[No way, where did the poison come from? Didn't they come in empty-handed?]
[The vibe changed too fast, I didn't even have time to react.]
[The person who had the longest contact with the kettle and cups is Wan Yurou. I think she's the killer.]
[Would the killer point out that they are a suspect themselves?]
[Even if she didn't say anything, she would still be the biggest suspect. Bringing it up herself is the best way to reduce suspicion.]
The remaining people began to explain what they had been doing since entering the house. Xie Xi was still holding his hot water, taking slow sips, occasionally glancing at Professor Ye next to him from the corner of his eye.
"I was by the fireplace the whole time. Professor Ye, what were you looking at by the table?" You Feibai asked.
"A book, a book about flower fertilizer." Ye Qiusuo looked toward the table. "It should be what the previous owner was reading before they left."
"Xia Zhoubing was poisoned to death..." Lu Mingzhe looked at Ye Qiusuo. "A book on flower fertilizer should mention chemicals, right?"
"Flower fertilizer mostly consists of trace elements, it can't kill a person." Ye Qiusuo suddenly smiled, carrying an inexplicable undertone.
The group sat for a while before they had no choice but to get up again and see what else they could find in the cabin.
But compared to when they first entered, the atmosphere was noticeably stiffer. No one knew when the killer would strike next.
Xie Xi followed Ye Qiusuo at a moderate distance. Then, an old-fashioned phonograph in the corner caught his eye. He searched around and found a vinyl record on the bookshelf.
While everyone was warily examining the various furnishings in the room, on guard against the killer, classical music suddenly echoed through the house.
The group was startled and turned around to look: "..."
Xie Xi was still looking at the record's packaging, wondering how many tracks were on it. When he looked up, everyone was staring at him. "What's wrong?"
"Could you turn this off first? Everyone is really tense right now," Wan Yurou smiled politely.
"Listening to music when you're tense helps you relax," Xie Xi said earnestly.
[Hahahaha, what a massive silly moment.]
[Could Xixi be any sillier?]
The house was really not that big. Standing near Ye Qiusuo was Wan Yurou, who had already checked most of the area. The distance between the two was getting closer and closer.
Although the house had everything it needed, most of the furnishings had a rough, rustic style. The beautiful crystal ball on the fourth shelf of the bookcase looked increasingly bizarre the more one looked at it; it completely clashed with the style of the place.
Ye Qiusuo tilted her head back to look at it for a moment, then continued walking forward.
However, Wan Yurou noticed what Ye Qiusuo was looking at and immediately said, "I think this crystal ball is a bit strange."
"How so?" Lu Mingzhe walked over.
"Don't you guys think this crystal ball is completely out of place with the rest of the things in the house?" Wan Yurou said quite seriously, though she felt a bit smug inside.
Playing games naturally required a quick mind. It seemed that Ye Qiusuo was completely clueless about this sort of thing.
Hearing Wan Yurou's words, Lu Mingzhe stepped forward to grab the crystal ball.
Just as he got his hands on it, before Lu Mingzhe even had time to take a close look at the crystal ball, the broadcast voice sounded again:
"Lu Mingzhe is out."
Lu Mingzhe: "..." He finally understood how Xia Zhoubing felt earlier.
[What's going on? Another one is gone.]
[There's something wrong with Wan Yurou, right? She was the most likely person to have poisoned the water earlier, and now she's the one who pointed out the strange crystal ball, resulting in Lu Mingzhe getting out.]
[I don't think that's likely, it's too obvious. We still don't know who the judge is, it would be too risky.]
"Does the judge wish to exercise their power to point out the killer? You will have three seconds to consider. In addition, the detective has the right to ask everyone present one question."
After hearing the broadcast, the quick-witted viewers had pretty much figured out the roles of the remaining four people.
[Among the four people, there must be at least a killer and a judge, otherwise the game would already be over. Add a detective, and the last one is a civilian?]
[Not necessarily. If you listen closely to the broadcast, you'll notice they never specified the number of killers. There might even be two killers.]
[True, from beginning to end they only said the word 'killer' without any quantifiers in front of it.]
