Amidst mounting panic, everyone began to introduce themselves and share their personal information.
Of the two female participants, the one wearing a white dress was named Chen Lan.
The other was named Han Cheng.
"Excluding today, this Mission has seven days left."
The bespectacled, mild-mannered man with a lean build was named Qin Kai.
He looked around at the group and said, "Originally, there were seven of us, but one is already dead."
"For the time being, shouldn't we figure out how to divide up the tasks? Who is going to take care of him?"
He gestured toward the second floor, clearly referring to the Little Boy who needed looking after.
"And how are we supposed to get through the days ahead?"
"I just checked the kitchen. Although things are a bit sparse in this house, there's still some rice, flour, vegetables, and meat left."
Everyone exchanged anxious glances.
Taking care of the Little Boy was one of the requirements of the Mission.
Perhaps the killer, upon realizing there were witnesses to their crime, would return to silence them all!
Seeing that no one else was speaking, Liang Fei suggested, "How about this: the two women can be responsible for cooking and taking care of the Little Boy, while the four of us men handle finding clues..."
Before he could even finish, Chen Lan panicked and blurted out, "I don't want to take care of him."
She looked around cautiously at the others and added, "I don't know how to look after people, and... I don't know how to cook either."
"Then what *can* you do?"
Hearing that, Zhou Yue instantly lost his temper.
Look at these two!
One was like an overgrown baby who had never grown up—or had lived such a carefree life that she lacked the basic ability to survive on her own.
The other had a fiery temper and spoke without a filter.
"I can look for clues," Chen Lan retorted defensively. "What are we supposed to do if you guys can't find any?"
She grabbed Han Cheng’s arm, seemingly trying to rope her into alliance. After all, facing four men on her own made her quite nervous.
"Expecting you to find clues is about as reliable as a sow climbing a tree." Zhou Yue wore a look of utter disdain.
"Who are you looking down on?"
"You..."
Zhou Yue was about to snap back when Liang Fei interrupted. "If you want to look for clues, that's fine."
He turned to Han Cheng. "What about you? Do you want to look for clues too?"
"I... I can take care of the Little Boy. But since I'm a woman, some things might be a bit inconvenient. Could we..."
Compared to hunting for clues, Han Cheng actually felt that looking after the Little Boy would be easier. Traces of terror still lingered in her eyes.
"Alright then. Qin Kai... you and Han Cheng can take care of the Little Boy together," Liang Fei decided.
Qin Kai gave a slight nod. Liang Fei continued, "As for the cooking, we can take turns among the rest of us?"
Lu Ming and Zhou Yue exchanged glances and raised no objections, so Liang Fei pressed on.
"Everyone is clear on the Mission's instructions by now. We have a total of seven days, and not only do we have to find the murderer..."
"We also have to provide one correct clue every single day. Since someone is already dead, that means we need to provide *two* clues tomorrow."
"We're all grasshoppers on the same string now."
At this, Liang Fei's tone grew slightly heavier. "I hope we can share every clue we find. Otherwise... there is simply no way we'll survive until the seventh day."
This wasn't alarmism. Putting aside whether they could even find clues right now...
If anyone hid a piece of information, the person who submitted a false clue would be killed.
Between their numerical disadvantage and the compounding clues, they would be slowly ground to death.
Next came building a fire and cooking.
In modern society, these survival skills had gradually faded from women and shifted over to men.
After a hearty meal, everyone began assigning rooms.
Since there weren't enough beds, Qin Kai and Han Cheng rolled out makeshift pallets on the floor of the Little Boy's room.
Liang Fei, Zhou Yue, and Lu Ming crammed into another room together.
That left only Chen Lan by herself.
Because night falls quickly in mountain villages, the surrounding stillness was terrifying.
Left all alone, Chen Lan felt utterly uneasy the moment she closed her eyes.
With no other choice, she finally swallowed her pride and squeezed into the Little Boy's room to sleep beside Han Cheng.
"Brother, do you think all of this is real?"
Inside the pitch-black room, Zhou Yue still refused to accept reality.
"To be honest, even now I can't bring myself to accept it. This place is too terrifying."
Before Liang Fei could reply, Lu Ming shifted closer to him.
Liang Fei harbored deep thoughts and also felt that the atmosphere inside this self-built house was suffocatingly heavy.
However, he had inspected the house thoroughly from top to bottom and hadn't spotted anything unusual.
He still had no idea what they were going to face next.
"That woman is truly dead. There's no mistaking it."
As soon as Liang Fei said those words, both Lu Ming and Zhou Yue shuddered.
"This case is so bizarre. This family was obviously so poor, yet the clues indicate that it was a robbery-homicide." Liang Fei frowned.
"Could it be that they were killed before they even had time to renovate?" Lu Ming’s voice was laced with obvious panic.
"No." Although Liang Fei's tone was flat, it was exceptionally firm.
"If the renovations weren't finished, they probably wouldn't have moved in yet."
"All the appliances and equipment here are very old; they were clearly brought over from an older home."
"And as you saw, the battered television in the master bedroom looks like something from the last century. If you left it lying on the road, nobody would give it a second glance."
Zhou Yue chimed in, "Given a family's living conditions like this, what on earth is there for anyone to covet?"
"Besides, Brother... didn't you say earlier that this was very likely an inside job?"
"That doesn't make any sense!"
Lu Ming couldn't help but flip over, lying on his side to look at Liang Fei. "If it was an inside job, given how destitute this family was, what was there even to rob?"
Robbery-homicides generally fall into two categories: targeted or random.
If it were targeted, it's impossible they would have chosen such a destitute household.
If it were random, the door locks couldn't possibly be completely undamaged.
Unless the murderer possessed special lock-picking skills.
Liang Fei remained silent.
His mind was a tangled mess.
In short, any number of possibilities existed.
Just as Zhou Yue had complained earlier, they weren't professional investigators.
Facing a scene like this for the very first time, they had no idea where to even begin.
Until...
Ah...
A piercing, agonizing scream suddenly echoed from the Little Boy's room.