Chapter 294: Triple Homicide (1)

When the light returned.

It was still the same Secret Room, but the people inside were very interesting.

There were six Chen Rans, six Youths, six Short and Fats, and two Big Gold Tooths.

In other words.

What Lin Xuan wanted to do this time was to break up the teams, placing the four types of people who might prevent him from using his skills into the same spatial layer. Regardless of the outcome of the Infighting, apart from the Three-Star Hunter Team and Lin Xuan's own team, there would always be one team that suffered casualties.

Everyone looked at each other in dismay, all feeling the inconceivability of spatial skills.

However, none of them were fools. Since Lin Xuan was not in this spatial layer, there had to be a way to break the spatial skill, or perhaps the skill had a time limit. Otherwise, it would be far too invincible. If he disliked someone, he could simply exile them to other spatial layers forever. What would other players even play for? They might as well just surrender.

Consequently, they looked at their Watches and recorded the time before turning their gazes toward the door of the third bedroom. They couldn't just wait here helplessly. If this was a spatial Secret Room, rather than wasting time waiting, it would be better to carry out two plans simultaneously.

Yet, no one dared to open the door.

Seeing this, the Youth and Chen Ran remained indifferent. Short and Fat thought for a moment, stepped forward, and gently opened the door to the third bedroom.

Inside, there was a burst of white light. Everyone was all too familiar with this scene; it meant that some kind of decryption was next.

Short and Fat said coldly, "Let's all establish a Future Lie. Don't anyone try to be Shameless and play tricks."

His meaning was obvious. He was afraid that some despicable fellows would follow the crowd but avoid entering the third bedroom.

"What do you mean 'be Shameless and play tricks'? That's called a tactical retreat, okay?" one of the six Chen Rans retorted with a guilty conscience.

A solid confirmation.

The certain Shameless fellow was exactly Chen Ran.

His words revealed a piece of information to the other Chen Rans: among the six Youths and the six Short and Fats, one of them had already been inside and knew what the decryption entailed, so you guys better be careful.

As a result, the other five Chen Rans simultaneously gave him the middle finger: Is this also a time to be Shameless and play tricks? You've screwed us over!

Originally, they had all prepared for a tactical retreat. Well, now look what happened; they had been anticipated in advance by Short and Fat, who had experienced Chen Ran's Shamelessness firsthand.

Soon, all twenty people established their Future Lies and walked into the white light one by one.

—

This was a Secret Room, and the scene inside was very simple: three Iron Cages, with a giant stone sphere hanging above each Iron Cage.

If the stone sphere above the Iron Cage fell, it would crush the person inside.

But what if they didn't go into the Iron Cage?

Thinking of this, everyone crouched down and tapped the floorboards. Hollow.

They walked up to the Iron Cages again, reached their hands inside, and tapped the floorboards.

Solid.

The six Chen Rans lit a Cigarette at the same time.

'The floor outside the Iron Cages is hollow underneath, meaning the floor will disappear shortly. Any player standing outside the Iron Cages...'

'Will fall into the abyss!'

'The floor inside the Iron Cages is solid underneath, meaning the floor won't disappear, but the player inside might be crushed to death.'

'Choose one out of three?'

With this thought, they continued to survey the Secret Room's environment and discovered a display screen on each Iron Cage.

First Iron Cage's screen: The murderer is an outsider hiding in the room.

Second Iron Cage's screen: The murderer is a drunk adult.

Third Iron Cage's screen: The murderer is the only uncorrupted child in the room.

'What the hell?!'

The next moment, everyone unexpectedly suppressed their Mental States at the same time and recalled what they had seen before.

'First, there are traces of being hacked by a sharp weapon in the living room of the Secret Room, as well as a few drops of blood.'

'Second, the first bedroom, the little boy's room, has no signs of a struggle.'

'Lastly, the second bedroom has medication used to treat manic depression.'

'If this is a homicide case, we have to sort out the characters involved.'

'There's definitely a child.'

'There's definitely an adult who loves to drink.'

'As for the murderer...'

'It's questionable!'

'The reason is very simple. Since there is psychiatric medication in the second bedroom, the adult who loves to drink has mental issues. This means he might have had an episode, turned into the murderer, and killed the child.'

