Chapter 87

Chapter 87

"Hahahahaha, another classic moment from the new episode is here!"

"Welcome to watch: 'Su Xingyao's Series of Outsmarting the Director'"

"Originally, I thought Su Xingyao would definitely be out of tricks this time since the program team searched so thoroughly, but he actually brought a kids' smartwatch!!! As expected of you, Su Xingyao."

"Su Xingyao: Outsmarted the director's expectations."

"Hahaha, why does Su Xingyao always find so many quirky but fun stuff? It's so interesting."

"Our singer with the cat persona is just a simple cat afraid of the dark, what harm could a little kitten possibly do (sparkling eyes)."

"To be honest, the flashlight on this kids' smartwatch is pretty bright, what brand is it? I'm sold."

"Same here, sold. Is the boss watching the show? Hurry up and drop the link for Su Xingyao's same model!"

The flashlight on the smartwatch stood out in the dark.

The group, initially freaking out over the power outage, now gathered around Su Xingyao, excitedly checking out the kids' smartwatch he brought.

"Thank goodness we have you, Su Su."

"Su Su being here really puts me at ease."

"Honestly, this one looks pretty cool."

"Su Su, don’t forget to send me the link after the show, I want to buy one too."

The audience was left wondering: Why wasn’t the link shared with them first?

While everyone was chattering, only Chu Zian hung back silently, watching Su Xingyao without a word.

Su Xingyao's face blurred in the watch's light, then turned into a shadow.

Chu Zian got so scared he stepped back, but then bumped into something.

Immediately, he felt a chill run down his spine.

He was already at the back of the crowd, there should be no one behind him.

So who was behind him??

Chu Zian’s imagination nearly scared him to death.

He screamed and quickly looked back.

Behind Chu Zian stood two masked figures in black.

It was Chu Zian’s first time, so he wasn’t in on the show’s gimmick.

But the others were all old hands.

Especially Luo Yiyuan, who instantly shielded Su Xingyao.

Well, more accurately, he was protecting the kids' smartwatch in Su Xingyao’s hand.

He shouted at the men in black, "Listen up, we were searched before we came in. Su Su's smartwatch was brought in legitimately, it's just a watch for telling time, you better not take it!"

The other guests quickly joined in to protect the watch, "Exactly, don't even think about taking it! It's just a watch, not anything suspicious."

The director, who was instructing the men in black to collect the watches: ...

This is ridiculous! Absolutely ridiculous!!!

Under everyone's protection, the kids' smartwatch was ultimately not taken by the men in black.

To make sure the director didn't back out, everyone quickly followed Su Xingyao to locate the power switch.

Chu Zian, who had been inexplicably frightened, felt like he overreacted but was still shaken.

In such a terrifying environment and atmosphere, with his not the strongest nerves, he was genuinely scared.

Because he had something to hide here, he was always worried that his secrets might be revealed at any moment.

With a restless heart, he hung back in the group.

Gu Feiyang, who was second to last, glanced back at him and asked curiously, "Zian, why do you look so pale?"

Chu Zian glanced at the distant camera and quickly forced a neutral expression.

"I'm fine."

With Gu Feiyang's question, the audience also noticed that Chu Zian's expression wasn't normal.

"Chu Zian was fine just now, what happened? He looks so pale."

"Was he scared by the men in black?"

"Ah... he’s way too jumpy."

"I think it's because he's guilty and uncomfortable. Didn't he have a conflict with Su Xingyao before?"

"No wonder, Su Xingyao is so popular now, someone like him must feel pretty bitter being on the same show with him."

The audience couldn't read minds, so naturally, they didn't know Chu Zian's hidden thoughts.

After this little episode, everyone’s focus shifted back to the others.

With the flashlight illuminating the way, the guests also relaxed a lot.

Everyone walked together and after searching the room, they quickly found the circuit breaker in a small room on the second floor.

Luo Yiyuan hurried over to pull the circuit breaker, and the large room was immediately bright again.

"Ah, finally, we see the light again... ah, what the hell!!!"

Before Luo Yiyuan could finish his exclamation about seeing the light again, he was scared back by what he saw.