None of the four people present spoke. If one looked closely at their micro-expressions, they would find that only Wan Yurou had the most complex expression. You Feibai seemed to be pondering something, Ye Qiusuo was as calm as ever, and Xie Xi was spacing out.
"Is this crystal ball poisoned too?" Wan Yurou's face looked a bit pale; she hadn't expected this at all.
"Be careful, don't just touch things around here randomly anymore," You Feibai warned.
"There must be a special trigger mechanism here. Xie Xi touched so many things earlier and was fine, but Mingzhe got out just by touching the crystal ball." Wan Yurou's mind worked quickly. "It's best not to touch anything that seems out of place."
With a killer on the loose and special trigger items around, the situation for the four of them was far from good.
At that moment, the lights flickered, clearly due to unstable voltage.
Wan Yurou walked over to the desk and pulled open a drawer. There wasn't much inside, just a small knife and some matches. She slipped the knife into her sleeve, closed the drawer again, and walked to the next spot as if nothing had happened.
[Holy crap, I knew Wan Yurou was the killer, she actually hid the knife.]
[There are still three other people. With the way she's acting, if one more person gets out, the other two will definitely suspect her. As long as the one who dies isn't the judge, the villains are bound to lose.]
[She's too good at acting. Just a moment ago, I thought it was too obvious to be her.]
[Turns out I was only thinking on the second level, while Wan Yurou is already on the third level.]
Ye Qiusuo casually pulled a book from the shelf. Finding the light too dim as she flipped through it, she turned on the floor lamp nearby. She read a few pages and then put the book back.
"It seems like there's nothing left to look at." You Feibai had a vague idea forming in his mind, but it hadn't fully taken shape yet, and he didn't know what it was.
"Since we're inside the house, we're bound to find clues related to the owner. He likes planting flowers and hunting. Aside from these..." Professor Ye finally began her analysis. "What is the thing he does most often in this house?"
You Feibai scanned the surroundings. The simple gas stove could be used for cooking and boiling water. The rug was close to the fireplace, making it great for warming up, but not suitable for reading.
A chair.
Earlier, before Ye Qiusuo turned on the floor lamp, the corner opposite the window was too dark to see clearly. Now, he could faintly make out the traces of dust on the floor.
You Feibai stepped forward and finally saw it clearly: it was the outline of a chair. So, where was the chair?
He proceeded to turn on all the lights in the house. It was then that a folding wooden chair leaning behind the door was discovered.
Just as You Feibai pulled the chair out and bent down to unfold it, he accidentally caught a glimpse of several cups in the trash can. They were made of wood.
In that instant, he seemed to understand something.
"You Feibai is out."
The exact moment the broadcast spoke, the power in the cabin went out, plunging it into sudden darkness.
[Holy crap, that scared me! How is another person out?]
[Is it just going to stay pitch black like this? Won't it be easier for the killer to strike?]
[Why can't I see them anymore?]
In the darkness, You Feibai was escorted off the scene by the staff.
It was so dark that Xie Xi's immediate reaction was to stumble toward where he remembered Ye Qiusuo was standing.
At the same time, Wan Yurou's first reaction was to turn around and pull open the desk drawer. She took out the matches inside and struck one: "I..."
"Wan Yurou is out."
Wan Yurou: "..." What the heck.
[I am a bit confused.]
[So there are a lot of things here that cannot be touched casually, right?]
[Wait, they are getting out one by one, but the game is not over yet.]
[The Judge and the Killer are still here.]
[I think it is Xie Xi. He has been touching and bumping into things everywhere, and he is completely fine. He reasonably avoided all the dangerous items.]
Since Wan Yurou was out, the match naturally went out.
Ye Qiusuo, relying on her memory, walked to the desk, relit the match, and a faint light lit up.
Xie Xi blinked, his brain finally clicking into gear: "You are the Killer."
So what if she is the Killer? What is with that joyful tone of yours?
"Ye Qiusuo is out, the Judge wins."
[I am totally confused watching this, but what is the deal with Xie Xi? Is he playing dumb to catch everyone off guard?]
