Gutan Village, Tong Baiquan’s home.
Li Si looked at each person once: “It could be said that many people present are connected to the Ding and Sun case. Many people—not just one or two.”
The faces of those present all became unnatural. Tong Baiquan dry-coughed twice and said, “Could it be that there’s more than one murderer who killed Ding Youcai and Widow Sun?”
“My lord, I’m not a murderer. I can’t even catch a chicken.” Niu Sao anxiously cleared herself. Physician Xing also said hurriedly, “With this body of mine, I couldn’t kill anyone.”
“Remain calm.” Li Si waved his hand to quiet everyone. The clamor in the room gradually subsided before he said, “I also suspected each and every one of you. Among you I wavered uncertainly. But just tonight, I discovered some marvelous evidence that can help me make this decision.”
“Marvelous evidence?” Wu Wen found it novel and couldn’t help asking, “What evidence is that?”
“Let’s start with the Ding Youcai case. Ding Youcai was killed by an expert swordsman. The sword killing drew no blood until the blood vessels reversed and he exploded. This should have been the process of how Ding Youcai was killed. But after I discovered a piece of marvelous evidence, I suddenly had doubts about all of this. Wu Wen, bring me the item from my rain cape.” Li Si said. Wu Wen pulled out a black cloth bundle from under the rain cape. Li Si unwrapped the black cloth—inside was one of the antiques from the Ding residence—the white lotus vase.
“This is it.”
“This vase is the marvelous… evidence? I can’t see anything special about it at all.” Physician Xing stared at the vase.
“Wait, it seems the white lotus vase has developed some fine cracks, right here.” Wu Wen discovered the suspicious point. Tong Baiquan and several others also crowded over to look. Fu Xiaosheng curiously circled the white lotus vase several times. Because Li Si wouldn’t let him touch it, the chubby boy could only look his fill.
“This Tong is ignorant. Please enlighten us, Lord Li.” Tong Baiquan said. Li Si said, “The crack in the porcelain that Wu Wen saw is precisely the key point. I can tell everyone that the reason the white lotus vase cracked is because of a sneeze.”
“A sneeze?”
“At the time I couldn’t hold back and sneezed. You should know that items like antique porcelain vases are mostly works from famous kilns. Their exquisite appearance goes without saying, but the porcelain body itself is thinner, finer, and more uniform—afraid of impact and easily broken. Add to that several hundred years of wind erosion and water damage, and by today they’ve become as fragile as thin ice. Even the air vibrations caused by speaking loudly at them could shatter them.” Li Si paused slightly. “So one sneeze from me caused the porcelain vase to crack.”
“Here’s the marvelous part: The murderer used a sword to kill Ding Laocai, causing sword qi to surge violently inside the room. From the sword marks left on the walls, it’s obvious—two or three surging sword marks were left near the antique shelf. But what’s marvelous is that the power of surging sword qi far exceeds that of a sneeze. Even one sneeze could crack the porcelain vase, so why didn’t the fierce sword qi damage any of the porcelain in the whole room? This is a mysterious and difficult to explain marvel.” After Li Si revealed the marvelous point, Wu Wen clicked his tongue in wonder: “That’s right, this doesn’t make sense. Could it be the murderer didn’t use a blade or sword type weapon? But then that can’t explain the sword marks left on the wall. How strange!”
“The murder evidence conflicts with the murder method and process. If there’s no reasonable explanation, then the entire murder case itself becomes quite suspicious, inevitably causing one’s imagination to run wild.” The corner of Li Si’s eye inadvertently fell on one person’s face in the room.
“So what’s really going on?” Tong Baiquan’s curiosity was piqued.
“Village Chief Tong, wait a moment. Let’s talk about Widow Sun’s case.” Li Si took a breath and said, “Widow Sun died from the severe poison of a toxic grass called ‘Purple Rouge.’ Half her corpse turned into corpse water, the other half became a purple-blue poisoned corpse. Finding the poisoner is undoubtedly the key to solving the case. Through this investigation I’ve also identified several suspects, all with motives for revenge killing.” Li Si habitually paused again. In the room, Niu Sao, Physician Xing, and Tong Baiquan all had stiff expressions, very unnatural.
Li Si observed this and continued: “But in the process of searching for the poisoner, I felt something was becoming increasingly wrong. So I re-investigated and finally discovered what was amiss—in Widow Sun’s home, there wasn’t a single item belonging to her late husband. There wasn’t even a spirit tablet. Isn’t this rather strange?”
