Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Ning Yichu found He Shixia's words a bit too theatrical. "We're not performing a stage play. Can you be less dramatic? So, Mr. Seer, who do you plan to check tonight?"

He Shixia chuckled. "You're buying that I'm the Seer just like that?"

"You'd better be. If you're just a Hidden Wolf, you'd be pretty useless," Ning Yichu retorted.

He Shixia adopted a serious tone. "Well, it's a good thing I really am. Ning, who do you want me to check?"

Ning Yichu thought back to how everyone acted during the first round of voting and made a decision. "Start by checking those who were more active at the beginning to figure out who the special roles are. Check Cao Ye tonight. After 'daybreak,' quietly tell me the result. If he's a Villager, give him 'golden water' normally; don't raise any alarms. If he's a special role, directly issue a 'check kill,' label him as a Wolf."

In a typical Werewolf game, the Seer can only check if someone is a Wolf, not their specific non-Wolf role. But in this show's rules, if the Seer checks a special role, while it won't specify which one, the result will indicate "special role" rather than just "Good Faction."

Since the Good Faction loses if all special roles are eliminated, even if they outnumber the Wolves, giving special roles a chance to recognize each other and group up is important.

"So, issuing a 'check kill' on another special role means either others believe me and vote that special role out, or they are convinced by them that I'm a Wolf and vote me out. Either way, we take out a special role, which benefits the Wolf Faction, right, Ning?" He Shixia couldn't help but laugh. "What if I get myself voted out? You'd be down a vote."

Ning Yichu tilted his head slightly. "If you're foolish enough to get yourself eliminated just by issuing a 'check kill,' then losing you would be for the best."

He Shixia found his "ruthless" expression utterly adorable and smiled even wider. "Alright, then I'll check Cao Ye tonight... Speaking of which, is your Wolf teammate Zhao Ming or Cui Yun?"

Ning Yichu wasn't surprised He Shixia could ask this.

After all, he had suggested checking players who were active from the start. Not checking Zhang Kejiu, who had already claimed Seer, was normal. But both Zhao Ming and Cui Yun were more active than Cao Ye, yet he hadn't mentioned either. He Shixia naturally realized what that implied.

Since He Shixia was on his side anyway, Ning Yichu simply stated, "Zhao Ming."

"Got it. So, you chose Cui Yun as your kill target tonight?" After saying this, He Shixia sighed lightly. "I think the production team made a poor choice here."

Ning Yichu didn't understand. "Hmm?"

He Shixia: "Not making us teammates. I think that's a very poor choice."

Ning Yichu: "...If you have nothing else useful to say, let's end this here."

"Hahahaha, but from an entertainment perspective, putting Film Emperor He and Ning Yichu on opposing factions is more fun."

"Teammates in He Shixia's faction: Fun? Thanks a lot."

"The Witch only has one antidote for the entire game, usually used on the first night. The show's rules only give the Witch an antidote, no poison. So, it's very possible the Witch can't do much after tonight."

"If Cao Ye is a special role and He Shixia, as the Seer, issues a 'check kill' on him, making the opposing Hidden Wolf think Cao Ye is a real Wolf and desperately protect him, while Cao Ye also thinks Zhang Kejiu is the real Seer and allies with her... that would be interesting."

After Ning Yichu and He Shixia's video call ended, the production team soon announced that all video connections were complete and it was time for the night phase.

As Wolves, Ning Yichu and Zhao Ming had already chosen their kill target. The production team would handle the process; they just needed to wait in their rooms for "daybreak" and the results.

A short while later, the production team broadcasted that it was now "day," beginning the second day. Players could leave their rooms again for group discussion and the second round of voting.

"Finally, last night, the Wolves successfully killed player Cui Yun. Teacher Cui Yun's room door is now locked. Please, like Teacher Wang Zao who was voted out on the first day, wait quietly in your room until the end of this first game," the director announced.

Hearing this, Ning Yichu raised an eyebrow. While there are cases of Wolves killing themselves to fake an antidote use and establish a good identity, it's generally too bold for the first night. Most Witches would use the antidote on the first night unless they strongly suspected the target was a Wolf.

