A9 was starting to feel bored. It figured the rest of the plot wouldn't amount to anything beyond a few predictable clichés—within this horror setup, people would die one after another out of fear and suspicion, stepping into the mastermind's trap piece by piece.
Perhaps everyone hid secrets in their past, but from the looks of it, it wouldn't take long for them all to be dug up. Besides, what did these petty matters between mortals have to do with it?
And then there was Lin Mo... Hadn't she been furious at the start? It had thought she would go on a killing spree the moment she went out, but who knew that as soon as she ran into acquaintances, she would turn into their little follower!
What on earth was she doing? Was this still the Lin Mo it knew?
Could it be... Could it be that she had her own plans?
This was beyond annoying. Who wanted to play a whodunit game with these ordinary people? Even if... even if everyone here truly was guilty, weren't they all formidable figures with names to their credit? Lin Mo wasn't clean either.
It couldn't even bear to watch on Lin Mo's behalf anymore. It had been so long, yet they still hadn't found a way out, and people just kept dying one after another.
If everyone was going to die anyway, why not let Lin Mo do the deed? That way, she could gain points, climb the leaderboard to get exposure—wouldn't those deaths have more value then?
Lin Mo would live on carrying their share!
As long as her deterrence and visibility increased, maybe her stats could even go up, rather than watching others harvest kills while she stayed scared out of her mind, terrified that she would be the next victim.
If the one doing the killing was Lin Mo, wouldn't there be nothing to be afraid of?
However, Lin Mo didn't seem particularly scared this time.
Something wasn't right...
After pondering for a long time, A9 finally decided to risk its head and ask Lin Mo what she was thinking.
[Are you planning to just sit by and wait for them to get wiped out?]
Along with its question, it added a piece of good news: [I saw your phone and personal belongings outside the manor. They're buried in a corner. Since this is an isolated island with no chance of a signal, the other side didn't take your things seriously, so they didn't bury them too deep.]
[We can't get on the protagonist's righteous storyline anyway, so we should just be villains—chaotic evil, all the way! Let me help you steal a few kills to score some presence. Otherwise, we'll be forgotten by the plot. If we keep wasting time here and end up being targeted as prey by someone else, we won't get any good out of it either.]
Unexpectedly, this time wasn't just a solo stage for its own grumbling. Lin Mo actually replied, and A9's head remained firmly attached to its neck.
Her demeanor lacked the deep-seated indifference etched into her soul by her subconscious, taking on more of the real world's vigilance instead.
Lin Mo: [Me... me? Why would I do that?]
A9: [! You're surrounded by criminals who all harbor ulterior motives! Don't you think they're trying to harm you?]
[Hurry up and kill them! Kill them fast! Even if you really do something, it'd be ridding society of an evil. Every single one of them has a higher kill count than you. Being so hesitant doesn't even sound like you!]
Lin Mo's expression was so serious it didn't seem like a joke at all. [What are you talking about? There are so many people... how could I possibly manage it alone? Besides, they haven't done anything to me, have they?]
When she had initially thought she was the murderer, she had felt some anxious thoughts and an urge to act. But after learning that everyone had more or less committed their own dark deeds, her nerve-wracking anxiety had long since settled back down.
A9...
It hadn't seen her afraid of numbers when she took the Chief's head right out from among a dozen bodyguards.
Having been given an inch, it pushed for a mile, growing arrogant: [Kill them!!! What are you waiting for!]
Lin Mo...
Lin Mo turned her head away. [C-Calm down a bit.]
A9...
...
“I told you, didn't I? None of us can escape,” Chen Xijian said, closing her eyes upon seeing the tragic scene below, her face entirely numb.
Despair and gloom hung heavily over everyone. The sound of a cane thudded against the floor. When it stopped, the tip of the cane rested against the back of Yuan Ying's knee.
Yuan Ying had been leaning down to observe near the shattered railing. The sudden touch startled her. She stabilized her footing, turned back with a frown, and snapped, “What are you doing!”
The old lady's cane was kicked aside, but she wasn't angry. She bent down to pick it up and supported herself on it. “Since he died just like that young girl, why don't you tell us about his secrets as well?”
Zhang Qiumin said, “...That was a man, old lady.”
Yuan Ying retreated to a safe spot, the floorboards creaking under her feet. She shook her head. “No, forget it.”
When the old lady looked up, Lin Mo finally noticed that her appearance wasn't actually as old as her voice sounded. Judging by her face alone rather than her posture, she looked to be only in her fifties—not at all as old as she acted, and certainly not frail enough to have such difficulty walking.
Why hadn't she noticed this earlier? She recalled carefully, but the memory of the old lady petting the cat under the tree had already grown hazy.
The old lady continued, “I just found an exit. In exchange, I can tell you where it is. Otherwise, it'll take you a while to find it, and as you know, there's no food in this dump.
“Ha, even if we can't go back, having something to eat outside is still better than staying in here.”
As the number of dead increased, everyone was beginning to reveal their true colors.
Yuan Ying muttered to herself, “Can't go back?”
On the other side,
A9: [Go get your phone, Lin Mo!]
Lin Mo, calm inside, answered it reasonably, [There's no signal here.]
A9 clutched its tail and scurried around randomly. [Go get it, go get it, go get it.]
All the exits had been sealed, but Yuan Ying knew the manor was likely located by the sea. The sea breeze brought in rain, and the air seeping inside carried a salty, fishy odor.
Can't go back. Could this place be an isolated island beyond anyone's reach?
Since she had already exposed the first victim's secret, she had no credibility left to speak of anyway.
If she could get outside...
She still harbored doubts. “Then why don't you go out yourself?”
“When you get old, your body isn't so agile anymore.”
Chen Xijian said, “Just tell us...”
She muttered dispiritedly, “If you don't say it now, there won't be many people left, and by then there won't be anyone left to listen anyway...”
Yuan Ying...
That actually makes a lot of sense.
“The man who just fell down probably isn't the killer mentioned over the broadcast. On the contrary, I actually felt he was about as honest a person as they come.”
“Even though he was struggling financially, he used to collect recyclables to sponsor several impoverished children in mountain areas. Since we were neighbors, I often received thank-you letters that were sent to the wrong address.”
Lin Mo rubbed her fingers together again and again.
A good person? How could there be a good person? Was it not as she had guessed?
Yuan Ying changed her tone.
“However, when he was young, he robbed and murdered a family of five because of his debts, then fled after looting their valuables. Among those who died were two children under ten years old.
“Still, I feel that given the person behind the broadcast's affection for their younger brother, it must be someone closely related by blood. But the family he wronged is completely dead, so the incident doesn't match.”
Hearing this, the old lady kept her word and led them to the window of a small room at the very end of the corridor. It looked like a servant's room, cramped and confined.
Surprisingly, the window wasn't nailed shut; with a bit of effort pushing outward, one could squeeze out.
Through the cracked window, everyone could see lush trees, and further off, the boundless sea. The sky retained only a faint glimmer of twilight, while misty rain blew continuously off the ocean and into the window, chilling everyone's hearts to the core.
Indeed.
Rate on N.U.
