Chapter 45

Chapter 45

After Ning Zeshu finished speaking, Ning Zeqi's expression didn't change much, but his foot unconsciously pressed harder on the brake, causing the car to jerk to a sudden stop—a reaction that gave away his real feelings.

Ning Zeqi released his foot from the brake, stepped on the accelerator, and got the car back to a steady speed before replying, "So you *did* see that night. When I went to delete the surveillance footage, I saw you getting into the elevator right after me and Xiao Chu. You didn't try to stop me either, so you have no right to ask me that question."

"Because I didn't expect you'd actually take Xiao Chu to He Shixia's room. I just thought *you* were the one with ulterior motives toward him," Ning Zeshu tsked. "Honestly, even now, I still don't understand what you were thinking, big brother."

Ning Zeqi didn't answer the latter question, only responding to Ning Zeshu's earlier remark: "By law, Xiao Chu is also our parents' son, making him our biological brother. Me, have ulterior motives for him?"

Ning Zeshu laughed. "Does Xiao Chu know your moral standards are this high, big brother?"

While the Ning brothers were at odds, filming for the show on the island continued. The guests had just finished listening to the director announce the rules for today's Werewolf game and received their respective identity cards. They were now sitting together for the discussion phase.

With Fang Shanyou and Ning Zeshu absent, there were exactly ten guests remaining. The director had already announced the team setup for today's Werewolf game:

Two Werewolves, who could kill one player from the Good faction during the "night." One Seer, who could check others' identities. One Witch—in this version of the game, the Witch's only power was the antidote. After the Werewolves killed a player, the Witch could choose whether to use the antidote to save them. One Guard, who could protect one person. If the Werewolves' chosen target happened to be the person protected by the Guard, that person would not die.

The remaining five players included four Villagers with no special abilities, belonging to the Good faction, and one Hidden Wolf, who belonged to the Werewolf faction. However, if the Hidden Wolf was checked by the Seer, they would only register as a Villager.

The Werewolf faction would win if all three power roles (Seer, Witch, Guard) were "killed." The Good faction would win if both Werewolves were eliminated, with the "traitor" Hidden Wolf dying alongside the Werewolf faction. If the number of players in the Werewolf faction equaled that of the Good faction, the Werewolf faction would also win.

The final outcome would determine the guests' dinner for the day.

After the rules were explained, the guests with their identity cards would first participate in a group discussion and vote to eliminate the player they suspected of being a Werewolf. Then, the program team would announce the start of the "night," and the guests would each enter separate rooms prepared by the program team to await their "nighttime" actions.

Compared to the standard Werewolf card game, the program team's setup was more immersive than the usual "night falls, please close your eyes," making the experience more complex and engaging.

Currently, it was still the "daytime" discussion and voting phase.

As everyone sat in a circle, Zhao Ming from the Tomato boy band spoke first: "I've played Werewolf before. Generally, at the start, we should ask about the power roles. Is anyone claiming to be the Seer?"

Zhang Kejiu chimed in: "I've never played this before, but... revealing identities right away? Isn't that too soon?"

Cui Yun said, "That's how it is. After all, it's a game, so we should get into the game as quickly as possible. Asking about special roles is normal; we need to move the game forward. If everyone just says they're Villagers, we won't know how to vote this round."

Cao Ye, who had also played Werewolf before, added: "The Seer can check others' identities and is a very important role. If they reveal themselves, the Guard will know who to protect tonight. However, different players have different playstyles. Some might not claim on the first day since revealing themselves makes the Seer a target for the Werewolves. If the Guard doesn't protect them during the 'night,' the Seer won't be safe."

Upon hearing this, He Shixia raised an eyebrow slightly. "Unless the program team made a mistake and duplicated identity cards, I think I'm the one who's actually the Seer."

The others were taken aback, and then Zhao Ming exclaimed, "Right! If someone counters the Seer claim right at the start, it'll be easier to move the game forward!"

At this point, Wang Zao said in a daze, "One of the two Seers must be fake. A good guy wouldn't pretend to be the Seer, so either Teacher He Shixia or Teacher Zhang Kejiu must be from the Werewolf faction. So, do we vote between them now to decide who the Werewolf is?"

Ren Shi and Qin Muyun, though among the older guests present, were only middle-aged and worked in the entertainment industry, so they weren't out of touch. Moreover, Werewolf was a classic group game from the early days before the internet became widespread, and both had played it before.

Hearing this, Qin Muyun spoke up: "No, the Seer is too important. If we vote out the real Seer in the first round, it'll be very disadvantageous for the Good faction. So, to be safe, we shouldn't vote for either of them."

Zhang Kejiu looked confused. "I'm the real Seer... Oh, I see! Teacher He Shixia must either be a Werewolf or the Hidden Wolf!"

