There is One New Rule Every Month Globally

"Ding, the first round of clue collection begins."

"Each player, please state one clue you observed from your own storyline."

"Starting with the last player on the right side of the dining table, we will proceed counter-clockwise."

And the last player on the right side of the dining table was that blond kid.

At this moment, the blond kid seemed to be so irritated by the other students of Black Trench City that he was almost at a loss for words, his face red and panting heavily. It was clear that if it weren't for the map's rule preventing players from physically attacking each other, he'd probably have charged forward the next second!

After taking several deep breaths to suppress his anger, he sat down, his expression dark as he spoke, articulating every word carefully.

"I don't have any clue."

"I spent the entire scenario hiding in a wardrobe in a study room, and I could only see the dead body of an old man through the gap at the bottom of the wardrobe. Other than that, I have no other information."

"I couldn't see anything."

"But I could hear footsteps in the study intermittently, whoever the culprit is, it definitely wasn't."

"That's not necessarily true."

The male student dressed like a bespectacled scholar casually tightened his collar, "The scenarios we've seen all have gaps, you just saw yourself hiding in the wardrobe of the study room."

"But why hide in there?"

"Could it be that after killing someone, when you found there was no time to escape, you hid in the wardrobe instead?"

"Bullshit!!"

Upon hearing this, the blond kid finally lost control and stood up, pointing at the bespectacled student and yelling angrily, "How long have you been on my case, huh? What are you trying to pull here?"

"Do you find it amusing to falsely accuse people?"

"I think it's you who is the murderer. Otherwise, why do you keep trying to shift the focus on me? Isn't it just to eliminate someone quickly and to create more space for yourself?"

"Alright, that's enough."

Just then,

The middle-aged man in a suit sitting beside the blond kid, still leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed and a displeased look on his face, spoke up.

"My scenario appears to be as a gardener pruning branches in the villa. All I heard during my story was some arguing in the study room."

"Curtains concealed the view into the study, and the distance was too far for me to see or hear anything specific." Experience more content on My Virtual Library Empire

"But I saw someone walk into the study room holding a medieval candlestick, and then the arguing began."

"That person...was him."

The middle-aged man, who had been keeping his eyes closed, suddenly opened them and pointed the finger at the blond kid sitting next to him, "In the story, everyone's appearance replaces that of their character, and this kid's blond hair is very conspicuous, hardly requiring any effort to recognize him."

Before the blond kid could say anything,

A girl in a camisole dress sitting next to the middle-aged man suddenly had an epiphany and spoke up, "No wonder!"

"My role should be the daughter of the deceased. I took some pastries to my father in the back kitchen, and about half an hour later, when I went back to the study to fetch the pastries for my father, I found... my father dead in a pool of blood."

"There was a major wound on his head, and next to him was a bloodstained candlestick."

"Which means..."

The girl's voice trailed off, and even though she didn't finish her sentence, the implication was quite clear, pointing directly at the blond.

However, her gaze seemed to sweep casually over the other players present,

Pausing slightly longer on Chen Yi before moving on.

Instantly—

Everyone turned their eyes toward the last blond player on the right side of the dining table.

Testimony and physical evidence, both were present.

Who is the murderer—it doesn't even need to be said, does it?

Chen Yi didn't look up, still earnestly eating his steak, the only one in the room who was seriously enjoying the meal.

He wasn't sure why the others weren't eating.

But he figured, since he had nothing better to do, why not eat?

However, when the girl began talking about delivering pastries to the deceased in the study, Chen Yi, who had been focused on his meal, slightly curled his lips into a faint smile and remained silent.

This girl must be the one he had interacted with in the study room.

There were two very interesting points.

The girl's last sentence was—

"Which means..."

The sentence was supposed to continue, suggesting the blond kid was the murderer, although it wasn't said outright, everyone understood the implied meaning.

But why not say it directly?

He leaned toward one possibility.

It was that the girl dared not say it.

Why the hesitation?

Because of the existence of the August rule.

Meaning, the girl also doubted in her heart that she might be the murderer and didn't dare to explicitly claim someone else was, lest she violate the August rule.

Although the August rule allowed for three errors, no one would want to waste one unless absolutely necessary, especially since the month had just begun.

Even knowing about the existence of the Hell Map, nobody wanted to migrate to hell.

The second interesting point—

Was that even though he didn't look up, he could still feel the girl scan the players after she finished speaking, meaning she knew her words would catch the attention of those listening with intent.

She was looking for a fellow actor.