Following Luo Yiyuan's panicked gaze, everyone looked and saw a long, dragging bloodstain on the floor.

At the end of the bloodstain, there was a corpse.

Although it was a prop used by the production team, seeing such a bloody scene right after the lights came on really gave everyone the creeps.

The relentless shocks were driving Chu Zian to the edge of insanity.

The sight of the sickening bloodstains made him want to bolt, but the last shred of reason reminded him they were filming a show.

Su Xingyao patted the terrified, screaming Luo Yiyuan, signaling him to calm down, then stepped forward to approach the corpse following the blood trail.

Crouching beside the corpse, he flipped it over from its face-down position.

The other guests followed his lead.

Wu Ningning hugged herself and grumbled, "I thought this was a horror escape show... so why is there a murder scene now..."

As she spoke, everyone got a clear look at the corpse.

An ordinary pen was lodged in the back of the victim's head...

His hands and feet were twisted into a grotesque, unnatural position, obviously broken by someone.

Even though it was a prop, the corpse, resembling a ragdoll dragged down the hallway, still gave off an eerie vibe.

As Su Xingyao searched the corpse for clues, Gu Feiyang made a startling discovery.

"Hey, Yiyuan, why’s this corpse dressed just like you?"

At Gu Feiyang’s remark, everyone quickly glanced at Luo Yiyuan’s outfit.

The prop corpse was dressed exactly like him.

Luo Yiyuan pointed at himself with a pained expression, "Damn, is this supposed to be me..."

Seeing Luo Yiyuan’s grimace, Gu Feiyang teased, "Could be. It does look like you. Spill it—what’d you do in the past? Look how you ended up."

Luo Yiyuan started to deny it, but then he seemed to recall something, paused for a moment, and spoke with a puzzled look.

"But I’m right here. If that’s me, what’s going on?"

Xie Jin interjected, "Parallel universe?"

As the words left his mouth, Su Xingyao unbuttoned the corpse’s shirt, exposing its chest.

The camera zoomed in on four blood-red words.

"Game begins."

Luo Yiyuan broke out in goosebumps.

As Su Xingyao made the discovery, the housekeeper Xiao Ai’s sinister voice echoed through the room.

"Hehehe, those who do wrong must be punished~ So, dear guests, follow the rules and be good citizens, hehehe~"

Luo Yiyuan looked up at the disembodied voice and said, "We’ll follow the rules. Uh... Sister Ai, don’t just freak us out—give us something to work with, like tasks or clues..."

"And what does ‘Game begins’ even mean..."

Not just Luo Yiyuan—all the guests were completely baffled.

Aside from their own identities, they were clueless about everything else.

And most crucially, the game had already killed off a "guest" right from the start.

Xiao Ai giggled twice before playfully responding to Luo Yiyuan.

"Hmm~ So, why don’t we all think about why we’re here? Hehehehehe."

After Xiao Ai finished her routine and said these words, the room went quiet again.

The sneaky production crew deliberately flickered the lights a few times, ramping up the creepy vibe.

Su Xingyao searched for a while but found no other valuable clues on the corpse, so he started thinking about what Xiao Ai said.

"So there must be some connection between us that brought us here."

Xie Jin looked at Wu Ningning, "One of us is a judge, the other a lawyer, so our professional connection makes sense. What about you? The dead rich guy? The author, the journalist, and the office worker..."

"How are you all connected?"

Wu Ningning took over, "It doesn’t seem like we’re connected, or could it be that we’re all involved in some case?"

Gu Feiyang shrugged, "Maybe."

Su Xingyao pondered for a moment and then asked everyone, "So, who brought us together?"

This question left everyone stumped.

After all, no one knew who had brought them together.

So Gu Feiyang said, "Whatever, let’s keep searching for clues, we might figure it out soon."

This episode’s setup was scarier than usual, so after Gu Feiyang spoke, he suggested that everyone should stick together in case something goes down.

"Let’s go check it out," Wu Ningning also agreed, raising her hand and preparing to move forward.

"Hold on... maybe we should wait."