Neither he nor Zhao Ming had expected their choice to go so smoothly.

The remaining "alive" guest players left their rooms and gathered in the central hall to sit down for discussion. The previously active Zhao Ming spoke first again: "A death on the first night? Did the Witch suspect Teacher Cui Yun was a Wolf... It couldn't be that Wang Zao, who was voted out yesterday, was actually the Witch, so the antidote is already gone?"

Zhang Kejiu frowned. "So the Wolves thought the Guardian would protect one of the two Seers and didn't gamble on killing me or Teacher He. But I didn't expect them to choose Cui Yun as the first night's target..."

Qin Muyun also spoke up: "Excluding the possibility of a Wolf self-killing on the first night and failing, Cui Yun should be from our Good Faction. The Witch not using the antidote could also mean... Cui Yun herself was the Witch."

The Witch cannot use the antidote on herself.

Ren Shi added: "Wang Zao, who was voted out in the first round, was indeed the most suspicious at the time. We didn't know who else to vote for. But thinking about it carefully, Wang Zao might really have just been a Villager who didn't know how to play, neither a Wolf nor the Witch. If Cui Yun herself wasn't the Witch, then the antidote should still be available."

"Anyway, with no other clues for now, and the Witch won't jump out to reveal their identity," Yang Jingxian suggested, "should we hear the results of the two Seers' checks from last night?"

After leaving their rooms, everyone walked together, and He Shixia hadn't had a chance to tell Ning Yichu about Cao Ye's identity. But saying it now was fine; Ning Yichu would understand the truth from his explanation.

He Shixia looked at Zhang Kejiu. "You go first?"

Zhang Kejiu looked embarrassed. "I checked Cui Yun last night. She was from the Good Faction... I didn't expect her to be killed last night. My story might sound a bit unreliable now."

Cao Ye responded, "Your explanation does sound a bit shaky. Wolves using a killed player to establish an identity isn't uncommon. But I think the chance of a Wolf claiming Seer right at the start is relatively low. Yours sounds more like a Hidden Wolf giving 'golden water' based on seeing who the Wolves killed..."

Zhang Kejiu argued, "Cui Yun and I are the closest. On the first night, with no other suspects—I directly consider Teacher He, who's claiming Seer against me, as from the Wolf Faction, so there's no need to waste a check on him—so choosing to check Cui Yun is perfectly reasonable."

Cao Ye still expressed doubt: "Teacher He said earlier you might be a veteran player pretending to be new. Listening to your speech now, you really don't sound like someone who's never played this game before."

The possibility of Zhang Kejiu being a Hidden Wolf was high. Zhao Ming, wanting to protect someone from the Wolf Faction, quickly spoke up: "Let's continue and hear Teacher He's check result, then look at the overall situation."

To Cao Ye's embarrassment, He Shixia looked at him and said, "Cao Ye was quite active at the start 'yesterday' but only spoke once at the beginning to call for the Seer, then didn't speak again. I found you a bit suspicious, so I checked you. Sure enough, you are a Wolf."

Cao Ye's eyes widened. "Wh-what? No, I'm not! Teacher He, you're actually a fake Seer!"

He Shixia remained calm and composed. "You just suspected Teacher Zhang Kejiu was a Hidden Wolf, and now you suspect I'm a fake Seer. So where is the real Seer?"

Cao Ye was momentarily speechless, then said, "It seems I was too suspicious earlier. Teacher Zhang is the real Seer, and she did check Teacher Cui Yun, who was killed last night... I'm a Good person, Teacher He, you're the fake Seer!"

At this point, Qin Muyun asked, "Teacher He, why didn't you check Teacher Ning? I thought you'd be most concerned about his identity."

Ning Yichu, like during the previous voting round, didn't speak unless addressed. Now, he lazily looked at He Shixia.

He Shixia looked back at him and smiled. "No need to check. With his detached attitude, he couldn't possibly be from the Wolf Faction."