The person she shared a scene with—that is, the girl knew or sensed someone was in the room or that there was some activity when she went to retrieve the pastries.

While suspecting herself of being the murderer, the girl also suspected whether the real murderer could be someone else.

The true way to play this map.

Is not to find out who the murderer is.

But to judge whether you are the real killer or not.

Chen Yi put the last piece of steak into his mouth, sighed with relief, and then turned his head to look at the girl next to him, who was wearing a court dress.

"If you're not going to eat that, give it to me."

"Ah? Oh, sure, you can have it."

"Thanks."

Chen Yi took the girl's steak without any ceremony and tucked it into his embrace, continuing to eat in his lackadaisical way. He wasn't particularly hungry, just a bit bored.

Having nothing better to do, might as well have something to eat.

And at this moment—

The other players had already initiated the vote.

'Ding, three or more players have agreed to start the voting.'

'The first round of voting for this game begins, players, please vote for who you believe is the murderer.'

"Player number 1."

"Player number 1."

"Player number 10."

As soon as the voting started, two players cast their votes for the blond kid, player number 1.

But there was also one player who voted for player number 10, Chen Yi, and that player was the girl who had just claimed to have gone to the study to tidy up the desserts.

"I..."

The blond kid was sitting on the chair, white as a sheet, his mind racing through the whole story. He hadn't expected that he could be the murderer.

How could he argue against that?

This map was a complete dead end!

In his point of view, he never saw himself committing the murder; naturally, he felt like he must be one of the good guys.

But soon enough, other players claimed they saw him holding a candelabra arguing with the victim and they also witnessed a candelabra covered in blood near the victim on the floor.

How could he possibly clean this up?

There was no way to clean it up.

He, himself, damn well felt like confessing. Would confessing earn him some kind of consolation prize?

Wasn't the difficulty of this map supposed to be manageable, given that the access pass could be bought in a store and wasn't supposed to be too challenging?

Oh, the difficulty indeed wasn't too high.

For the good players, the difficulty wasn't high; with just three or four people speaking up, they had already identified the murderer. But for him, as the player with the identity of the murderer, wasn't the difficulty a bit too much?

At this moment, the blond kid leaned back in his chair, his face the picture of despair, his eyes tightly closed. He didn't utter a word, just patiently waiting for the game to end.

No more acting, he was ready to concede.

"What's the matter?"

The student wearing glasses sitting opposite the blond kid cut a piece of beef elegantly, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly. After some time, he wiped the grease from his mouth with a handkerchief and spoke softly,

"Do you still dare to say 'I am not the killer' four times now?"

"Have you felt the difference between the rules of August that forbid lying and the principle of materialism versus idealism?"

"A dumb dog trying to pose as garlic."

"I vote for player number 1."

'Ding, 3 players have voted for player number 1, 1 player has voted for player number 10, the remaining 6 players abstain.'

'Player number 1, with the highest number of votes, is out!'

'Player number 1 is not the murderer, the game continues. Gentlemen, you have two more opportunities to vote, please use them wisely.'

"Hmm?"

The student with glasses was slightly taken aback, and furrowed his brow in confusion, "The blond kid isn't the murderer?"

Obviously, everyone present was also somewhat bewildered. After all, all the evidence had pointed to the blond kid just a moment ago. Logically, it shouldn't be like this.

"No, that can't be right."

At that moment, the old man who sat a person away from the woman in the strappy dress, player number 5, looked seriously at player number 3 and shook his head, "You've withheld some information. If you went into the room and saw the victim, how come you had no reaction whatsoever?"

"I clearly saw you dump a platter of desserts into the trash can in the backyard. When I asked where they came from, you said they were leftovers the master didn't like, taken from the study."

"That doesn't make sense."

"You didn't display any fear at the time, plus you never mentioned that the master didn't like this specific dessert."

"Oh."

The number 3 player in the strappy dress, who didn't seem flustered at all, nodded and said, "That's because I saw someone hiding behind the curtains in the study room."

"So I kept quiet, worried about alarming the murderer and getting myself killed as well."

"Perhaps you're also curious why I voted for player number 10 just now."

"The answer is simple. When entering the study room, I saw someone hiding behind the curtain. Even though they were well-hidden, I still noticed that person wearing a pair of black rain boots."

"Just now, I peeked under the table and noticed that only player number 10 was wearing rain boots."

"I believe the answer is now quite clear, isn't it? Since player number 1, the blond kid, is not the murderer, it can only be player number 10."

All players' gazes shifted back to Chen Yi.

Their eyes filled with suspicion.

This was almost a direct face-to-face accusation.