“Is Widow Sun heartless and unjust, or is there another hidden story? I think the latter possibility is greater. At the same time, a bold idea burst forth in my mind. I decided to first ask other people.” Li Si suddenly raised his head and looked at Niu Sao: “Niu Sao, the question I asked you earlier: Do you remember Widow Sun’s late husband? What was his name, what did he look like, what year did he die?”
Niu Sao was stunned. She thought painfully for a long time before saying, “I, I can’t remember.”
“Physician Xing, what about you?”
Physician Xing’s expression was also conflicted. After trying for a while, he shook his head: “I also can’t remember.”
“Village Chief Tong.”
Tong Baiquan shook his head: “I clearly should remember, so why can’t I recall anything?”
“Fu Xiaosheng.”
Fu Xiaosheng said, “I don’t know.”
Everyone’s reactions were exactly as Li Si had guessed. He continued: “Actually, it’s not just you few. I also inquired of other people in the village. From the elderly in their sixties and seventies down to teenagers, not one person remembered Widow Sun’s late husband’s name, who he was, what he looked like, why he died. Everyone’s answer was ‘I don’t know.’ This aligns shockingly with the terrifying notion that emerged in my mind.”
“A person whom the entire village doesn’t remember—he’s like someone who never existed. If he doesn’t exist, then Widow Sun doesn’t exist either. If Widow Sun doesn’t exist, then Widow Sun’s death doesn’t exist. If Widow Sun’s death doesn’t exist, then the murder case of Widow Sun couldn’t possibly exist!” Li Si’s words fell like deafening thunder, making everyone in the room extremely frightened. They looked at each other as if they had seen ghosts.
Wu Wen felt his back run cold: “My lord, you mean there was never such a person as Widow Sun, so there’s no sudden death case of Widow Sun? But… we watched Widow Sun die with our own eyes, watched her corpse turn into a puddle of pus. How could she be a person who doesn’t exist?”
Li Si took a breath and said, “Good question. The scenes we saw were all what someone wanted us to see, so he used the mysterious Hidden Suggestion Technique on us.” Li Si then explained the meaning of “Hidden Suggestion Technique” to those present. Wu Wen half-understood and asked, “If someone used this Hidden Suggestion Technique to make us witness the sudden death of the non-existent Widow Sun, then who is this person… Why don’t I remember being subjected to hidden suggestion at all?”
Li Si smiled faintly: “Wu Wen, think carefully. What was the first thing we saw when we entered Widow Sun’s home?”
Wu Wen thought and said, “The Broken Star flowers in the front courtyard. Those beautiful flowers had all withered.”
“Women are like flowers. Withering also signifies death. Actually, from the moment we entered Widow Sun’s home we were subjected to hidden suggestion, we just didn’t know it at all. Later, after verbal suggestion from the one I’ll temporarily call the ‘hidden suggester,’ outside the window we witnessed Widow Sun withering and dying as a person falls with flowers.” After Li Si finished, Wu Wen was covered in cold sweat. This story as fantastical as Arabian Nights had truly happened around him, difficult to fathom.
“Returning to the topic, let’s talk about Ding Laocai’s murder case again—it’s reasoning that’s the complete opposite of the Sun case. Because the murder evidence contradicts the murder method and process, the murder case doesn’t exist. Because the murder case doesn’t exist, the murdered Ding Laocai also doesn’t exist.” Li Si spoke more shocking words. Tong Baiquan and the others’ eyes bulged wide.
Wu Wen had experience this time and said, “So the reason we saw Ding Laocai’s entire body explode is also because of the hidden suggester’s suggestion?”
Li Si nodded: “The hidden suggester told us that Ding Laocai’s room was full of antique porcelain, fragile. Ding Laocai’s name itself sounds like a wealthy person, and those who possess antiques are wealthy people, so in our minds we naturally associate antiques with Ding Laocai. When the antiques shatter, Ding Laocai shatters. Later, after the hidden suggester’s character description, Ding Laocai appeared and shattered piece by piece before our eyes, like porcelain.”
“Having said this much, Wu Wen, you should guess who the hidden suggester is, right?” Li Si’s tone gradually turned cold.
Wu Wen’s sharp gaze swept over and fixed on him: “The hidden suggester is you—Fu Xiaosheng!”