Su Xingyao didn’t move and stopped everyone in their tracks.

Su Xingyao was the sharpest and most observant of the group, so when he suggested waiting, everyone except Chu Zian stayed put.

"I think we should split up to look for clues."

Upon hearing that they had to split up again, Luo Yiyuan, who had just endured two rounds of fright, immediately looked distressed.

"Split up again..."

"Su Su, can’t we stick together? This place is creepy, and there’s a dead body—it’s freaking me out."

Gu Feiyang ignored him and directly asked Su Xingyao how they should split up.

Su Xingyao pointed to their location, "I just looked, this house has three floors. If we all search room by room together, we’ll probably run out of time."

As he spoke, he gestured for everyone to look at the decorations on both sides of the corridor lights.

"These hourglasses have been timing all along."

After Su Xingyao’s hint, everyone noticed that there were indeed several inconspicuous corners with hourglasses placed.

"I feel like our search might be timed..."

Right after Su Xingyao shared his guess, the system chimed in.

"Congrats, everyone! You’ve unlocked the first task—Exploring the Villa. You’ve got one hour to complete it."

As soon as the system finished speaking, the hourglass immediately started ticking.

When she heard the prompt, Xie Jin gave Su Xingyao a thumbs up.

"Su Su’s got some sharp eyes."

With just an hour to search this huge villa and find clues, the tight deadline was clearly set by the crew to push everyone into splitting up.

So, the six of them had no choice but to split up.

Because Su Xingyao was basically a cheat code and didn’t fear ghosts, everyone actually wanted to be in his group.

But after a quick round of rock-paper-scissors, Wu Ningning won and teamed up with Su Xingyao.

Luo Yiyuan paired up with Xie Jin, and Gu Feiyang, being the experienced guest, stepped up and teamed up with the quiet Chu Zian.

Once the groups were set, they each took a floor to search.

Su Xingyao and Wu Ningning headed to the top floor.

The lights up here were dim, maybe because they were old.

In the dim light, everything looked hazy, like it was wrapped in a thin fog.

With more people around earlier, it didn’t feel as creepy.

But now, with just the two of them on the empty third floor, the nervous Wu Ningning felt like someone was tailing her.

"Su Su, I swear someone’s watching us… what’s going on?"

Su Xingyao caught the shake in her voice, stopped, and motioned for her to look back.

"Yeah, someone’s definitely watching us."

Su Xingyao pointed to the hidden camera and whispered, "The director’s got eyes on us."

The director, watching through the lens: ??

Wu Ningning, who’d been scared moments ago: !!!

"No wonder something felt weird! You’re messing with us, director!!"

After Su Xingyao’s reminder, Wu Ningning instantly felt fearless, even speaking with more confidence than before.

She stuck out her tongue at the camera, then bravely reached for a random door.

But her courage vanished in seconds as she leapt out of the room.

"Ahhh Su!! Su Su!!!"

Su Xingyao, who had found nothing in the neighboring room, quickly came over, pushed open the door, and then gasped.

Completely different from the villa’s ornate medieval style, this room had a bizarre, manic atmosphere.

The walls were entirely decorated with mirrors of various shapes and sizes.

The floor and the rest of the room were entirely split into black and white zones.

Of course, that wasn’t the creepiest part.

The reason Su Xingyao was also somewhat shocked was because "Xie Jin," dressed in a black and white professional outfit, was hanging upside down in the center of the room, her tongue cut out and bound there.

The mirrors on all sides mirrored the gruesome state of the corpse, appearing chaotically hundreds of times throughout the room.

This was quite a visual shock for anyone.

The viewers in front of the screen were freaked out.

"This scene is way too intense!"

"Oh man, I’m gonna have nightmares tonight."

"Ugh, I hate that there’s no jump-scare warning for live streams."

"Is the production team going all out for the final episode?"

"Is this really just mildly scary? It’s downright terrifying!"

Seeing this scene, Su Xingyao quickly snapped out of it.

He quickly stepped in front of the startled Wu Ningning to shield her, looked around, and then slowly led her further in.

As the two entered, their reflections multiplied in the room’s mirrors.

