Chapter 202: Seasoning Salt

But…… why? Is he afraid others will suspect him of being the Murderer?

But he isn't.

Moreover, given that he was certain, even convinced, that Wang Yan was the Murderer, why go to all the trouble to kill Wei Xiaowei?

Also, in her analysis, it was Ye Shuheng who killed Jiang Hong; why would they do that?

An idea formed in Su Mian's mind.

There's also another point; she overlooked another point.

She assumed Ruan Ruan stole Lv Meng's card to complete a mission; perhaps… she originally intended to kill Lv Meng?

Ye Shuheng killed Jiang Hong, Ruan Ruan killed Lv Meng, Zhou Yunfeng killed Wei Xiaowei.

So…… is it possible that in this game, all four people are Murderers?

She suddenly thought of a doubt: why did Wang Yan arrange for her to share a room with herself, in order to…… make it easier to strike?

Namely, everyone is the Murderer.

Each person has a mission target; it's just a matter of who kills whom first.

Thinking this, Su Mian felt a tingling on her scalp; thus, while she wanted to kill Wang Yan, Wang Yan also wanted to kill her.

With that thought, she dared not go back to sleep.

Leaving aside why her sleep has been so light these days, in the morning Wang Yan went out, yet she heard nothing at all.

Furthermore, after midnight tonight it will be the fourth day; if nothing unexpected happens, Wang Yan will also kill her on the fourth day.

What time is it now?

She lifted her head and glanced at the display screen.

Eleven forty.

Her phone chimed once; it was Wang Yan sending her a message.

【Su Mian, why haven't you come back yet?】

Su Mian waited a moment before replying to her.

【I have diarrhea.】

She put down her phone, sat on the hard seat, and pondered countermeasures.

If she doesn't return to the room tonight, Wang Yan will surely know she has discovered her secret of about to wield a knife and commit murder; her vigilance will increase during the day, making it hard to act.

But if she returns, Su Mian isn't sure whether Wang Yan has already set a trap awaiting her capture, or will kill her while she sleeps.

Ding—

A bell sound came from beside her ear, or perhaps a wind chime, bringing Su Mian back to her senses.

「My little lamb, why do you look so worried? 」

Su Mian's eye twitched, 「In your eyes, what kind of creature am I exactly? 」

Gai Yin smiled faintly, 「Any adorable creature, I want to use to describe you. 」

Su Mian didn't respond.

Gai Yin stood at the end of the carriage; dim light slid across his profile like a cold moon leaking from a church dome.

His tone was slow, carrying the accent of an old-era European, with a slight curl at the end.

「Dear, 」 he said, 「do you think all players will fear the so-called Workers? That's merely an illusion that arises naturally when you haven't paid attention to them. 」

He raised his hand, fingertips lightly tapping in the air.

「In my homeland, what hunters excel at is not drawing the bow, but disguising themselves as sheep; you've already sensed something odd, haven't you? 」

Su Mian felt a sinking in her chest.

The Workers Gai Yin referred to should be the NPCs on the train, such as the female voice announcing the rules, and the pair of hands at the food outlet.

Wait a moment.

Su Mian suddenly thought of something; Zhou Yunfeng had mentioned that Wang Yan acted suspiciously near the Dining Car in the morning—does that mean she tampered with something?

Su Mian sprang to her feet and hurried toward the food outlet.

At the time she only thought Wang Yan had come to get breakfast; after all, Wang Yan's Character Setting is that of a corrupt «big official», making it easy to imagine her hiding travel funds and giving herself an extra meal in the morning.

Now, thinking back……

Gai Yin followed behind her; hearing her words, he lightly knocked on the wooden panel of the Dining Car.

The pair of pale, slender hands immediately stretched out from inside, palms pressed together, continuously moving up and down, as if pleading, or as if bowing in prayer.

Su Mian looked at Gai Yin with a faint smile, then turned to the hands and said, 「Take out all the seasonings from your Dining Car. 」

The hands hesitated for a moment; Gai Yin coughed once, and they immediately made an «OK» gesture.

Bottles and jars came out one after another from the food outlet.

Salt, sugar, pepper powder, soy sauce, vinegar…… Su Mian examined each in turn; when she picked up a white porcelain jar labeled «Salt», her motion halted.

She opened the lid, dabbed a bit with her finger, and brought it to her tongue.

Not salt.

It was a strange bitter taste, with a slight numbness, like powder ground from some medicine.

The hands again stretched out from the food outlet, signing rapidly in a flustered, urgent manner, fingers trembling slightly.

Not mine, not mine; a passenger had me do it—a female passenger, she gave me the medicine, telling me to put it specially into your boxed meal, into that portion, your portion.

The gestures kept emphasizing a female passenger, desperately trying to distance herself, fearing the demon beside the girl would dispose of it.

That woman came the first day to conspire with it; it originally disagreed, but had no choice, she gave it a lot of money, and the two hands accepted it.

At that very moment, it was bumped into by another two people.

Two male students, one named Jiang Hong, the other Ye Shuheng; they had apparently come to look for food, but saw Wang Yan and it trading, whereupon it panicked and retracted its hands.

The next day she gave that white jar to it; when she left, she seemed to bump into someone again, but this time it had nothing to do with me.

She gestured with her small hands, recounting the past few days; everything suddenly clicked together like a puzzle.

Why did Wang Yan show a relieved expression upon seeing Ye Shuheng's death, and why did she become especially flustered when she bumped into Zhou Yunfeng?

Because she had given her the medicine, the scheme had been in place for three days.

I don't know if it's a psychological effect, but she felt unusually drowsy, her eyelids a bit heavy, her limbs cold, and she even began to tremble.

If she displayed this while being attacked, she would be utterly unable to resist.

Gai Yin scooped her up in a horizontal hold; in a flash, they were on the train roof, the night wind howling past her ears, yet it merely lifted her hair gently, without a hint of chill.

Su Mian looked up, almost forgetting to breathe.

Those stars were not the sparse few she usually saw amidst city lights; they were a vast, brilliant river of stars that seemed about to fall to the earth.

The Milky Way stretched across the horizon, dividing the night sky in two.

The reflection of the stars shimmered in her eyes, like countless tiny diamonds scattered across a dark lake surface.

The area around the train was dark, the starlight unable to reach down; at that moment she should have realized it was her Bishop again coaxing her.

Gai Yin gently patted her back, the girl's body enveloped in a goose-feather cloak.

"I'll tell you a story; close your eyes and you'll slowly fall asleep."

"In your current state, you're not fit to do the things a demon needs to do."

"Killing," he meant.

He told Su Mian she could now sleep peacefully; as for the rest, they'd talk after the medicine wore off.

Having said that, he began to tell the story in a soft voice.