, got involved with the mercenaries and did illegal things. Thinking about it, he clearly did not come from a decent family. Fang Daichuan’s mind spontaneously made up a plot worthy of a blockbuster film.

“What is the last possibility?” Fang Daichuan knew a mentor role* like this usually had some miserable childhoods he didn’t want to recall so he tried to divert the topic.

(T/N: Lol, Chuan’er still thinks Sinian as his mentor XD )

Li Sinian was silent. He stood by the window and listened to the wind blowing for a while, the wind carrying the sound of the waves, and there was a peculiar smell from the sea, the smell of death from the microorganisms that were thriving and decaying. After a while, he sat back next to Fang Daichuan and whispered: “There is another possibility. I don’t want to say it and I don’t even want to think about it. But if I guess it right, I’m afraid what happened before… is not a good thing.”

He turned his head and looked at the door. Fang Daichuan’s room was on the outermost side, and outside the door was the place where Ding Zihui was attacked. Li Sinian stared at the door, speaking slowly, “Do you really believe there was someone else at the second floor corridor at that time?”

Hearing what he said, Fang Daichuan’s imagination started to run wild, and he got goosebumps all over his body: “You, talk straight, don’t use rhetoric to exaggerate the atmosphere, OK? I…Although I am big, I have small courage!”

This is true. Since he was a child, Fang Daichuan’s courage was as big as a cherry. He was okay playing a roller coaster or any other adrenaline attraction. But for anything supernatural, he was scared to death. When he was in college, he was ridiculed by his roommates because of that. One time everyone huddled down to watch ghost movies, but because it was a domestic ghost movie, there were no ghosts on it, so they used collective sleepwalking and hysteria. Everyone was gone halfway, brushing their teeth, washing their faces, chattering and farting. Only Fang Daichuan climbed down tremblingly, turned off the computer, and said with a mournful face: “I can’t finish watching it. I will be too scared to go to the toilet at night.”

After hearing Li Sinian, Fang Daichuan remembered the fear that once dominated him. He jumped into bed decisively, pulled up the quilt neatly, wrapping himself in a comical look and leaned his back firmly against the wall. Then, he nodded and signaled: “You, you go on. Please give me some warning when you are about to get to the point, I will recite the core values ​first ​to protect my body.”

The atmosphere that Li Sinian had made was completely gone.

He sighed, retracted his gaze, and sat down on Fang Daichuan’s bed, leaning beside him on the head of the bed, and said flatly: “I mean, there is a possibility Ding Zihui had discussed with the other wolf. So she deliberately asked you to go up with her. It could be that she planned to get you as a witness, or maybe… it was to kill you?”

When he said the last word, a gust of wind came in from outside the window, and Fang Daichuan jumped up from the mattress.

“I don’t know if you have read any book in Golden Age of Detective Fiction*, but there is a professional term called multiple answers. In fact, all reasoning is a backtracking of events as they progress through, based on how things eventually present themselves, so there is such a thing as the possibility of two completely different facts, yet presenting the same result in the end in different ways. We extrapolated backwards from the final result, and we got into two completely different kinds of backtracking.”Li Sinian explained, “What we have seen so far is that Ding Zhui tried to call up you to go to the second floor with her, Ding Zhui was attacked, we ran up and didn’t see any figures, and there was no trace on the floor. Extrapolating backwards from that, there would be two very different paths. If it was just a game of deduction, I would try to test Ding Zhui’s true identity, however in a real game of death, I dare not take a gamble.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Detective_Fiction

“Then why do you think…this is not a good thing?” Fang Daichuan repeated Li Sinian’s remarks just now. He was still brooding about this matter. In his opinion, if there was someone who had the most behind-the-scenes information and knew the whole thing best, it was undoubtedly Li Sinian, who had been on the boss’ side. Not to mention the boss somehow seemed to be affectionate towards him. If even he felt “not a good thing”, Fang Daichuan might really have a psychological breakdown.

You are reading story Witch, Open Your Eyes at novel35.com

“I’m not sure, it’s just a feeling that neither side is relying on it.” Li Sinian exhaled, “Now there is neither evidence to prove that Ding Zihui is a wolf, nor evidence to overturn this conjecture. I am afraid there is only one way. Only death can prove one’s innocence.”

“Actually, I have guessed the werewolf might do something. I didn’t expect them to be so impatient. They all said everyone was going to live together, and how could the werewolves have no other ideas in their heart? After seven days, as long as there are more villagers than werewolves, the system will automatically determine that the villagers will win. At that time, if the boss wants to kill all the wolves with a bullet, can you guess how many people will actually stand for the werewolves? How many people can really resist the boss?” Li Sinian smiled sarcastically.

“Ding Zihui may or may not be a wolf. That is not important. The important thing is that the one who is the most anxious now must be the wolf. Do the wolves have any method that can bypass us, test each other covertly and confirm the identity of their accomplices? This is what I fear the most.”

Fang Daichuan shrank into the corner.

” If there is no cover-up or concealment, that’s okay, but the werewolves will definitely try their best to confirm their companions. Once they succeed, we might not have any advantage in the first few nights, and as the game progresses, people will be separated and the hearts will be full of suspicion. The chance of winning is too small. Will there be any villagers who don’t want to die and therefore find a replacement for them? Think about it. After all, in the game, even if you get taken out, as long as your teammate survives, everyone can win in the end. But in the real world, even if your team wins, if you die, you die.”