Su Xingyao looked up and noticed that even the ceiling was one big mirror.

At that moment, the mirror reflected him looking upward.

The room’s ceiling was low, and when Su Xingyao looked up, it felt like he was staring straight at himself in the mirror.

The whole thing was pretty eerie.

In the end, Su Xingyao stopped Wu Ningning from looking up.

After a moment of staring, he looked away.

With Su Xingyao by her side, Wu Ningning had relaxed a lot.

After all, the corpse in the room was just a fake. She had been scared at first glance, but now that she saw it up close, it wasn’t as bad.

Since they had found the corpse, the production team would’ve left useful clues around.

They were short on time, so after examining Xie Jin’s body, the two split up to search the creepy room.

Finally, Wu Ningning found a locked drawer.

"Su Su, come check if you can open this."

After trying several passwords without success, Wu Ningning turned to Su Xingyao for help.

"I tried her birthday, the date on the document, and the time on the clock, but none of them did the trick."

Generally, the production team wouldn’t set overly difficult passwords. While they wouldn’t directly provide the correct answer, it wouldn’t be too far outside these possibilities.

"Today, I just can’t figure out the password for this lock," Wu Ningning frowned, feeling stumped.

Su Xingyao crouched down, listening intently to Wu Ningning while carefully observing.

His gaze finally landed on the clock Wu Ningning had mentioned.

It was a clock without a battery.

The time displayed was 10:56.

Su Xingyao toyed with the clock in his hand and then handed it to Wu Ningning, "Give this clock another try."

Wu Ningning looked confused.

But given Su Xingyao's knack for solving puzzles, she didn't doubt his words and just looked at him seriously.

Su Xingyao flipped the clock upside down.

The previously tried numbers changed as well.

Wu Ningning's eyes immediately lit up, "So the password is the numbers upside down?"

With that, she quickly entered the numbers.

But after entering 9201, the lock remained closed.

Su Xingyao reminded her, "Try reversing it left and right too."

Wu Ningning nodded and re-entered the numbers, changing them to 0129.

This time, the lock clicked open.

Wu Ningning clapped her hands happily, "Su Su, you're a genius. You even thought of flipping the clock's numbers upside down and left and right."

Su Xingyao glanced at the dense mirrors in the room and explained to her, "The mirrors gave me the idea."

With that, Su Xingyao glanced up at the top mirror again, forming a vague hunch.

However, he didn't have evidence for this guess yet, so he didn't mention it for now.

Once unlocked, Wu Ningning discovered a document in the drawer, detailing Xie Jin's defense in a campus brawl case a decade ago.

It outlined how Xie Jin, acting as a lawyer, had defended Luo Yiyuan pro bono.

After skimming the document, they searched the remaining rooms.

After gathering some more clues, they headed downstairs.

Meanwhile, on the first floor, Xie Jin and Luo Yiyuan, who were searching, also found the body of Judge Wu Ningning.

Wu Ningning's death was just as horrific as the others.

Her crimson lips were crammed with cash, and she was literally suffocated by the countless bills.

The guests from the first and third floors had uncovered crucial clues, so everyone converged on the second floor, which was lagging behind.

Gu Feiyang and Chu Zian had located the crucial room, but they were stumped by a hidden compartment door.

As everyone filed in, Gu Feiyang was puzzling over a jumble of letters he had found from various books on the shelf.

Luo Yiyuan, who'd already uncovered clues about Wu Ningning, gave him an encouraging pat, "Brother Feiyang, what's wrong? Can't piece it together?"

Gu Feiyang gave a resigned nod.

Luo Yiyuan glanced at the letters and quickly suggested, "Why not just arrange them in alphabetical order?"

Gu Feiyang couldn’t help but laugh, "You think I haven’t tried that already?"

After saying that, he picked up a few letters and handed them to Luo Yiyuan.

"It didn’t work, and this time there are 30 letters, not 26."

Luo Yiyuan then noticed that in the pile of letters, there were two b's, two f's, two n's, and two s's.

In addition to the 26 letters, there were four more.