"I'm not either!" Cao Ye exclaimed again, trying to rally who he thought was the real Seer, Zhang Kejiu, against He Shixia. "Teacher Zhang, you're the real Seer, right? Then Teacher He is from the Wolf Faction. Since he claimed Seer after you, and if he were a Hidden Wolf who didn't know the real Wolves, he probably wouldn't dare randomly issue a 'check kill'—what if he accidentally 'kills' a real Wolf? So he must be a real Wolf who knows his teammates! Let's vote Teacher He out!"

Cao Ye's logic was actually quite sound. But to everyone's surprise, Zhang Kejiu said, "No, Teacher He should be the real Seer, because I'm actually a Villager who boldly claimed Seer."

This twist even made Ning Yichu pause slightly.

He quickly realized—in the first game of his previous life, Zhang Kejiu was the real Seer. As a veteran player, she chose to admit she was experienced and then claimed the Seer role to control the narrative. In this life, Zhang Kejiu chose to pretend to be new and also claimed Seer. These two opposite choices could only mean Zhang Kejiu was a fake Seer this time.

"Zhang Kejiu is a Hidden Wolf boldly claiming Seer" was just the deduction based on conventional game logic. But as an experienced player, it was normal for Zhang Kejiu to have a bold, unconventional playstyle.

Zhang Kejiu explained herself: "I did often play Werewolf with friends before my debut. I was pretending to be new earlier for this reason: generally, there will be Wolves or a Hidden Wolf who boldly claims Seer. I jumped out first to preemptively take that 'bold claim' position."

"I knew I wasn't the Seer. So, if only one person claims Seer after me, that person is most likely the real Seer. A Hidden Wolf, seeing two people already claiming Seer, would worry one of them is a Wolf and wouldn't jump out to claim Seer themselves. Real Wolves would also think a Hidden Wolf has already claimed."

"As for me, since early rounds usually don't vote among those claiming Seer, and Wolves won't target them either, it's quite safe. My initial plan was to wait until the real Seer issued a 'check kill' and the accused denied being a Wolf, then I would 'take off my Seer clothes' to corroborate the real Seer."

Zhang Kejiu concluded: "Based on the current situation, Teacher He should be the real Seer. Of course, it's also possible Teacher He is from the Wolf Faction, saw me as the real Seer and claimed against me, while the real Seer chose to observe. If that's the case, then Teacher He is a Wolf, and the real Seer can jump out now. Otherwise, if we vote for the person the Wolf issued a 'check kill' on, we'll vote out a Good person."

After Zhang Kejiu finished speaking, no one refuted her.

Cao Ye looked around, on the verge of tears. "No one else is claiming Seer? But I really am from the Good Faction... I'm the Witch! I still have my antidote unused. If you vote me out, you lose a special role, and the Good Faction will be doomed..."

Earlier, Cao Ye had doubted Zhang Kejiu. Now the tables were turned. Zhang Kejiu questioned him: "Then why didn't you give Cui Yun the antidote? What made you suspect her?"

Cao Ye protested, his face a picture of injustice, "Because she also seemed pretty familiar with the game, and during the first round of voting, she was constantly defending you. At the time, I believed Teacher He was the real Seer, so I suspected you two were wolf teammates who knew each other's identities—you had jumped as the Seer, and she was covering for you."

"So when I saw the 'night' kill turned out to be her, I wondered if you two were pulling a reverse psychology move. Usually, wolves wouldn't kill one of their own right off the bat, and the Witch would save the first night's kill. Maybe you two were betting on that to trick me into using my antidote, so I chose not to save her. Earlier, I called you out because I suspected you. I never expected Teacher He to claim I'm a wolf..."

He Shixia remained calm and measured, "Your logic seems reasonable, but that only proves you might be a high-level player who had an alibi ready in case you were found out. Because I am the real Seer, and I'm certain you're the real wolf. Cui Yun was very vocal during the first round of voting yesterday, and she was the first to question Wang Zao. You wolves realized she'd be trouble, so you targeted her."

Ren Shi asked the others, "Does anyone want to claim Witch?"

No one stepped forward.

