Chapter 11: Sitting Firm on the Fishing Platform

Stepping through the door.

The group entered a Classroom. Inside, fifteen desks and chairs were arranged neatly.

Fourteen of them were pushed together in pairs, sitting flush against each other, leaving only a single desk completely isolated in the very front row. An Examination Paper rested on every desk.

Beyond that.

There were also people in the Classroom—two Masked Men. One stood at the very back of the room, while the other stood at the podium.

Various items were displayed on the podium, including a Baseball Bat, Scissors, and a Hammer...

All of which were highly offensive weapons.

On the wall above the blackboard, two motionless clocks hung on the left and right sides.

Left: All three hands of the clock pointed to 6 o'clock.

Right: All three hands of the clock pointed to 12 o'clock.

"Interesting. We have sixteen people, yet only fifteen desks," Chen Ran muttered.

Hearing this, the Veteran Players immediately jogged over to claim a desk for themselves. Lin Feng hesitated for a brief moment before following their lead to secure his own spot.

Very quickly, everyone except Chen Ran and Cheng Si had claimed a seat.

The two exchanged a glance. Chen Ran made an inviting gesture, and Cheng Si walked rather helplessly to the very front row, taking the single unoccupied desk.

Slam!

The moment Cheng Si sat down, the Classroom door automatically slammed shut. The Masked Man at the podium glanced at the seatless Chen Ran, flames erupting from his eyes.

Just as everyone thought Chen Ran was going to be burned to ashes by the twin jets of fire, the flames bypassed him completely, igniting the wall behind him and continuing to spread rapidly.

In an instant, the entire Classroom was engulfed in a raging inferno. Yet, strangely enough, a fire in such an enclosed Secret Room should logically have produced thick, choking smoke.

However, the group only felt the scorching heat of the flames roasting their skin and the intense thermal waves washing over them. Not a single wisp of smoke was generated.

The heat prompted Chen Ran to strip off his jacket, revealing the tank top underneath. He then pulled a Cigarette from his Cigarette Case and used the ambient flames in the Classroom to light it.

Seeing everyone else staring at him, he took a deep drag of his Cigarette, the corners of his lips curling up. "Why are you all looking at me? I am just an outsider here."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Zhang Yuan asked coldly.

Before Chen Ran could even answer, Cheng Si's icy voice rang out. "Are you all stupid? The previous Secret Room told us that eight married couples lost their Child. Out of these eight couples, who is the only person confirmed to be alive?"

"Where did eight couples come from?" Liu Changsheng's brain failed to process the information in time.

Zhang Yuan, on the other hand, darkened his expression. As if realizing something, he shot a vicious glare at Chen Ran.

He explained, "The condition for clearing the first Secret Room was... eight men and eight women."

"And it was always the men summoning the women. Since the Husband in the first Secret Room used a sandman to call his Wife, our group of eight men and eight women symbolizes those eight couples."

Cheng Si continued, "Exactly. The only individual among the eight couples confirmed to be alive is the Husband who had a Daughter in the first Secret Room. As for the evidence, these fifteen desks are the best proof!"

"Eight couples should equate to sixteen desks, but there are only fifteen here. This indicates that one person did not show up. Connecting this to the fact that the only confirmed survivor is that Husband, the answer is obvious: that Husband didn't come."

"Out of the eight men here, whoever didn't grab a desk is playing the role of that Husband."

Cheng Si's expression grew uglier as she spoke. If Chen Ran was the Husband who never arrived, then the one who did show up had to be that Husband's Wife.

The other seven couples had all arrived in pairs, leaving only that particular Wife to come entirely alone.

Therefore, whoever sat at the isolated desk was playing the role of that Wife.

And based on their deductions in the first Secret Room, that Wife was doomed to die!

Conclusion: Cheng Si was that Wife.

"You were tricking us earlier!!" The Youth who had previously wanted to invoke Judgment on Chen Ran ground his teeth in rage.

The response he received was...