He Shixia replied unhurriedly, "Your earlier reaction did seem like a newcomer who got the Seer card, hesitated when prompted about claiming, and only decided to reveal themselves after learning it was relatively safe. But you reacted too quickly, immediately realizing the Seer was relatively safe. Compared to a 'newcomer who quickly got into the game,' I'm more inclined to think you're pretending to be a newcomer who knows nothing about Werewolf."

Zhang Kejiu still wore a bewildered expression. "Reacting quickly isn't my fault, is it? And I just thought of what normal logic would suggest after being reminded of the gameplay by Teacher Zhao Ming and Cui Yun..."

Cui Yun then spoke up, clearly trying to divert attention to help her teammate—though they might not be on the same team in the game, in a game with friends, it's hard not to be influenced by your real-life relationships.

Cui Yun looked at Wang Zao. "Speaking of which, I don't mean to target anyone, but Teacher Wang Zao's earlier suggestion to vote between the two Seers is quite unreasonable. As Teacher Qin Muyun pointed out, for the sake of the Good faction, we wouldn't risk voting out the real Seer, right?"

Wang Zao also looked confused, then pulled himself together and said, "Me? I... sorry, I've never played this game before, and I was still thinking about what happened this morning, so I wasn't really in the right state of mind. I didn't think much when I spoke; I wasn't trying to muddy the waters. I'm from the Good faction—I'm a Villager."

Yang Jingxian spoke up for him: "Wang Zao is a bit of a hermit; he doesn't play any games at all. He really is a newbie. Saying something wrong at the start doesn't mean his identity is suspicious. Besides, as everyone knows, between the two Seers, there's likely a Werewolf hard-claiming the role. If Wang Zao were from the Werewolf faction, he wouldn't need to risk getting a teammate killed right at the start. He just didn't think it through... Oh, and I'm also a Villager."

Zhao Ming scratched his head. "If we can't vote for either Seer, and everyone else says they're Villagers, the first round of voting is going to be tricky..."

Wang Zao, eager to prove his innocence, tried to push the game forward: "Aren't there two other special roles? The Witch and the Guard. Should they reveal themselves too?"

Cui Yun replied, "It's best not to in the first round, especially the Guard. The director said earlier that in this version of the game, the Guard can't protect themselves. So if the Guard reveals themselves, the Werewolves will definitely go for them. The Witch also shouldn't reveal themselves. There's only one Guard, and now we have two Seers. Who would the Guard protect at night?"

After saying this, Cui Yun continued to look suspiciously at Wang Zao. "Teacher Wang Zao suggesting this makes me find you even stranger."

Wang Zao looked like he was about to cry. "I really am just a Villager. I haven't played this game before, so my mind is a bit slow... Teachers Ren Shi and Ning Yichu haven't spoken yet, have they? Should we hear their thoughts too?"

Ren Shi said earnestly, "I'm also a Villager. I don't have any special thoughts. Maybe we should just follow the usual gameplay. Anyway, let's not vote for either Seer in the first round. We can wait until the second 'day' when they report who they checked, and then decide whether and how to vote based on that. For now, if there's no unified suspect, let's each vote for whoever we want and see who gets the most votes in the end."

After Ren Shi finished speaking, Ning Yichu was the last to speak, leisurely saying, "I haven't played this game either, so I was observing what everyone was saying earlier, trying to pick it up as I go. And I also think Teacher Wang Zao is quite suspicious. Even though you said you're a newcomer and your argument had holes because you didn't think much, you noticed that Teacher Ren Shi and I hadn't spoken yet. I think your observation skills are quite sharp, which goes against what you said about yourself."

As Wang Zao wore a crestfallen expression, Ning Yichu concluded, "So for this round, I'm leaning toward voting for you, Teacher Wang Zao. Sorry about that."

He Shixia chuckled softly.

Ning Yichu shot him a light glare.

Both of them were reborn. Even if they truly hadn't played Werewolf before this segment in their previous lives, they couldn't be considered newcomers now. Ning Yichu was obviously lying through his teeth.

However, apart from knowing that "Zhang Kejiu is indeed an experienced player pretending to be a newcomer" and that "Cui Yun, though from the same girl group as her, doesn't know Zhang Kejiu is an experienced player," Ning Yichu and He Shixia didn't have any other "cheats" in this game.

Because the guest lineup for this game was different from their previous life, their identity cards were certainly different too. The game segment from their previous life couldn't serve as a reference answer; they had to treat this as a new game.

He Shixia felt very pleased with himself after being glared at by Ning Yichu. He said, "Then I'll follow A Ning's vote and vote for Wang Zao too."

Although Zhang Kejiu looked hesitant, she also said, "I think Cui Yun's earlier doubt makes sense. Teacher Wang Zao does seem a bit suspicious, so I'll vote for him too..."