[Huh? That is it? Am I the only one looking completely lost?]
[Plus one, I have no idea how any of this happened.]
In the elimination room, the four people stood together.
You Feibai had already figured out how they were eliminated: "It is the mutual restraint of the Five Elements. The production team told us who the Killer was from the very beginning, but none of us noticed."
"What do you mean?" Xia Zhoubing asked, voicing the thoughts of all the viewers in front of their screens.
"When we drew the mission cards, everyone's card was a different color. Mine was yellow, representing Earth."
"Mine was green, so that is... Wood?" Xia Zhoubing realized.
You Feibai nodded: "Red is Fire, gold is Metal, and white is Water."
Wan Yurou, who had come in later, suddenly understood: "The Killer is Ye Qiusuo; she drew the gray card."
At this moment, the broadcast sounded, announcing that the righteous faction had actually won.
Everyone gathered again and took back their mission cards. The camera cut to each of them in turn.
The mission of the Civilian role was to protect themselves. Xia Zhoubing, Wan Yurou, and Lu Mingzhe were all Civilians, while You Feibai's role was the Detective, responsible for finding the Killer.
The Judge was Xie Xi. His mission was to hide himself well and point out the Killer when necessary.
Finally, Ye Qiusuo received the Killer card. It stated that the Killer had to make these people willingly get themselves killed.
With the mutual restraint of the Five Elements, as long as they proactively took the items that countered their own element, her mission would be considered a success.
But Ye Qiusuo lost at the hands of Xie Xi.
Next, the viewers saw the details in a replay.
The winding path they walked at the beginning was actually in the shape of a Bagua array. The group walked through it in a daze, and their heads were still spinning when they entered the cabin. Wan Yurou entered first, and Ye Qiusuo fell to the back. The small kitchenette was to the side of the door, but everyone's attention was immediately drawn to the deer head at first glance.
Ye Qiusuo had already begun to act.
There was a tray of cups on the kitchen counter, made of metal and wood. Ye Qiusuo silently took out the wooden cups, threw them into the trash can, and then seamlessly kicked the trash can into the shadows.
After that, every time she looked or spoke, it carried a heavy misdirection.
The only reason Wan Yurou found the crystal ball was because Ye Qiusuo had stared at the fourth shelf of the bookcase for a long time. Even You Feibai invisibly harbored trust in Ye Qiusuo's words.
The matches were originally on the tabletop. When Ye Qiusuo was flipping through the book, she deliberately put the matches into the drawer. She had practically anticipated Wan Yurou's actions.
Because she noticed the unstable voltage, she deliberately increased the use of electrical appliances, waiting for a power outage. This led Wan Yurou to proactively grab the matches, just as she had earlier lured You Feibai into looking for a chair.
[I feel like everyone was influenced by Professor Ye's aura outside the show, so they did not fully get into character and trusted her too much.]
[Professor Ye's traps are absolutely foolproof. She is too ruthless.]
[Seriously, let alone the roles, just talking about personalities: You Feibai is good at observation and analysis, so she dropped a bait and he willingly took it. As for the others, she did not even need to scheme against them.]
[But for such a calculating Professor Ye to lose so quickly in the end... Baby Xi is still the most amazing.]
[Hmm... why do I feel like Professor Ye did not factor Xie Xi into her plans from start to finish?]
[Right, since she used a chain of schemes to trap You Feibai and Wan Yurou, why did she not add Xie Xi in, especially since Xie Xi likes to touch and bump into things everywhere.]
[Maybe Professor Ye thought Xie Xi was just a Civilian.]
[But there is no evidence to prove who the Judge is, so leaving Xie Xi would only be a hidden danger. I do not believe Professor Ye would not know this risk.]
[Maybe Xie Xi was just acting to hide himself.]
Then, in the very next second, the viewers watched the camera cut to Xie Xi. He still had a blank look on his face, completely out of the loop.
"Why did you lose?" Xie Xi quietly asked Ye Qiusuo beside him, but the sneaky production team amplified the audio during editing, so all the viewers could hear it.