"I've been tolerating you for a long time." Chen Ran drew the Liar-Slayer tucked into his waistband.

"You told a lie."

The instant he uttered the command, he pulled the trigger without a second thought. In the next moment, a Bullet struck the man squarely in the forehead, sending his body toppling stiffly to the floor.

Dead!

Three members of Zhang Yuan's temporary alliance were already dead, leaving him as a commander without an army.

He was utterly speechless.

'What a fucking idiot. Just because Chen Ran didn't warn us earlier doesn't mean he was lying. Claiming he tricked us was a blatant lie!'

'Whatever, good riddance. If he stayed alive, that moron would have gotten me killed sooner or later!'

'Since that Wife died, there is a high probability that the remaining seven couples here are also dead.'

'We are Players. We can avoid a Scripted Kill by solving the puzzles.'

'In other words, escaping this Secret Room alive depends entirely on our individual capabilities.'

'That means there's no limit on the number of people who can clear this Secret Room, which is why Chen Ran dared to initiate a Judgment.'

Thinking up to this point, Zhang Yuan's face turned grim. He turned to look at Baili Qiangsheng, only to see that the old fox was acting as if he hadn't noticed a thing.

'As the only person among us who possesses a Liar Hunter Skill, he definitely isn't this incompetent. When exactly is he planning to make his move?'

At the podium.

The Masked Man walked over to The Youth's corpse. Hoisting the body up with one hand, he snatched the Examination Paper from The Youth's desk with the other and tossed both into the roaring flames. It wasn't long before The Youth and the paper were reduced to ashes.

Baili Qiangsheng paid no mind to any of this. At this moment, he was staring fixedly at his Examination Paper.

The paper was actually...

Blank!

'Classroom plus Examination Paper equals an exam.'

'Submitting the paper means finishing the exam and being allowed to leave.'

'Conclusion: To escape this Secret Room, one must complete the exam.'

'But the problem is: What is being tested?'

Baili Qiangsheng wasn't the only one to notice this detail. Upon seeing the blank test papers, the other Players flipped them over in suspicion before plunging into deep thought.

Mustering her courage, Cheng Si stood up, noting that the Masked Man at the podium completely ignored her.

'It seems that during this exam, not only can we whisper to each other, but we can also move around freely.'

'Even though Chen Ran has a death-exemption pass, if no one solves the Secret Room, he won't be able to leave either.'

'He doesn't have the right to take the exam. What he's doing right now is watching us slaughter each other or get killed by the Masked Men. Only when there are one or two Players left will he help deduce the solution and have them take him out...'

'Until then, not a single word Chen Ran says can be trusted!!'

"Everyone, I assume you've all looked at your papers by now. Since there are no questions, we must first deduce what the exam is actually about," Cheng Si proposed.

"Exactly," Lin Feng agreed. "Truthfully, there are clues we can follow to figure out the exam topic."

As he spoke, he pointed at Chen Ran.

"You want him to help us deduce the answers?" A female Player looked at him as if he were an idiot.

Anyone with half a brain knew that Chen Ran was Sitting Firm on the Fishing Platform right now. Why would he possibly help them?

"No, what I mean is, since Chen Ran is playing the Husband who never arrived, why is he still appearing here? If we can figure out the answer to that question, we might be able to deduce the exam topic."

Lin Feng wiped the sweat from his forehead. The fire in the Classroom seemed to be burning even hotter than before.

Unable to endure the sweltering heat, several people took off their jackets and casually tossed them onto the floor.

"I agree with his perspective." Baili Qiangsheng partook in the deduction, a rare occurrence. "Chen Ran is the only Husband who is confirmed to have survived. Why is he here? Why didn't he save his ex-wife?"

Pausing at this point, Baili Qiangsheng pulled out a Cigarette and patted his pockets, only to remember that Chen Ran had swiped his Lighter.

Lowering the Cigarette, he continued, "There are two possibilities. First, that Husband was in cahoots with the Human Trafficker from the very beginning. Second, that Husband was entirely incapable of saving his ex-wife!"