Surprisingly, Cui Yun became conflicted: "But then again, his loophole was too obvious. What if he really is just a Good faction player who doesn't know how to play? If we vote him out, we'll be down one person..."

Zhao Ming, the experienced player who had opened the game's first discussion, said, "But we have to vote someone out blindly in the first round. Voting for a suspicious person is better than voting completely randomly, right? Sorry, Teacher Wang Zao, I'm voting for you too."

Thus, although Wang Zao looked utterly wronged, he had already received four votes. After Cui Yun hesitated and also chose to vote for him, that made five votes. With ten people in total, and Wang Zao not being smooth-talking enough to immediately convince the remaining four to vote for the same person and force a tie, his elimination in the first round was a foregone conclusion.

After Wang Zao was voted out, the director announced the start of the first "night." All guests headed to the rooms at the end of the corridor, entering their respective rooms according to the nameplates on the doors, with each person in a separate room.

Since Wang Zao was already "dead," his room door would be locked after he entered, and he couldn't come out until the first Werewolf game ended. However, that room also had a live-streaming camera. Viewers who wanted to see his situation could choose to watch the corresponding live stream.

"Hehehe, this is exciting."

"This place is an abandoned, unfinished hospital, so having patient rooms is normal. But even though it was never put into use, the atmosphere is still a bit creepy..."

"Werewolf needs this kind of atmosphere. I think it's really interesting, hahaha. The program team probably chose this location specifically to match the game."

"Place your bets! Guess who the Werewolves are?"

"Between the two Seers, Zhang Kejiu really seems like a quick-reacting newcomer, but He Shixia is too calm, as if he's telling the truth..."

"I think He Shixia is suspicious. With his acting skills, pretending to be calm is easy."

"Zhang Kejiu's fans, do any of you know if she's played Werewolf before?"

"Cui Yun doesn't seem to doubt Zhang Kejiu's claim, so she probably really is a newcomer, right?"

"This is interesting. If He Shixia is a Werewolf and Ning Yichu is from the Good faction..."

After the guests entered their respective rooms and closed the doors, the program team arranged a "night talk" segment.

Electronic screens installed in the rooms allowed for video calls with people in other rooms, but required the program team to connect them.

First was the fixed segment where the two werewolves were connected to decide their target for the night. During this segment, other non-werewolf players could only stay put. Only after the werewolves finished their call could they use the button options on the electronic screen to request a conversation with someone in another room. Of course, they could also choose not to request—this wasn’t a mandatory part of the process.

Thus, the audience, who had previously only been able to guess who the werewolves were without seeing the identity cards, finally gained an omniscient perspective—they saw that after the director announced the start of the "werewolf connection" via the broadcast speakers in the corners of each ward, the electronic screens in Ning Yichu and Zhao Ming’s rooms lit up.

"Damn, the werewolves are actually them?"

"Zhao Ming was so active earlier, I thought he was a good guy!"

"Ning Yichu hid it so well! I thought he just wasn’t interested in the game, but turns out he’s a werewolf who was really observing everyone…"

"This is interesting. Will Ning Yichu choose to kill He Shixia first?"

"If that’s the case, among the two Seers, unless there’s a good guy boldly claiming the role, one of them should be the hidden wolf, right?"

"Who do you think the program team arranged to be the hidden wolf? [thinking]"

Ning Yichu and Zhao Ming weren’t surprised to see each other, as their identity cards were specifically assigned by the program team rather than randomly drawn on the spot.

At this moment, Zhao Ming scratched his head on the other end of the video call: "I didn’t expect the program team to pair Teacher Ning and me as werewolf teammates. I think we both performed pretty well earlier—that’s a good start, right, Teacher Ning?"

Ning Yichu smiled: "Indeed. Who do you think we should kill tonight?"

Zhao Ming said: "The two of us are werewolves. Unless something unexpected happens, one of Teacher He and Teacher Zhang, who claimed to be Seers, should be the hidden wolf—that’s our teammate. When the director announced the game rules, he said that if we kill the hidden wolf, they won’t die. But we also won’t be told whether that person is the hidden wolf, or if they survived because they were guarded, or because the witch used an antidote. It’s a bit tricky…"

Ning Yichu drew on his experience from his past life—in the first game of his past life, Zhang Kejiu was a good guy, so her approach was to admit she was an experienced player and use that to dominate the conversation.

Therefore, in this life, Zhang Kejiu, who chose to pretend to be a newcomer, likely had a suspicious identity.

But Ning Yichu couldn’t say he deduced this from his past life experience, so he only said: "Based on my understanding of He Shixia, he probably isn’t lying—he’s the real Seer. And as an actor with fairly recognized acting skills, it shouldn’t be hard for him to spot others’ signs of acting. He said Teacher Zhang is pretending to be a newcomer, and I’m inclined to believe that."