Cao Ye doubled down on his defense, "Maybe the real Seer isn't even with us anymore! Perhaps Wang Zao or Teacher Cui was the real Seer!"

"Even if Wang Zao wasn't good at the game, he wouldn't have stayed silent about being the Seer when he was about to be voted out. That's reason enough for us to hesitate voting for him in the first round," Yang Jingxian analyzed. "Teacher Cui is even less likely. Yesterday, she was the one backing up Teacher Zhang after she jumped as the Seer. If she were the real Seer, she wouldn't have helped a fake Seer knowingly."

Ning Yichu leisurely summarized, "Anyway, either we believe He Shixia is the real Seer and vote for Cao Ye based on his check, or we believe Cao Ye is on the good side, making He Shixia the wolf who gave him a guilty check, while the real Seer for some reason isn't speaking up now, and we vote for He Shixia. Well, I'll vote for Cao Ye too."

Ren Shi and Qin Muyun also voted for Cao Ye. Cao Ye was unanimously voted off, looking both frustrated and confused.

"I feel for you, Cao Ye, really, hahaha."

"Only the audience with an omniscient view knows how wronged Cao Ye is."

"The good guys are done for, right? Cao Ye was the Witch, and he's been voted out. Cui Yun, killed last night, was the Guardian. Now the good side has neither antidote nor Guardian, only a real Seer in He Shixia, who's lying lower than the actual hidden wolf. As long as Ning Yichu realizes Cui Yun was the Guardian and only one divine role is left..."

"Then Ning Yichu will make He Shixia dig his own grave, all divine roles will be eliminated, and the wolves win."

Once again, it was time for the wolf video call.

Zhao Ming said, "I never expected Teacher Zhang to be a regular civilian who jumped as the Seer. Luckily, even though we suspected she might be the hidden wolf, we didn't recklessly try to 'recognize' her. Teacher Ning, Cao Ye was probably really the Witch, right?"

Ning Yichu nodded, "I had He Shixia investigate him 'last night.' If he came up as a divine role, He Shixia was to call him out. Now we just need to find the Guardian, eliminate that divine role, and we can win."

Zhao Ming pondered again, "But who is the hidden wolf...? Never mind, let's decide who to target tonight. I think we can directly target Teacher Zhang. Even though she's a confirmed good player, the Guardian wouldn't protect a civilian like her over the Seer. Considering external factors, the only one who might blindly protect Teacher Zhang would be Teacher Cui Yun, but she's already been killed. Targeting Teacher Zhang tonight is almost risk-free."

Ning Yichu thought for a moment and said, "Teacher Zhang now believes He Shixia is the real Seer and trusts his investigation results. It's better to keep her. Tonight, target... your remaining teammate, Teacher Yang Jingxian. If the Guardian is between Teacher Ren Shi and Teacher Qin Muyun, they might choose to protect the Seer, or take a risky move to protect Teacher Zhang. They might also protect each other because they're a couple off-screen. But no one would specifically protect Yang Jingxian."

Zhao Ming scratched his head, "Alright, that works too. At least we reduce the number of good players. If he turns out to be the hidden wolf, we can figure it out. If he isn't, after this game ends, I'll get an earful from my three teammates, haha. I picked off my own teammates one by one from the get-go."

After deciding the target, the wolf call ended, and free communication time began. As usual, He Shixia came to find Ning Yichu.

"A Ning, who do you want me to investigate tonight?" He Shixia asked with a light laugh.

Currently, there were four civilians left: Zhang Kejiu, Yang Jingxian, Ren Shi, and Qin Muyun. Zhang Kejiu's identity was pretty much cleared, and Yang Jingxian would be directly targeted tonight, so after some thought, Ning Yichu said, "Investigate Teacher Qin Muyun."

He Shixia agreed, then suddenly said, "A Ning, you actually trust me now, right? You're sure I'll unconditionally stand by your side."

Ning Yichu paused slightly.

"Hmm, feels like there's more to those words."

"Obviously not just talking about the werewolf game."

