“Who?!” Su Man and Zhu Shu spoke almost in unison.

Bai Youwei was slightly embarrassed. “…Could you at least keep your voices down.”

Su Man immediately ran to the door, opened it, and peered alertly left and right. Then she stepped back and gave a thumbs-up.

— All clear! Safe!

Zhu Shu asked Bai Youwei urgently, “Weiwei, who set the trap?”

Bai Youwei drew a circle over two rooms — 202 and 402.

Zhu Shu was momentarily puzzled.

Circling room 402 she could understand — it was the nearest room, and when things had unfolded, room 402’s door had remained shut the entire time. The guest from 402 had only appeared afterward, leisurely making their way downstairs when the detective was questioning everyone on the ground floor.

But why was room 202 also circled?

Bai Youwei spoke slowly, “There are fifteen guests in the hotel. Not counting you and Su Man, there are only three female guests: the deceased, the middle-aged woman in room 405, and one more — who is staying in 202.

“You said the woman had been stabbed multiple times, and that after you heard the scream, you ran out and found a body in a pool of blood —

“But that doesn’t quite add up. When someone is actually being stabbed, they can’t scream. And all those bloodstains scattered everywhere suggest she struggled violently before dying, which would have made considerable noise — yet you heard nothing. Which means only one thing: while you were gathered inside the room, someone was setting up the scene outside. Then they used a young woman’s scream to draw you out.”

Bai Youwei tapped on room 202. “Of course, there’s the possibility that a male guest used a disguised voice to mislead you — but for now, 202 is clearly the most suspicious. She screamed on the fourth floor, then hid inside room 402… these two are most likely working together. Room 405 might be in on it too.”

Bai Youwei went ahead and circled 202, 402, and 405 together, then sat in thought:

“I still can’t figure out what their goal is… It should be related to the mission. There are fifteen guests total, five per team — which means there are three teams in this hotel. So… does that mean there are three different mission objectives in this game?”

Zhu Shu’s eyes widened in realization. “Our goal is to find the killers. Naturally, the killers’ goal is to kill. That leaves five more people — their goal is to… to deal with us?”

Bai Youwei nodded. “That’s very likely. A targets B, B targets C, C targets A — mutually restraining one another, forming a balanced system. This is also consistent with the doll game’s usual design.”

“But — but how do we know which group are the killers? Is it A, B, or C?” Su Man looked at the two women in confusion, unable to follow the logic.

Zhu Shu smiled. “Su Man, we just need to figure out who is working against us. Everyone else — those are the killers!”

Su Man’s expression remained vaguely lost.

Bai Youwei picked up the rough sketch she had drawn and, without hurry, tore it into pieces and dropped them into the waste bin.

“Now that we’ve resolved the question of motive, the remaining problems are… what does the text on the note mean? Why was Lu Yuwen’s life spared? And — who will be targeted next?”

A clear ringing bell sounded from downstairs.

Zhu Shu and Su Man instinctively looked toward the door.

“That’s the 9 o’clock breakfast bell. The hotel serves two meals a day, and all guests are required to come to the first floor to eat.”

“So… these meals are the only two chances each day where everyone can be seen at once.” Bai Youwei brushed her skirt lightly and said with quiet composure, “Let’s go. Time to see what sorts of characters we’re dealing with.”

……

—