Chapter 20: The Missing Card is the Sheep Card!

Bang! Bang!

Two shots rang out. Cheng Si crumpled to the ground, dead.

Her sudden death provoked a dramatic range of reactions among the remaining five. Zhang Yuan looked furious, Baili Qiangsheng and Chen Ran were consumed by grief and indignation, Li Annan was visibly shocked, and Ma Wenjie appeared surprised.

Slam! Zhang Yuan struck the table and leaped to his feet. He glared at the other four and demanded harshly, "I want to know, in the last Secret Room, did anyone die at the end?"

As he spoke, his mind raced, rapid deductions flashing through his head.

'The soul inside Cheng Si's body must belong to one of Baili Qiangsheng's Trio.'

'Li Annan and Ma Wenjie were deliberately making sarcastic remarks to disrupt our train of thought, intentionally stoking our anger.'

'When Ma Wenjie suddenly asked whose turn it was to draw, Cheng Si was so blinded by rage that she spoke without thinking. She pointed straight at Li Annan and blurted out that he was the starting player and it was his turn to draw.'

'Li Annan went first in the last round, but this round, Baili Qiangsheng only has two Cards. That makes Baili Qiangsheng the starting player. It should have been his turn to draw!'

'Cheng Si committed an Emotional Lie!'

'The fact that Cheng Si made such a rookie mistake proves that the soul inside her body is not Baili Qiangsheng.'

'Since everyone went through the soul swap, the soul inside Baili Qiangsheng's body is definitely not Baili Qiangsheng either.'

'The answer is: the soul inside Chen Ran's body is the real Baili Qiangsheng. That guy hid himself so well. He deliberately pretended he did not know how to smoke a Cigarette earlier just to confuse everyone.'

'According to Baili Qiangsheng's deductions, the Zhang Yuan I currently occupy, along with the sarcastically sniping Li Annan and Ma Wenjie, are actually: Chen Ran, Zhang Yuan, and Cheng Si.'

'That is why I just slammed the table and demanded to know who died at the end of the previous Secret Room.'

'As long as Baili Qiangsheng is not a complete idiot, he should understand exactly what I am trying to say!'

...

Sure enough, upon hearing Zhang Yuan's question, Chen Ran's pupils immediately shrank.

'I am Baili Qiangsheng.'

'I am occupying Chen Ran's body, and I just watched helplessly as another teammate died right in front of me.'

'Zhang Yuan's question made me realize that after my teammates and I left the previous Secret Room, Chen Ran, Cheng Si, and Zhang Yuan broke out into Infighting.'

'As for who died?'

'It had to be Zhang Yuan. He could never outsmart Chen Ran and Cheng Si; those two definitely played him to death.'

'But, why would a dead Zhang Yuan appear in the third Secret Room?'

'I do not know the exact process, but there seems to be only one answer: Zhang Yuan is the Second Masked Man.'

'After the soul swap, the soul of the Second Masked Man was transferred into an unknown body.'

'Therefore, the souls currently residing inside Zhang Yuan, Li Annan, and Ma Wenjie must be Cheng Si, Chen Ran, and the Second Masked Man.'

'It all makes perfect sense!!!'

'No wonder I could not deduce the meaning of the three symbols. It turns out the Shepherd represents the police, the Wolf represents the Masked Man, and the Sheep is the sole surviving Husband from the eight couples.'

'However, from what I can see...'

Chen Ran looked down at the Cards on the table.

Ma Wenjie: Shepherd, Shepherd, Sheep.

Cheng Si: Shepherd, Wolf, Wolf.

Li Annan: Wolf, Wolf, Wolf.

Baili Qiangsheng: Shepherd, Sheep.

Zhang Yuan: Wolf, Sheep, Sheep.

That was right. Zhang Yuan's Cards were not Sheep, Sheep, Sheep.

They were Wolf, Sheep, Sheep!!

Wolf, Sheep, Sheep: A Wolf eats one Sheep, and the remaining Sheep escapes. The Sheep wins.

Sheep, Sheep, Sheep: The Sheep wins.

Although the win/loss outcome of both card combinations remained the same, the upcoming second round of draws would definitely have problems.

'Among the five of them, they hold: four Shepherd Cards, six Wolf Cards, and four Sheep Cards.'

'My Cards are either Shepherd, Shepherd, Sheep, or Shepherd, Sheep, Sheep. That means out of the seventeen Cards, there is either a missing Shepherd or a missing Sheep.'

'The Shepherd is the police, and the Sheep is the Husband. How could either of them be missing?'

'Whether I have Shepherd, Shepherd, Sheep or Shepherd, Sheep, Sheep, the player before me in the next round will either draw a Shepherd Card or a Sheep Card from me.'

'I still cannot deduce exactly which of the seventeen Cards is missing. Unless... all three Cards on my table are replaced with Wolf Cards!'

'Conveniently enough, the player after me is Li Annan, and all three Cards on his table are Wolf Cards!'

Following Cheng Si's death.

The draw order for the second round was: Baili Qiangsheng, Zhang Yuan, Ma Wenjie, Chen Ran, and Li Annan.

At that moment, Li Annan spoke up, "I have a question. Since Cheng Si is dead, does that mean her Cards will never change?"

Ma Wenjie pointed at the Scales of Judgment. "If my guess is right, the Cards will only be reshuffled when one end of the scales tilts completely to the bottom."

The scales represented Judgment.

