Chapter 38.1
(It’s not time for me to confront you.)
Just in case: mentions of some uncomfortable and hideous crimes. Princ.i.p.al Zha is a… character.
The crowd in front of the coffin shop gradually dispersed.
The last one to leave was Xun Feng, since he could sense that Gu Liang’s emotions were slightly off-kilter. Hence, instead of leaving immediately, he walked towards Gu Liang to ask him a few questions first.
The entire interaction was absorbed into Yang Ye’s retinas.
However, Gu Liang did not display any peculiar or obvious reactions in the face of Xun Feng’s concern.
Yang Ye only saw Gu Liang shaking his head at Xun Feng before Xun Feng had turned around and left, looking more helpless than before.
Yang Ye eyed Gu Liang before he tracked towards the coffin shop’s backyard directly. “I’ll stay inside for a while, perhaps for around 15 minutes or so, to stop them from thinking that something is amiss.”
Despite his prolonged silence, Gu Liang still followed him to the entrance to the backyard. “What are you trying to do?”
Instead of answering his question directly, he switched to a different topic. “Gu Liang, you need friends to play this game.”
Gu Liang: “What brought you to this conjecture?”
Yang Ye: “Have you not realised that we’re encountering a lot of acquaintances in this scenario? I think there’s a reason for the system arranging it this way, and it’s even possible that it encourages players from the same scenario to enter the next scenario together. If that’s the case, it can prevent players who had played different scripts from revealing information through means of persuasive deception. While the system definitely tries its best to prevent such things from occurring, it can’t reckon against all the eventualities.”
“Your point?”
“My point is, if we were to play the game to its very end, it’s plausible that all the players will know each other. When that time comes, it doesn’t matter what the script or the truth is. In order to ensure that their friend doesn’t die, the people who know how to play well can directly cause a tied vote.”
“Not necessarily. Since the system has designed so many complex scripts, it will definitely find a way to prevent such a simple and crude voting method.”
As Gu Liang said that, he and Yang Ye walked through the backdoor and arrived at the bottom of the stairs. Then, he continued, “You’ve forgotten the fact that this game has gold coins for rewards. We still don’t know what the gold coins can be exchanged for at the end. If immense benefits and the subject of life and death are thrown into the fray, what is the likelihood that people will remain friends? A businessman pursues profit; I thought you understood this principle the most.”
When Gu Liang finished saying those words, Yang Ye came to a halt immediately.
His actions were so abrupt that when Gu Liang looked forward unconsciously, he knocked into his thick and broad back.
Gu Liang wanted to raise his hand to rub his b.u.mped nose, but it was at this moment where Yang Ye suddenly turned around. Following the momentum of his extended hand, Yang Ye closed the door and pressed Gu Liang against it at the same time.
“You’re always saying such words on purpose.” There was a slight interrogative quality to his tone.
Indifferently, Gu Liang said: “I’m simply stating the nature and norms in a human relations.h.i.+p. Human nature always had the least resistance to tests.”
Yang Ye: “That day, you refused to act against Princ.i.p.al Zha and willingly accepted the punishment instead. You’re not that sort of person.”
Surprise spread across Gu Liang’s face. “Really, was there such a thing? How unfortunate, I don’t recall.”
Yang Ye: “…..”
Smile receding, Yang Ye stared at Gu Liang with a straight face, and his expression possessed the utmost solemnity.
Gone was that smile which belonged to a businessman who achieved success without any trouble; for the marrow-deep combative spirit within Yang Ye made itself known, and it was brought to a point where his entire person appeared quite fierce and tough.
“Fine. Then I’ll tell you right here and now. Before being a businessman, I was a soldier first.”
Yang Ye’s voice was exceptionally heavy, and there was some audible hoa.r.s.eness to it. “I will never give up on any of my comrades.”
“You might treat someone as a comrade, but does the other person treat you as a comrade?”
“Sure, even if we were to follow your logic where everyone pursues their own self-interests, you could afford some caveats. At least this is just the third script. The time where you have to make an enemy out of everyone is far off, at least… you haven’t reached the point where you take me for an enemy.”
He seemed to realise that his tone was too harsh after saying that, so he let out a gentle sigh and softened his voice. “Gu Liang, you can trust me. No matter what happens, although I’m no longer serving in the military, but…”
“I know. In the days where we were resting in Xiaoyao Sect, you’ve mentioned that you partic.i.p.ated in the efforts to abate the flood disaster. You said that you were entrusted with the protection of the country for the betterment of the common people.”
