The Inspector produced a pair of heavy black metal handcuffs, cuffed one wrist to Su Man and the other to Lu Yuwen, and said sternly: “I’m taking you both into custody first! Once the rain stops, I’ll bring you to the station for questioning. Now come with me downstairs!”
Lu Yuwen appeared to have been in a struggle — there were scratch marks and bite marks on him.
Su Man stood rooted to the spot, her eyes wide, unable to accept this outcome.
“We — we were acting in self-defense!” she protested loudly. “Can’t you see she was attacking us?!”
“Whatever the reason, it doesn’t change the fact that you committed violence and broke the law!” The Inspector was merciless. “Besides, if it was self-defense, the two of you could have subdued her — why use a knife?!”
Su Man had already dropped the knife and was indignant to the point of tears. “The knife wasn’t ours! She came in with the knife already in her body! I only pulled it out when she was attacking us!”
The Inspector let out a cold snort. “So you’re saying — she had a knife in her, and instead of finding a doctor, she ran into your room and attacked you? Who would believe such nonsense? Do you have evidence? If you ask me, the two of you planned this together!”
Su Man was livid. “I’ll be damn—”
“You are under arrest! Now come with me downstairs!” The Inspector said no more, turned, and walked.
Su Man found her body was no longer under her own control — like a convicted criminal who couldn’t break free of their shackles no matter what, she had no choice but to follow.
The onlooking guests in the doorway parted of their own accord.
As Lu Yuwen passed by Bai Youwei, he said something in a low voice, then followed behind Su Man and left the room.
Bai Youwei gently furrowed her brow, watching their retreating figures.
The others, having had their fill of the spectacle, drifted away in twos and threes.
Left in the room were only Bai Youwei, Zhu Shu, and a corpse.
Zhu Shu walked over to the body and picked up the knife Su Man had dropped, unable to help sighing. “Doll-game rules never allow players to bring weapons in. This knife… it really isn’t ours. But we have no evidence…”
Bai Youwei thought for a moment, then walked over to the body as well. After a beat, she asked, “Don’t you think there’s something off — not enough blood?”
Zhu Shu was mildly startled. She looked at the floor — a considerable amount of blood had already pooled from beneath the body. Was that not enough?
Bai Youwei said, “Lu Yuwen just told me: this middle-aged woman was already dead before she walked into his room.”
Zhu Shu’s eyes widened slightly.
Bai Youwei took the knife from her, pressed it firmly into the body, then pulled it out. “…See — I’m no forensic examiner, but this rate of blood flow — isn’t it a bit too slow?”
Zhu Shu stared at the wound. Several seconds passed before blood slowly welled up from inside.
Zhu Shu then tried moving the body’s arm, murmuring, “The joints… are extremely stiff.”
She found it baffling, and asked Bai Youwei: “If we can prove to the Inspector that this woman was already dead, will he release Su Man and Lu Yuwen?”
“Probably not.” Bai Youwei said lightly. “Proving the woman was already dead still wouldn’t explain why she ended up here, and it still wouldn’t prove that the real killer is someone else.”
Zhu Shu’s brow tightened. “If she was already dead — how was she walking around in Lu Yuwen’s room and attacking him? It’s deeply strange…”
Su Man being in Lu Yuwen’s room made sense — she’d gone early to check on him out of worry. But a corpse — how did it get from the fourth floor down to the third?
Bai Youwei tossed the knife aside, unhurriedly wiped her hands, and said, “Zhu Shu, I just realized I’ve made a mistake — but fortunately, there’s still time to fix it.”
“What mistake?” Zhu Shu asked.
Bai Youwei smiled faintly. “Our mission objective is to identify five killers, so I’ve been treating the killers as my primary enemies in this game. But actually… the killers aren’t our greatest enemy at all. Our greatest enemy is the other five.”
—