Now Luo Yiyuan hesitated to offer any more suggestions, "So, what do we do now?"

As he spoke, Luo Yiyuan instinctively looked towards Su Xingyao.

Su Xingyao blinked, giving a look that said, "Why are you looking at me?"

Clearly, Gu Feiyang and Luo Yiyuan were thinking the same thing, as they both turned their gaze towards Su Xingyao.

"Su Su, can you help me with this puzzle?"

Su Xingyao nodded but said, "I don’t have any ideas yet, let’s all take a look."

Immediately, everyone gathered around to look at the puzzle.

This puzzle was a bit different from the usual ones, split into three rows.

The first row had ten spaces, the second had nine.

The third row had only seven.

Wu Ningning added up the numbers, "That adds up to 26 spaces, but if it’s not the 26 letters, then what is it?"

Xie Jin also felt something was off, "This layout seems familiar..."

Su Xingyao also found it familiar.

Unable to recall it right away, he glanced around and casually asked, "Whose room is this?"

Gu Feiyang shook his head, "I don’t know, but I think the person must love reading."

He pointed to the bookshelves filled with books, "These letters were gradually found in the books."

Hearing this, Xie Jin offhandedly added, "I think it’s your room."

Su Xingyao looked at the books and suddenly thought of Xie Jin’s words.

"Don’t you think this 10.9.7 format... resembles a keyboard?"

"What?"

"A keyboard?"

Su Xingyao nodded, then picked up the letters and started arranging them.

"Earlier, while searching, we found Xie Jin’s room, and Yiyuan mentioned they found Ningning’s room and body downstairs. These bodies and rooms match up with us, so I think this room is connected to you."

Su Xingyao looked at Gu Feiyang.

He said, "You’re a writer, right? Don’t writers need keyboards to type?"

As he spoke, Su Xingyao started arranging the first row of ten letters.

The audience watching instantly had a lightbulb moment.

"No way, seriously, no way!"

"Su Xingyao’s reasoning makes a lot of sense."

"This room really does seem like something Gu Feiyang would have."

"Wait, so the password is actually the keyboard layout order?"

"So, what’s the keyboard order? Anyone know?"

"No wonder this layout looked so familiar—it’s the keyboard!"

"So, guys, what’s the order?"

"Hold on, let me check my keyboard."

At least some viewers on their computers could quickly check the answer.

But the guests didn’t have a keyboard to check, so they just watched Su Xingyao arrange the letters, asking each other, "Do you remember the keyboard order?"

"Of course not, who even remembers that?"

Gu Feiyang grumbled about not remembering the keyboard order, but it slowly took shape under Su Xingyao’s fingers.

Seeing this, Gu Feiyang was stunned into silence, then quickly changed his tune: "Of course, my Su Shen would remember!"

As Gu Feiyang praised him, Su Xingyao finished arranging the letters.

Seeing this, viewers with keyboards immediately checked Su Xingyao’s arrangement.

"Well? Did he get it right?"

"Perfect, it’s exactly the same."

"Wow, Su Xingyao’s brain is something else."

After Gu Feiyang’s praise, he eagerly tried to open the secret room door.

But the door didn’t move.

"Huh? Why didn’t it open?"

The audience was stunned.

"It didn’t work?"

"Did we get excited for nothing?"

"So it’s not the keyboard layout?"

"Su Xingyao’s live broadcast just hit a snag..."

Before the barrage audience could type a few more comments, they saw Su Xingyao pick up the remaining four letters and rearrange them on the previous keyboard sequence.

Immediately, a projected keyboard appeared on the secret room door in front of Gu Feiyang.

"Type in 'bnsf'," Su Xingyao instructed.

Gu Feiyang, fearing the projected keyboard might vanish at any moment, immediately and trustingly typed in the four letters.

The next second, the secret room door opened.

Gu Feiyang turned back to Su Xingyao in surprise, "It's open! It's really open!!"

"That's the password!! What was it again... 'b' something..."

Seeing the door open, the guests happily made their way towards it.

As he walked, Luo Yiyuan curiously asked Su Xingyao, "Why is this the password?"

