Chapter 928

However, on the first night, the Cat Girl remained unharmed—it was Su Xiao who was attacked. This left Detective Little Luoli baffled; she immediately realized her initial line of suspicion was wrong. The Team China leader’s decision to swap ID tags may have simply been to coordinate with his two brothers. She shifted her reasoning, turning her suspicion toward the Cat Girl. To be fair, Detective Little Luoli was indeed clever—every suspect she suspected was connected to Alice.

The result of the second night was far more dramatic. On the second night, Alice also sensed her suspicion had been cleared; the three Team China members were now at the bottom of the suspect list, and she, hidden among them, was safe.

Due to personal grudges, Alice chose to abandon enjoying the game and focused solely on killing Su Xiao. She immediately “disabled” Detective Little Luoli’s reasoning ability, forcing her to reason only in short bursts—this would make her deductions fragmented and misleading.

After that, Alice entered the rooms of Fatty, the Eyeglass Man, and Team China’s second brother, used force to drive them out, thus creating a violation by all three. This was meant to confuse the situation. Then she killed the Cat Girl, swapped back the ID tags, and planned to make herself appear suspicious during the fourth daylight, luring others to verify her. At this point, Alice was actually ID #5 (the Cat Girl’s former tag), but in everyone’s minds, Alice was ID #6—so verifying ID #6 was equivalent to verifying the Cat Girl.

In the following night, Alice would swap ID tags again, becoming the already-verified “ID #6,” then commit suicide. This would result in the Team China leader and the Cat Girl dying in succession. Their simultaneous deaths would guarantee the Cat Girl was verified—naturally, this could not verify Alice, since the Cat Girl was not Alice. And she would be verified twice, which would completely exonerate the Team China leader; their supposed connection would collapse on its own. Both ID #5 and ID #6 had been verified; no one would verify again. In truth, everyone had verified the Cat Girl twice. Afterward, Fatty and the Eyeglass Man would become the primary suspects.

Alice’s plan was cunning, but unfortunately, the “o+*” clue provided by the Team China leader was far too precise—it circumvented the game’s rules while delivering unmistakable information.

Upon careful reflection, the Team China leader’s words ensured the three brothers remained passive throughout. No one suspected them because, indeed, the three were terrible at reasoning.

Detective Little Luoli was too erratic to replace.

Su Xiao was the target to be killed—he could not be replaced.

Fatty didn’t meet Alice’s aesthetic standards—pass.

The Eyeglass Man behaved conventionally—pass.

The Cat Girl was part of the plan—pass.

The Team China leader was the most suitable—he could, to some extent, influence the opinions of the second and third brothers.

After the game began, the Team China leader’s statements were always like this:

“Whether questioning myself is effective remains unknown; there is some risk involved.”

“Cough, our three brothers follow the majority’s view.”

“Then won’t we win very quickly?”

…

During discussions about who Alice was, Alice’s disguised Team China leader spoke only these three lines. Thanks to the unconscious cover provided by the second and third brothers, no one noticed how rarely he spoke—even Su Xiao had grown accustomed to treating the three Team China fools as a single unit. In this light, Team China’s total speech volume wasn’t small.

The first statement was meant to disrupt: questioning oneself was a good tactic, but he didn’t want this path to develop. If verification started from the third brother, it would quickly reach him—he could last at most three game days, so he intervened to disrupt.

The second: “Our three brothers follow the majority’s view.” This came after the situation favored Alice’s disguise; she began slacking off—not only herself, but dragging the second and third brothers along with her.

The third: “Then won’t we win very quickly?” This was pure misdirection. From Alice’s disguised perspective, the Contractholders were doomed; her Cat Girl card would soon be put to use.

After the game ended, upon reflection, the Team China leader’s words were indeed suspicious—but at the time, they were easily overlooked. Part of the blame lay with Detective Little Luoli, who never stopped reasoning throughout, her little mouth never pausing.

The truth was singular: the ID #5 player, the Team China leader, was Alice in disguise.