When a Judgment ended, a new Judgment would begin.

This meant the Cards would be reshuffled.

That made sense.

Having found an answer, everyone turned their eyes to Baili Qiangsheng, gesturing for him to start the draw.

Baili Qiangsheng pondered in silence.

'Although I have no idea what is going on.'

'I still understand that the scales weigh good and evil. A tilt to the left represents evil.'

'So, am I good or evil?'

Unable to come up with an answer, Baili Qiangsheng looked at the Cards of the next player, Zhang Yuan: Wolf, Sheep, Sheep.

And his own Cards were: Shepherd, Sheep.

There was no disputing this. In the previous round, Baili Qiangsheng saw that the other five players held six Shepherd Cards, four Wolf Cards, and five Sheep Cards. In this round, he saw they had five Shepherd Cards, six Wolf Cards, and four Sheep Cards. This meant he held a Shepherd Card in his hand. Since all six Wolf Cards had already been revealed, the Cards on his table could only be Shepherd and Sheep.

'Since I do not know the answer, I will just spread the wealth and draw a Wolf Card!'

And so.

Baili Qiangsheng drew Zhang Yuan's Wolf Card.

It had to be said that 'A Flurry of Random Punches Kills an Old Master' was a very real concept. His sudden move caused both Li Annan and Ma Wenjie to frown, while Zhang Yuan began to...

Question his entire existence!

'How is this possible!!!'

'Weren't my Cards Sheep, Sheep, Sheep?'

'Why is there a Wolf Card?'

'Since no Wolf Cards are missing, the missing one must be a Sheep Card. But why would this happen?'

'I cannot figure it out!!!'

Zhang Yuan could not make sense of it, but he was certain that the Cards remaining on his table were: Sheep, Sheep.

If he wanted the police to win, he had to draw a Shepherd Card from Ma Wenjie's table, and he had to do it for two consecutive rounds.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yuan reached out and drew a Shepherd Card from Ma Wenjie's table.

Ma Wenjie drew Chen Ran's Sheep Card.

Chen Ran drew Li Annan's Wolf Card.

Li Annan drew Baili Qiangsheng's Sheep Card.

It was Baili Qiangsheng's turn again. He looked at Zhang Yuan's table, which now held Shepherd, Sheep, Sheep. After a moment of thought, he decided to spread the wealth once more.

He drew a Sheep Card.

With that, the second round of draws concluded.

The Scales of Judgment tilted to the left once again. This time, it tilted by three notches, bringing the total to four notches.

Chen Ran looked at the Cards of the other five players.

'Cheng Si's Cards remain unchanged: Shepherd, Wolf, Wolf.'

'One Shepherd deals with one Wolf, but the second Wolf is left unchecked. Therefore, the Wolf wins.'

'Baili Qiangsheng: Shepherd, Wolf, Sheep.'

'One Shepherd deals with the Wolf. The Sheep is left unguarded and escapes. The Sheep wins.'

'Zhang Yuan: Shepherd, Sheep.'

'With only two Cards, the Shepherd is good and the Sheep is evil. Good and evil cancel each other out. It is a tie.'

'Ma Wenjie: Shepherd, Sheep, Sheep.'

'One Shepherd guards one Sheep. The second Sheep is left unguarded and escapes. The Sheep wins.'

'Li Annan: Wolf, Wolf, Sheep.'

'One Wolf eats the Sheep, but there is still another Wolf left. Therefore, the Wolf wins.'

'Both the Wolf and the Sheep represent evil, and they have won four times combined. However, the scale only tilted by three notches. This means the Cards in my hand must result in a Shepherd victory!'

'Previously, my Cards were either Shepherd, Shepherd, Sheep, or Shepherd, Sheep, Sheep.'

'After having a Sheep Card drawn from me and drawing a Wolf Card in return, the Cards on my table are now either Shepherd, Shepherd, Wolf, or Shepherd, Wolf, Sheep.'

'Shepherd, Shepherd, Wolf: The Shepherd wins.'

'Shepherd, Wolf, Sheep: The Sheep wins.'

'Therefore, my Cards must be Shepherd, Shepherd, Wolf!'

'The missing Card is a Sheep Card!'

At that moment, both Zhang Yuan and Chen Ran had deduced that out of the seventeen Cards, one Sheep Card was missing.

But, it was too late!

The dial on the left side of the scales had exactly five notches, and it had already tilted four notches.

It was only one notch away from tilting completely to the bottom!

First round:

Shepherd won twice, Wolf won twice, Sheep won once.

Second round:

Shepherd won once, Wolf won twice, Sheep won twice.

Total scores for the two rounds:

Shepherd: 3 points. Wolf: 4 points. Sheep: 3 points.

If the left side of the scale tilted all the way to the bottom, the Shepherd—representing the police—would not need to fight for the reward. It would come down to the scores of the Wolf and the Sheep. Whoever had more points would receive the Gun.

Right now, the Wolf was leading the Sheep by one point!

The Wolf was the Masked Man, devoid of humanity. If he got the Gun, he could shoot the police or the Husband without hesitation.

The Sheep was the Husband, whose only desire was to kill the Wolf. If he got the Gun, he probably wouldn't shoot the police, would he...?

Cheng Si was dead, so her Cards would never change. That meant the Wolf was guaranteed to score another point in the next round.

Realizing this.

The color completely drained from Zhang Yuan and Chen Ran's faces.