Gu Liang regarded Yang Ye calmly for a moment before he pushed his hand away and walked outwards, “But you have to consider if the person you’re trying to save is worth it.
“I’m going to look for other clues, see you later.”
* * *
40 minutes later.
There were a total of 12 bodies in front of the coffin shop.
These corpses belonged to 6 different characters, each character possessing two corpses with identical causes of death.
Boss Meng was strangled, Neighbour Liu and Beggar Ding were poisoned, School Senior Feng was impaled with a broken beer bottle shard, and Princ.i.p.al Zha was smashed with a baseball bat. The postmortem of these corpses tallied with the recorded details in Gu Liang’s journal.
The only cause of death Gu Liang was uncertain about was BBQ Li’s.
But he finally saw BBQ Li’s corpse now.
Both of BBQ Li’s corpses were found in the sewage ditch behind the apartment building.
The condition of BBQ Li’s body was arguably the worst among the lot; not only was he displaying symptoms of incontinence, his skin was also an abnormal cherry red hue.
Presently, Yang Ye was kneeling in front of BBQ Li’s body. He undid his s.h.i.+rt b.u.t.tons to examine his chest. “The muscles here are cherry red too. There are no other external injuries on his body. He should have died from gas poisoning.”
“Agreed.” Gu Liang slanted his head and looked at the player who was squatting near the barbeque stall.
This individual was someone Gu Liang only managed to meet during the investigation segment, and he was also the only player to whom Gu Liang was not acquainted with prior to this.
It was Princ.i.p.al Zha.
Perhaps, owing to the fact that he was neither acquainted with anyone, nor had the chance to become familiar, Princ.i.p.al Zha was squatting alone at the side, smoking.
He smoked very quickly. Without needing much time, the flagstone road in front of him was strewn with cigarette b.u.t.ts.
This person had arched eyebrows that tapered off at the ends, a pointed chin, and deep-set eyes; all these traits gave him a standard fierce visage, which was accompanied by a heavy and ominous air.
Although Li Xiao Yu was the easiest to get along with and was capable of making small talk with everyone, she did not dare to go close to Princ.i.p.al Zha at all.
As Gu Liang was scrutinising Princ.i.p.al Zha, Yang Ye had tossed him a few glances as well.
A moment later, Yang Ye retracted his gaze and walked up to Liu Ran, who was acting as BBQ Li. he said: “I need a confirmation, you were the one who killed Beggar Ding, right? And what you used was the remaining poisoned barbeque?”
Liu Ran nodded his head. “When School Senior Feng bought the entire barbeque stall last night, her expression was a little strange so I didn’t walk far. Rather, I hid in the darkness and watched her poison Neighbour Liu. Later, when I returned back to the barbeque stall, I was originally planning to get rid of the poisoned barbeque, lest it harmed the other customers, but Beggar Ding came around. It made me think about how he frequently came over to beg for food, all dirty and pitiful, which affected my business, so I decided to give the poisoned barbeque to him.”
Everything that Liu Ran stated was very close to what Yang Ye and Gu Liang had deduced.
Yang Ye followed up with another question: “Understood. Then, do you know who killed you?”
Liu Ran said: “After I gave the remaining poisoned barbeque to Beggar Ding, my heart was a little perturbed which made me close up the stall early. Later I went home and felt that I should take the opportunity to extort a sum of money. Hence, I went to find Princ.i.p.al Zha and told him that I witnessed him and School Senior Feng killing someone and hiding the body, and wanted him to give me five million to seal my mouth.”
Yang Ye: “I see. This should be Princ.i.p.al Zha’s motivation to kill. He killed for the sake of silencing you.”
Liu Ran nodded, “Yes, that should be the case.”
That night, BBQ Li had gone over to Princ.i.p.al Zha’s house in an attempt to extort money from him.
Princ.i.p.al Zha conveyed that he could not afford to give him five million but this matter could be negotiated.
He invited BBQ Li to sit on the sofa, saying that they could discuss the price of sealing his mouth as they were drinking.
BBQ Li agreed and went in the house to sit down.
Following, Princ.i.p.al Zha went to the kitchen, saying that he was getting some alcohol for BBQ Li.