Fu Xiaosheng still wore a smiling face, as if Wu Wen wasn’t talking about him at all. Tong Baiquan, Niu Sao, Physician Xing, and the others were dumbstruck, staring blankly at Fu Xiaosheng. Fu Xiaosheng looked at Li Si for a while, rubbed his chubby cheeks and said, “This is really no fun. Can you tell me when you figured out the answer?”
“After you told me the secret, I calmed down. Sometimes seeing is not believing—what’s needed is intuition. Intuition told me that ever since I entered Gutan Village, I’ve been pushed forward by an invisible hand. This hand seemed hidden yet not hidden, making me think of the ‘Hidden Suggestion Technique’ that Lao Sitou mentioned to me, which made me suspicious. What confirmed the answer for me was this.” Li Si pulled out a withered Broken Star flower from his bosom. Blood still stained the flower thorn. Li Si looked at the flower and said, “I accidentally pricked my finger on the flower thorn and bled, but I couldn’t smell any blood scent at all, only flower fragrance.”
“Because we needed to emphasize the hidden suggestion effect of the Broken Star flowers, they were given strong exclusivity—that is, near them no other scents could be detected. I didn’t expect you to glimpse the truth of the hidden suggestion through this insignificant flaw.” Fu Xiaosheng smiled like an innocent young child.
“After I confirmed I was eighty to ninety percent within an exquisite hidden suggestion game, I considered who the ‘hidden suggester’ was.” Li Si slowed his speech. “You jumped out very naturally. From the very beginning of the Ding and Sun cases, you repeatedly revealed your hand, leaving me no choice but to catch you.”
“Also, Fu Dabo who assigned you to take us to see Ding and Sun was clearly the most suspicious person, but from start to finish not a single person suspected Fu Dabo. The evaluation of him was also uniform: Fu Dabo is Gutan Village’s blacksmith, the most honest and straightforward good person. To say he’s a murder suspect—no one would believe it. I’m afraid this is also thanks to hidden suggestion.”
“I hate trouble, so I eliminated this suspect.”
“However, when I was puzzled by the reincarnation maze, it was precisely you who gave me the hidden suggestion to walk out of it—that sentence ‘Uncle, have you ever caught the wrong bad person?’ helped me clear away the reincarnation maze and let me walk out step by step.” Li Si looked at Fu Xiaosheng seriously. “Why did you do this?”
Fu Xiaosheng also looked at Li Si: “If you died easily, then this carefully designed game would lose its meaning. That would be too regrettable.”
“I believe what you say.”
“As for the secret of time reincarnation, it’s actually not truly time reversal, but rather you gave those around you special hidden suggestions making them forget what happened before, with their memories returning to September 2nd, continuously repeating what they did that day. So it’s just repetition, not reincarnation.” Li Si solved the mystery of time reincarnation. Fu Xiaosheng nodded: “What he said is correct. You’re an intelligent person. As long as you’re not confused by heart demons, the abilities you display are astonishing.”
“He said—who is he?” Li Si raised an eyebrow, hearing the mystery in Fu Xiaosheng’s words.
“You don’t need to know that. Break the hidden suggestion game first.” Fu Xiaosheng said with a smile, “Strange arts and mysteries, ghost and spirit mazes—no matter how miraculous the game situation, both establishment and breaking points exist. Establishment means death, breaking means life. If those who enter the game are immersed in false appearances, then you are in death’s form. Conversely, if you find the breaking point, then you are in life’s form, and the game situation can be broken.”
“It’s just somewhat regrettable… Well, you should speak the answer.”
Tong Baiquan, Tong Jie, Niu Sao, and also Wu Wen—at this moment they all became motionless like puppets. Li Si asked, “Hidden suggester, do Tong Baiquan and the others truly exist?”
Fu Xiaosheng said mysteriously, “This is a secret. I cannot tell you the answer.”
“Your time is running out.”
“Very well. The murder case of Ding Youcai and Widow Sun in Gutan Village—because the two people Ding and Sun don’t exist, the murderer also doesn’t exist. This is the truth!” Li Si loudly spoke the key to breaking the game. In that instant, it was as if his head had been struck heavily. The space around him shook heaven and earth. The last sentence Li Si heard was Fu Xiaosheng saying, with a hint of emotion: “You only found half the answer…”
Boom! The world collapsed in Li Si’s eyes. Everything went black.