【Wow, wow! "Based on my understanding of He Shixia"～～～】

【"An actor whose acting is fairly well-regarded" hahaha, if someone in the entertainment industry said this, it might sound sarcastic, but since it’s Ning Yichu saying it, if He Shixia himself heard it, he’d probably be over the moon】

"I feel like A Ning’s next sentence is going to be about killing the real Seer. Film Emperor He is in danger!"

After hearing Ning Yichu’s analysis, Zhao Ming nodded in agreement: "Indeed, Teacher He does seem like the real Seer. Then Teacher Zhang is likely our hidden wolf teammate, but until we’re sure, we’d better not expose our identities. We can observe Teacher Zhang’s performance later."

"As for who to kill tonight… although killing the real Seer would be a big gain for our werewolf team, if the guard chooses to believe Teacher He is the Seer and protects him tonight, we’d end up with an empty kill."

Hearing this, Ning Yichu said directly: "We won’t kill He Shixia."

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!"

"Even though it’s just a game, is he instinctively protecting his partner? So maybe Ning Yichu doesn’t dislike He Shixia as much as he lets on?"

"I don’t think it’s that simple…"

Zhao Ming was taken aback, also thinking Ning Yichu was reluctant, and said: "Alright, we were worried about an empty kill anyway…"

"He Shixia will follow my vote, even if it goes against the spirit of the game—he’ll follow blindly. So he can essentially be considered part of our werewolf team," Ning Yichu explained. "Keeping him, the real Seer, poses no risk and is actually an advantage."

Zhao Ming was stunned again, then awkwardly said: "Oh, oh, so that’s what Teacher Ning meant. I thought it was… you know, since you two are a couple, haha."

"CP fans’ hearts are breaking right now, wuwuwu"

"Hahaha, so not killing He Shixia isn’t about protecting his partner, but about using him?"

"Even so, I think Brother He would still be happy—after all, his wife needs him!"

"Blindly following votes really lacks sportsmanship (pointing fingers), but that’s so He Shixia (shrugs)"

Ning Yichu didn’t respond to Zhao Ming’s comment and continued: "Let’s kill Cui Yun tonight. She’s quite skilled at playing, and from her speech, she doesn’t seem like just a pure good guy—she might have a special role. If she’s the guard, she can’t protect herself. If she’s the witch, the likelihood of the guard protecting her instead of the Seer tonight isn’t very high either."

Zhao Ming had no objections to this.

Once the two werewolves decided on their target, the program team ended their connection and opened up the right for the remaining players in other rooms to request video calls with others.

This segment’s video calls were strictly one-on-one, and multiple calls could proceed simultaneously as long as there were no conflicts.

Ning Yichu had just finished his video call with his werewolf teammate Zhao Ming when he received a connection request from He Shixia—as long as one party requested and the other was available, the call would start automatically without needing the latter’s consent, making it a forced connection.

That He Shixia would contact him didn’t surprise Ning Yichu.

But what caught Ning Yichu off guard was that as soon as the video connected, He Shixia looked at him and immediately guessed his identity: "A Ning, you’re one of the werewolves?"

Ning Yichu raised an eyebrow: "Your method of convincing me you’re the real Seer is quite unique."

The Seer’s choice of whom to check and the guard’s choice of whom to protect would only happen after this connection segment ended completely. After that, the program team would ask the witch whether to use the antidote based on the werewolves’ chosen target.

In short, even if He Shixia really was the Seer, it wasn’t yet time to confirm other players’ identities. Ning Yichu thought He Shixia was bluffing.

He Shixia naturally understood Ning Yichu’s meaning and chuckled: "A Ning, I don’t need to bluff about your identity… Every time you finish talking to someone, you look a bit tired. I could tell from your expression, and your voice is indeed slightly hoarse—probably because you just finished talking with your other werewolf teammate?"

Hearing this, Ning Yichu instinctively touched his face, then thought blankly that he really should have kept his mask on—he wore it in the morning but didn’t bother putting it back on after lunch.

Ning Yichu said to He Shixia: "Deducing identities based on off-field information—you’re doing a great job as a Seer."

He Shixia smiled: "Then you should also know that, based on off-field circumstances, no matter what your identity is or whether we’re on the same team, I’ll unconditionally stand by your side…"

Although he knew this and had even said it to his werewolf teammate earlier, Ning Yichu still felt a bit annoyed that He Shixia had guessed his identity.

He let out a light hum.

He Shixia couldn’t help but laugh and continued: "…even if it means sacrificing me and my teammates’ lives for you."

Hearing this, the live-stream audience collectively spoke up on behalf of He Shixia’s teammates—

"Help! What do you do when a teammate decides to betray the team to please their crush?"

"A special role turning traitor—the good guys are in danger!"

"Teammates: Sacrifice? Me? Nooo—"