Fang Daichuan shuddered. On the first night, everyone was able to calm down. Later, with more deaths, more people would not trust each other since no one wants to die.

This is the real prisoner’s dilemma*. Fang Daichuan’s heart went cold in an instant. To live. That was the best reason to kill each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner%27s_dilemma

After about twenty minutes, everyone changed and gathered downstairs.

After encountering such a thing, the atmosphere changed a little bit. Everyone looked at each other more carefully. Thirteen pairs of eyes floated up and down above the long table. Occasionally when they met, they quickly averted their eyes.

“Won’t anyone explain? What’s going on?” A woman asked. She was about 60 years old. At this age, the skin at the end of her eyes had already been weighed down, and her arms had lost elasticity. Some of the details around her eyes couldn’t be concealed even by medical wonder and makeup.

Fang Daichuan briefly explained the situation. Ding Zihui held his arm to one side in a daze, and didn’t listen at all. “So when the incident happened, were you in your room? Did you hear anything?” Fang Daichuan casually asked.

“What does this mean?!” A man frowned, dissatisfied. “Are you doubting us?”

Fang Daichuan stared at him and said, “Yes. In any case, the wolf is among you. When the girl was attacked, the rest of us were on the first floor. Don’t you also think you yourself are suspicious?”

The man patted the table, wanted to say something but he swallowed the words back when he saw Fang Daichuan’s muscles.

The old lady, however, knowing that with her age, Fang Daichuan couldn’t do anything to her, sneered: “It’s possible that we have wolves among us. But just because you are innocent this time, it does not mean you will be next time.”

That is the truth, Fang Daichuan couldn’t refute it.

Then, another person suggested: “Let’s search.” He was in his forties and had a very gentle temperament. He was still calm even when he was woken up in the middle of the night. He wisely suggested: ” Why don’t we search everyone’s body and everyone’s room? That way, if someone has an injection on them, they are guilty.”

Fang Daichuan was going to agree, but Li Sinian stomped on his feet, making him tremble with pain. Fortunately, he was born as an actor. He managed his expression well, but a drop of cold sweat fell on the table.

He turned his head to look at Li Sinian, who moved his eyes left and right slightly.

Fang Daichuan looked at the table again, and sure enough, no one spoke; no one agreed nor no one refuted. Everyone stared at the table in front of them as if they heard nothing.

I am really too simple, Fang Daichuan broke out in cold sweats at this time. Each one of them is on guard. He now understood. Of course, werewolves were unwilling and the villagers didn’t know who the werewolves were, so they didn’t dare to expose themselves.

When will this fucking end?! Fang Daichuan felt despair in his heart. The villagers couldn’t identify the werewolves unless they stood up, but if they did, the werewolves might kill them… it was an endless loop.

Boss Du was the first to say: “I think Xiao Chen’s* method is good. Hurry up and let’s reveal everyone’s identity together. Whether it is a policeman or a bandit, if you really want to play, it will be a double injury game. This way we can find a way to live together.”

(T/N: So Boss Du are using [小陈] and this well, Xiao means little and Chen means old so just a simple nickname to call the previous old man. Don’t mind this, his name will be revealed soon)

Fang Daichuan was ruthless, regardless of Li Sinian’s obstruction, he wanted to say something to add fuel to the fire. Right after he opened his mouth, he saw a figure swaying on one side, followed by a “bang–“.

What Fang Daichuan was about to say was stuck in his throat, everyone turned their heads to look at the direction of the sound. It was the sweaty beer belly. He was sitting next to Yang Song, but now he fell to the ground with a bang.

Yang Song stood up, the legs of the chair rubbing coldly on her skin, then she lifted the stool and ran, standing far away at the corner of the room. Fang Daichuan stared at the top of her head. A huge deer head hung on the wall she was leaning against. The long antlers were exposed to the light, and the shadows that leaned upwards looked ferocious.

This time it happened under everyone’s full view, and all 13 people were sitting.

Li Sinian slowly stood up and turned over the body, only to see that the pupils were dilated, the eyes were bloodshot, and there was white foam pouring out from the corners of his mouth.

Fang Daichuan swallowed. When he talked, he felt that he had used a lot of strength, but the voice was still drifting: “…dead?”

Li Sinian raised his eyes and nodded slightly.

With a roar, everyone stood up one after another, as if a button had been pressed. Ding Zihui hugged her head and cried in a low voice. The poor girl was shocked and frightened. “What  happened?” “Why is he dead?” “You can’t say that we on the second floor did it, did you?” “No one touched him, how did he die?” “Is it a heart attack? I don’t know what death from wolf poisoning looks like…” Fang Daichuan had a terrible headache, he couldn’t hear who was talking at all, all he could hear was yelling sounds.

Li Sinian examined the corpse carefully, turned over the body, and there was a pinhole sized puncture on the back of the deceased’s neck.

Everyone immediately shut up.

Fang Daichuan’s vision turned black for a while, and he held on to the edge of the table to steady himself.

(T/N: Somebody is dead, so here is a new picture. Disclaimer, I am not trying to be mean here, but the author actually uses the ‘beer belly’ so… I mean, if it is up to me, I will use ‘random guy who dies third’.

Also, this novel has an audio drama, I did not put it here before because the part1 already surpassed so many chapters so just a warning, there is a spoiler if you continue with part2)

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