Next came the third room on the second floor: Room 203.
A knock at the door. Mr. Robert answered.
He saw Bai Youwei at the door, then noticed the Inspector standing beside her, and his eyes narrowed slightly. “…Something I can help you with?”
Bai Youwei glanced downward and noticed that Robert was holding a book.
An English edition — quite a thick one.
“Mr. Robert looks very at his leisure~” she said with a smile. “Reading, are you?”
“Simply passing the time.” Robert smiled casually. “Reading a mystery novel when one has a free moment is a small hobby of mine.”
Apparently concerned that Bai Youwei might suspect something, he deliberately opened the book and held it up before her, smiling. “Who knows how many days we’ll be stuck here — one has to find ways to occupy oneself. If you’re bored, feel free to borrow it.”
Bai Youwei shook her head. “No need~ I can’t get into mystery novels. The kind I like, you wouldn’t have.”
“Oh?” Robert asked with a smile. “And what kind of books does the young lady prefer?”
Bai Youwei said: “The kind where everyone else has it worse than me.”
Robert: “…”
“Ha~ I’m joking~” Bai Youwei laughed, then extended a note to him. “We’ve found a new note in one of the vases. Mr. Robert, could you take a look and tell us what it says?”
Robert looked at the note before him. It read:
*If you look down right now, you’ll find your trousers are unzipped.*
Robert: “…”
This wasn’t a formidable adversary. This was someone who had come to torment him specifically.
“Something the matter, Mr. Robert?” Bai Youwei tilted her head and observed his expression. “Did you make something of it? What does the note say?”
“…No.” Robert’s back molars clenched tight, but he forced the corner of his mouth into a friendly smile. “What a pity — I can’t make out what any of these characters mean.”
“We won’t take up any more of your time, then. Goodbye.” Bai Youwei briskly withdrew her hand and turned toward the next room.
Su Man muttered from behind: “Couldn’t read it, and yet spent that long staring at it…”
The smile at the corner of Robert’s mouth grew stiffer still.
He watched Bai Youwei lead the group to Room 204, his eyes darkening with a cold, calculating gleam.
…Everything had been proceeding smoothly — and then this person appeared out of nowhere. First she tested him with written text to observe his reaction. Now she was coming straight to his door. What a headache…
Still, if she thought this was enough to deal with him, she was being naive.
His teammates, while perfectly capable of using the coded messages, did not actually know how to read Chinese — not a single one of them…
…
Bai Youwei and the Inspector showed the notes to everyone in every room, but unfortunately, every single person’s reaction was entirely flat — no one appeared to be affected in the least by the content of their respective notes.
The Inspector was deeply disappointed.
Bai Youwei, on the other hand, looked perfectly relaxed — as though this outcome was exactly what she had expected all along.
After the Inspector left, Zhu Shu asked Bai Youwei worriedly: “What do we do now? Did they conceal their reactions too well? I genuinely felt as though they truly couldn’t read Chinese.”
“If they can’t read it, they can’t read it~” Bai Youwei said with a breezy smile. “Come on, let’s go rest.”
Zhu Shu and Su Man exchanged baffled glances. Both were thoroughly at a loss.
Su Man couldn’t help but quicken her pace to catch up with Bai Youwei and ask: “Youwei, how is it you don’t seem the least bit worried?”
Bai Youwei: “Worried? Why would I be worried?”
“Because we haven’t found the killers.” Su Man’s expression was troubled. “Right now, all we’ve established is that Robert seems suspicious — and then… rooms 404 and 205 might be his accomplices. But that’s still only three. Who are the other two? Could it be the woman with the baby? I always felt something was off about her. And then there’s that middle-aged woman with the tarot cards — she seems strange, very mysterious…”
“We’ll know soon enough~” Bai Youwei gave her a wink. “Once I crack the code.”
—