Su Xingyao glanced into the secret room and simply replied with four words, "Stir up trouble."

Luo Yiyuan let out an "Ah..." clearly not understanding.

But the next second, he didn't dwell on the password issue anymore because inside the secret room, as expected, lay Gu Feiyang's corpse.

The body was in a posture of repentance, kneeling on the keyboard he used for his creations, holding a brand new book in his hands.

This book was none other than "The Moment of Justice," the very one that had made him famous.

After all that decryption, only to see his own death scene, Gu Feiyang was left speechless, standing there in shock.

Luo Yiyuan, however, perked up immediately and, circling the kneeling prop corpse, said to Gu Feiyang with a grin, "Brother Feiyang, you were just criticizing me, but look how miserable you are now."

"Even in death, you're kneeling on a keyboard, tsk tsk."

Amidst the audience's laughter, Gu Feiyang didn't say a word but simply reached out and gave Luo Yiyuan's head a firm press.

All three groups of guests had found key clues on their respective floors, and Xiao Ai timely reminded everyone that it was time to return to the initial hall.

The guests returned to their starting positions and began integrating all the clues they had found.

"So, now we've found the bodies of me, Ningning, Xiao Jin, and Brother Feiyang," Luo Yiyuan said, then glanced at Su Xingyao and Chu Zian, "Why aren't there any of you two..."

Chu Zian remained silent, but Su Xingyao smiled.

"Maybe there are, we just haven't found them yet."

After saying this, he pointed to the clue they had just found.

It was a yellowed case file stating that a murder had occurred in this manor a year ago, and all the vacationing tourists had died.

Luo Yiyuan gasped, "So, all six of us are actually already dead?"

"Then what are we now? Ghosts?"

Xie Jin rolled her eyes at him, "I feel like we're more like we've traveled back to this parallel universe to investigate the truth or save our former selves."

Wu Ningning looked puzzled, "Then who killed us?"

Su Xingyao shook his head, "Let's keep looking at other clues."

Since no one knew what was happening, Gu Feiyang opened the book he had taken from his own corpse to see if it contained any additional information.

The production team thoughtfully provided a synopsis instead of making everyone read the entire novel.

"This novel is about a school bully named Su Xingyao, who, due to a lack of love since childhood, became psychologically twisted and often bullied weaker classmates. Later, a fiery and justice-driven student named Luo Yiyuan transferred in and couldn't stand Su's actions, so he stood up to protect the bullied classmates. Tensions flared between them, and Su Xingyao started targeting Luo Yiyuan alone. Eventually, Luo Yiyuan, unable to endure the harassment, fought back but accidentally severely injured Su."

Gu Feiyang took a breath and continued, "Originally, Luo was the one in the right, but Su managed to paint himself as the victim by exaggerating the incident online. As public opinion grew, Luo, who was already an adult, faced the prospect of imprisonment."

"In the end, a compassionate lawyer named Xie Jin offered free legal help, and under the fair judgment of Judge Wu Linlin, who upheld justice despite public pressure, Luo Yiyuan was vindicated."

"After the truth came to light, Su, unable to bear the backlash of public opinion, disappeared off the face of the earth."

After reading the synopsis, Gu Feiyang added, "It also says that this is based on a real-life incident adapted by Gu Feiyang."

"Because of the hype around the real-life incident and the controversial issue of school bullying, this book became an instant hit upon its release. Gu Feiyang also successfully became a top-tier writer."

After Gu Feiyang finished the story, everyone looked uneasy.

They exchanged glances, and finally, Luo Yiyuan scratched his head and spoke up.

"Something about this book feels off to me."

Other guests also chimed in, "I feel the same way, but I can't pinpoint why."

Su Xingyao, sitting at the edge of the group, gave a faint smile after hearing this.

He took the synopsis from Gu Feiyang and marked it with a few wavy lines.

"The content of this book does feel strange."

After saying this, he turned the marked content around to show the others.

"Because it doesn’t make any sense."

As soon as Su Xingyao finished speaking, the system's prompt sounded.

"Congratulations to all guests for unlocking the second phase of the mission—uncovering the truth."