'However, it could also be a setup. Simply put, killings committed by psychiatric patients are not subject to legal sanctions. Therefore, the adult who loves to drink deliberately created these scenes, intending to provoke someone, make them fall into a trap, and then legally counter-kill them.'

'There's another possibility: the murderer is actually the child. The reason is also very simple—children who commit murder are likewise not subject to legal sanctions.'

'The second bedroom was so messy, and neither the living room nor the bedroom had any family portraits or wedding photos.'

'This indicates a single-parent family.'

'An alcoholic adult suffering from a psychiatric illness; the child had a hellish start to life.'

'If they didn't try to save themselves, one wrong move could easily cost them their life.'

'Therefore, the child is also a suspect for murder. In contrast, the third person hiding in the room, whom we previously thought was the murderer, actually has very little suspicion on them.'

'There is one more possibility...'

'The Mantis Hunts the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind!'

'The adult wanted to kill someone and devised this scheme; the child wanted to kill the adult, played along with the scheme, and ultimately pulled off a double kill.'

'There is one more possibility...'

'The Mantis Hunts the Cicada, Unaware of the Oriole Behind!'

'The adult wanted to kill someone and devised this scheme; the child wanted to kill the adult, played along with the scheme, and ultimately pulled off a double kill.'

Several possibilities were deduced. The next step was to use the evidence to figure out exactly which possibility it was...

A question might arise here: couldn't it just be a simple home invasion and robbery?

First of all, if this is a Whisperer's Escape Room, it absolutely must follow the Decryption Protocol.

If those clues were fake, how would the players be able to solve this Secret Room?

With the current clues, it's impossible to decipher who the murderer is. For players, this would be a guaranteed-death Secret Room.

Therefore, if this were a Whisperer's Escape Room without a solvable puzzle, it would contradict the rule that it must follow the Decryption Protocol.

By the same logic, if it were an Instance Secret Room, it must also follow the Decryption Protocol.

Conclusion: Whether it's a Whisperer's Escape Room or an Instance Secret Room, if it's merely a simple home invasion robbery, it would not conform to the Decryption Protocol.

—

'The information on the phone.'

'First point: The person is still in the Secret Room.'

'Second point: Call the police.'

'Third point: The exit is inside the Secret Room.'

'Fourth point: The owner of the first bedroom is a Little Girl.'

'Some of these four points were fabricated by Qiu Yinong and cannot be completely trusted.'

'I need to filter out the false information.'

'First point—the person is still in the Secret Room—this information is definitely fake.'

'If it was left by the adult, the child, or the murderer, it should have been written as...'

'The person is still in the house!'

'After all, this is something that happened when the BOSS was still alive. How could they possibly use the term 'Secret Room'? Shouldn't it be 'house'?'

'Second point: Call the police.'

'The phone had no signal, but there are two types of signals a phone can receive: one from a cell tower, and the other from a base station. Moreover, looking at the house's renovations, it probably isn't some isolated place cut off from the rest of the world. Thus, even if the phone had no signal, it could still receive a base station signal.'

'Furthermore, calling the police uses a special channel, so the phone can indeed dial emergency services! The second piece of information is highly likely to be true!'

'The third piece of information—the exit is inside the Secret Room. This point...'

'Is also highly likely to be true!'

'Simply because, in the first point, the incorrect term 'Secret Room' was already used. How could Qiu Yinong possibly make the same mistake in the third point, or rather, use the same method to deceive the others who knew about the text message?'

'Unless...'

'The house has turned into a Secret Room. In simpler terms, the living room has very likely been covered by a layer of a Whisperer's Escape Room by the Ghost Whisperer, which blocked the exit.'

'The doors inside the living room are still there, so the exit can only be the windows. However, there were no windows in the living room just now, which proves they were blocked.'

'The meaning of 'the exit is inside the Secret Room' is: the windows have been blocked by the Ghost Whisperer's skill.'

'Therefore, although the third piece of information was altered by Qiu Yinong, it is true.'

'The fourth piece of information is fake—guaranteed fake, undeniably fake.'

'The reason is very simple: whether it's the adult, the child, or the 'murderer', it is impossible for them to have left such meaningless information.'

'Conclusion: The only pieces of information that might be true are two—one, call the police; and two, the point altered by Qiu Yinong, 'the exit is inside the Secret Room'.'

'The identity of the murderer is crystal clear!'