In the lobby, Su Xiao sat on the sofa and received a prompt from the Lunhuileyuan .

【Game over. The Hunter successfully passed the third game.】

【Prompt: The Hunter has obtained the Pandora’s Box.】

A cube-shaped box, the size of a fist, appeared in Su Xiao’s hand. Each of its six sides bore a button; the method of opening was unknown.

【Pandora’s Box】

Quality: Gold

Type: Rare Item

Effect (one-time use): Upon opening, may obtain equipment, materials, recovery items, bloodlines, potent curses (debuffs), or undead (debuffs) ranging from White to Gold quality.

Note: Opening Pandora’s Box carries extreme danger and uncertainty. It is recommended to open it within the Lunhuileyuan .

Rating: 360 points (Gold items range from 310–400 points)

Description: The unknown represents opportunity—and danger.

Price: 157,000 Park Coins

…

Seeing Pandora’s Box’s stats, Su Xiao’s eyes lit up. This item was peculiar—opening it might yield rewards, or curses, or powerful undead.

Su Xiao put away Pandora’s Box. It was safer to open it within the Lunhuileyuan . Even if something bizarre emerged, it couldn’t cause trouble inside the Lunhuileyuan .

Su Xiao couldn’t help imagining a scene: he opened Pandora’s Box and summoned a demon god or undead monarch, who sneered, preparing to kill him—only to suddenly realize he was inside the Lunhuileyuan . What utter despair that would be—for the demon gods and undead monarchs, of course.

Su Xiao leaned back on the sofa, beside him sat the Team China third brother, utterly bewildered.

“So the Cat Girl was Alice? Hmm… my earlier guess was right.”

The third brother adjusted his hair. Su Xiao was speechless—he now understood why Alice had released the third brother. This guy couldn’t advance the game at all; not causing trouble was already a win. But this time, the third brother played a crucial role: the “broken egg” clue was extremely helpful.

Poor reasoning ability doesn’t mean he’s weak. His strength lies elsewhere—not in reasoning. Everyone has areas they’re bad at.

Creak—

The door above the living room’s upper corner opened, and Fatty, the Eyeglass Man, and Team China’s second brother stepped out.

White light surged through the living room as the Team China leader was teleported back.

“How was it? Did my clue work?”

The Team China leader glanced around.

“It played a critical role.”

“Hah! I knew it would!”

The Team China leader gave a signal to the second and third brothers. They hurried forward, linked hands, and formed a triangle with the Team China leader at the center, the other two leaning sideways.

“Team China presents itself—MVP belongs to none but us!”

The game ended, and the three Team China brothers resumed their antics.

“We were completely fooled by that woman Alice.”

The Eyeglass Man leaned back on the sofa. If one looked closely, one would notice one lens of his glasses had been removed—it was the broken shard from earlier.

“Indeed, I’m not good at reasoning games.”

Fatty chewed his food and sighed.

“Careless—I forgot to consider the ID swap. But… why did Alice attack you on the first night?”

Detective Little Luoli had returned to normal. She looked at Su Xiao; she seemed unsatisfied with the game.

Nine participants entered the Devil Fruit Castle game. With seven still alive, this survival rate ranks among the highest in the castle game’s history.

Tap… tap… tap…

The sound of high heels on the floor came. Hearing it, Detective Little Luoli turned pale, instinctively hugging her shoulders.

With a creak, Room #5 opened. Alice’s clone stepped out, wearing a white long dress. According to Alice’s plan, she would have rushed out first during the fourth daylight to conceal her being in Room #5—but now, that was unnecessary.

After Alice stepped out, the door slowly closed. Inside the room, it looked as if a typhoon had swept through.

A rope hung from the center of the ceiling. The Cat Girl dangled in midair, her neck marked by a dark purple bruise—she had been dead for a long time.

The Cat Girl was dead. She died from weakness and bad luck.

Only those who survive hardship can be called strong. The moment one vows to become strong, one must be ready to lie dead on the wilds.