"Who on earth would come to this godforsaken, middle-of-nowhere dump for no reason?"
Zhou Yue was deeply dissatisfied with the information he had dug up.
"Young man, did you guys find anything over on your side?"
Liang Fei's expression sank instantly as well. He shook his head and said, "I've always suspected this was the work of someone they knew."
"But listening to what you just said, even if the villagers were going to rob someone, they wouldn't pick this family."
Hearing this, a sense of unease began to spread quietly among the group again. Liang Fei let out a long sigh and continued, "I don't have a clue right now either."
"However, since the mission gave us a prompt clue that this is a robbery-murder case, that should be correct."
"I..."
Han Cheng raised her eyes to look at Liang Fei, hesitating.
"Spit it out, whatever it is. What time is it now? Is there anything we can't talk about?"
Before Liang Fei could speak, Lu Ming grew anxious.
Liang Fei nodded slightly, and only then did Han Cheng speak up.
"I just asked the middle-aged uncle surnamed Wang next door. He said that a few days ago when he was chatting with the victims, they mentioned that they had made some money recently."
"It's just that most of that money had to be used to pay off debts."
She added another sentence.
"Could the murderer be this guy surnamed Wang?"
Zhou Yue's eyes widened.
"Since they knew each other and knew this family had money, the murderer has to be him. There's no escaping it."
Lu Ming's breathing grew hurried as well.
Could the mission really be this simple?
"Don't rush. Have you forgotten the mission hints?"
Reaching into his pocket, his fingertips touched that sheet of letter paper once again, and Liang Fei's heart sank.
"If we haven't gathered all the clues and point the finger at the killer directly, once we're wrong, all of us will be killed."
That's just how the rules of this world work.
Risk and reward always go hand in hand. Since they could accuse the killer in advance, there would naturally be a corresponding punishment.
To avoid dying an unjust death, Liang Fei had studied the mission's clues and conditions thoroughly.
As soon as he said this, the other three fell silent again. No one dared to make a rash accusation anymore.
Among the issued mission rules, there was one clear red line.
You could accuse the murderer in advance, but the premise was that everyone had to reach a consensus—meaning it required a vote.
Otherwise, what if someone gave up on living, accused the killer on their own, and dragged everyone else down with them to their deaths?
That was entirely possible!
"Isn't it Chen Lan's turn to submit clues tonight? Why don't we just have her submit the guy surnamed Wang as a suspect?"
A suspect and a murderer were indeed two very different concepts.
Having Chen Lan provide this clue could indeed spare the others from the risk.
Yet Liang Fei knew within himself that he could never bring himself to use someone else as a stepping stone.
Lu Ming remained silent. Zhou Yue looked eagerly at the group, while only Han Cheng nervously twisted the hem of her shirt and weakly muttered, "Th-this... doesn't really seem right, does it?"
"What's not right about it? If no one takes the risk, by the third day the clues will just stack up, and we'll all be dead."
Better you than me!
No one spoke up to criticize Zhou Yue's approach because none of them wanted to die.
"Are you trying to have your cake and eat it too?"
Zhou Yue gave a cold laugh. "If none of you want to play the bad guy, then I'll do it. We don't have any other clues anyway, and Chen Lan doesn't have a choice."
"Hold on a second."
Liang Fei spoke slowly, looking between Zhou Yue and Han Cheng beside him.
"Since the money this family used to build this house was chipped in by the villagers, that indirectly shows their neighborhood relationships are pretty good."
"Lu Ming and I have already verified this point."
"Besides, given their financial situation, even if they did make some money, it probably wasn't much. Would a neighbor surnamed Wang kill someone over that little bit of money?"
"To be honest, the probability is really low."
Just as Zhou Yue was about to open his mouth to retort, Liang Fei continued, "Furthermore, Chen Lan has to provide two clues, and this would only be one. Even if she gets eaten by that 'thing'..."
"We still wouldn't be able to tell whether this clue is true or false."
Hearing this, Zhou Yue's breathing suddenly caught.
Clenching his fists in frustration, he blurted out, "This won't work, that won't work—are we seriously just supposed to sit here and wait to die?"
Liang Fei felt somewhat fortunate that it wasn't him submitting clues today.
Otherwise, judging by the current situation, he would undoubtedly be dead.
"Wait, this isn't right. The mission prompt doesn't explicitly state how precise the clues have to be. Can't we just make them a bit vague?"
Seeing the others turn their gazes toward him, Lu Ming explained, "For example, since we don't have a direction right now, we could guess the murderer's gender. That way, we'd at least have a fifty percent success rate."
That was true.
Simply guessing whether the murderer was male or female was much simpler than guessing the murderer's identity.
"If the murderer is male, then couldn't our second clue be getting closer by asking if the suspect's surname is Wang? Or maybe saying the suspect is related to someone surnamed Wang?"
As soon as Lu Ming finished speaking, Zhou Yue's eyes lit up visibly.
Liang Fei was also secretly pondering whether Lu Ming's method was viable.
If this method worked, submitting clues smoothly would become much easier.
Yet there were downsides too. Once they submitted entirely vague clues like this, they wouldn't be able to find the killer by the final day.
That would still lead to a Total Wipeout!
"Liang Fei, what do you think?"
"Young man, I think Lu Ming's idea is pretty good."
The three of them turned their gazes to him. Liang Fei didn't know how to explain himself and was just about to speak when he suddenly caught sight of Qin Kai rushing out of the self-built house's doorway with a look of pleasant surprise.
"H-he's awake."
"What did you say? That kid woke up?"
Liang Fei and the others were filled with wild joy.