"I trust you'll blindly obey me in the game," Ning Yichu looked at He Shixia on the electronic screen. The small red mole at the corner of his left eye disappeared into the crease as he raised his brow slightly. He continued, "That's all."

He Shixia laughed.

In this round of the werewolf game, the second night was a peaceful night, with no players eliminated.

Therefore, Ning Yichu and Zhao Ming could basically confirm that their target last night, Yang Jingxian, was likely the hidden wolf among the civilians.

Since there was no Witch's antidote left, and Yang Jingxian was an unremarkable player without a special role, the Guardian wouldn't protect him over the confirmed Seer. Even if they took a risky move, they'd protect someone more likely to attract the wolves' attention, like Zhang Kejiu. It was unlikely they'd go so far as to protect Yang Jingxian. The fact that Yang Jingxian wasn't killed probably meant he was the hidden wolf and couldn't be targeted.

Sure enough, on the third "day," Yang Jingxian came out as the hidden wolf, "I'm the hidden wolf. If I'm not mistaken, Teacher He is indeed the real Seer, but Teacher Ning, who's been low-key and seemingly uninterested in the game, is one of the wolves, right? So Teacher He betrayed the good side to help the wolves and called out Cao Ye, who was one of the divine roles."

Zhao Ming couldn't help but widen his eyes.

Ning Yichu smiled slightly.

Ren Shi, Qin Muyun, and Zhang Kejiu—the three pure good players—were stunned.

As a relatively experienced player, Zhang Kejiu quickly realized, "Wait... if what you're saying is true, you're the hidden wolf, and there are two wolves left. Teacher He is on the good side but will vote with the wolves. That means..."

"That means, as long as we wolves, plus He Shixia the Seer, vote together for one of you—Teacher Zhang, Teacher Qin, or Teacher Ren—we can definitely succeed in voting out another good player this round. After that, the good side will have three players left, and the wolf side will also have three. With equal numbers, the wolves win," Ning Yichu said slowly and methodically. "So Teacher Yang chose to reveal his identity now."

Ren Shi and Qin Muyun were shocked, "You're really a wolf?"

Yang Jingxian sighed in relief, "Actually, I was taking a gamble too. If I was wrong and Cao Ye, who was voted out last round, was the real wolf, the wolf side would be in trouble. Luckily, I was right. I didn't reveal myself to the wolves earlier because I was afraid I couldn't convince you. But last night, you targeted me—the director notified me of that—so I knew I could use the peaceful night to prove I'm the hidden wolf. Looking at the situation now, Zhao Ming must be the remaining wolf, right?"

With seven players in total, four of them already bound by votes, the outcome was decided. One good player was voted out, leaving three players on each side, and the wolves won.

Afterward, the three other guest players who had been locked in rooms were released. The production team revealed the identities, and everyone learned that Cui Yun was the Guardian. On the first night, she protected her teammate and the Seer she believed in, Zhang Kejiu, while she herself was targeted.

The first werewolf game ended, but the afternoon wasn't over yet. The second game continued, with the production team handing out new identity cards.

Although the outcome of the afternoon games affected dinner, it wasn't that crucial in the grand scheme. However, since they were recording a show, the guests generally immersed themselves seriously in the games, which made for very entertaining viewing for the audience.

After the afternoon games ended and the guests went to the dining area to cook and eat, they returned to their respective accommodations as night fell.

Back in the red-brick house, Ning Yichu took his phone and went straight into the bathroom, tapping away on the keyboard for quite a while.

When he came out, He Shixia asked curiously, "A Ning, were you contacting someone?"

Ning Yichu replied without hesitation, "Yes, contacting my illicit lover."

He Shixia paused slightly, "..."

"Hahahaha, is A Ning treating us too much like insiders?"

"Even though I know it's a joke, it still feels thrilling, hehe."

[If He Shixia asks for the "illicit lover's" contact information now, it would be an epic scene.]

Ning Yichu tilted his head, "What are you hesitating to say?"

He Shixia sighed softly, "A Ning, could you please not casually say 'illicit lover'? It makes me feel like you're being shortchanged, and it bothers me."

Ning Yichu, "..."