It took Princ.i.p.al Zha some time to return from the kitchen with the bai jiu and the gla.s.ses in hand.
After he placed down these items on the side table, he stated there were no ingredients in his house because he had been going over to School Senior Feng’s place to make food for her, and he was going to School Senior Feng’s house to grab some dishes to go with the alcohol. Once they had the alcohol and dishes, he and BBQ Li could discuss the matter slowly.
BBQ Li nodded his head. Hence, Princ.i.p.al Zha picked up his keys and went out of the door.
These were the proceedings that Liu Ran had recorded in his book.
After repeating this portion of the story, he continued to say: “Afterwards, I sat on his sofa, drank some of the bai jiu, and proceeded to pa.s.s out, so I don’t know the rest of it. In retrospect, however, it’s highly likely that something which can induce sleep was added into the liquor, and he had done so as he was fetching the alcohol in the kitchen. Naturally, he turned on the gas then too. After I pa.s.sed out on the sofa, I died from the gas poisoning.”
Having spoken to this point, Liu Ran thought about for a moment longer before he concluded: “Therefore, I killed Beggar Ding, and Princ.i.p.al Zha killed me.”
Just as Liu Ran’s voice landed, Princ.i.p.al Zha, who had been squatting near the barbeque stall, abruptly opened his mouth.
“Hei hei, you missed out some details. Before I left, I locked the windows and locked doors too. In the event that you didn’t drink the liquor, you couldn’t run out either and you were doomed to die. Sigh… this sort of murder method is truly boring, I was even hoping that the system would give me something that was extremely perverted. How nice would it be to dismember someone, why release the gas secretly… How uninteresting…”
Princ.i.p.al Zha yawned and threw the cigarette b.u.t.t on the ground. He got up and walked towards the crowd.
His exceedingly ferocious appearance was one thing, but after hearing him say those words, everyone’s expression became serious.
At this moment, Princ.i.p.al Zha probably noticed it as well— everyone was looking at him as though they had seen a ghost.
He let out a cold laugh, saying, “Don’t give me that sanctimonious look, the only difference here is that I dare to admit to it. Who hasn’t committed a crime? All of you don’t dare to admit to it. But I dare. I’ve raped, I’ve killed, and the feeling of dismembering a corpse… Tsk, tsk, you guys don’t know how good it feels.
“Oops, why are you so shocked? Never been to jail? You really haven’t been in there?
“If you haven’t been in jail, how did all of you get here?
“Huh, aren’t all of you the same, weren’t you death row inmates prior to this?
“Pei!” Li Xiao Yu mustered up her courage to spit at him, “I’ve never committed a crime! Who wants to be as perverse as you. I’m going to give you my vote this time around for all the disgusting things you’ve done in the past!”
“I dare to admit to it because I’m not afraid of your vote. Why you ask? Because in this game, gold coins are of paramount importance.”
Princ.i.p.al Zha smirked coldly, “In a previous script, I encountered a person. He had an Equal Wealth card, which he proceeded to use to even out everyone’s gold coins. These gold coins can offset years of service or something. It seems like one coin can deduct ten years off. Little girl, you’re so young, you’re in the blooming years of your youth. If you don’t cast your vote for the real murderer, and give me your vote instead… then you’ll have a gold coin less, oh. Do you want to stay here for another ten years?”
An abrupt peal of laughter burst out from Princ.i.p.al Zha’s throat. “A little girl like you, having to waste your time here is quite pitiable. Think about it, your parents are still waiting for you, you have to leave this place as soon as possible. But I’m not the same. I want to stay in this game. I can kill without scruples here, how pleasurable is that.”
After issuing a few wretched notes of laughter, Princ.i.p.al Zha took a few steps in Li Xiao Yu’s direction all of a sudden.
Li Xiao Yu’s face turned white from fright.
Coincidentally, she was standing next to Gu Liang, and she simply chose to back away and hide behind Gu Liang.
Her actions were seen by Princ.i.p.al Zha.
Princ.i.p.al Zha laughed out loud, pointing at her nose as he said: “Little girl, don’t be afraid ah. Although I’ve raped people before, I’m still quite picky. With your thin arms and legs, there’s no feeling to it. Speaking of which… Before I went to jail, I only f.u.c.ked women. But after entering jail, there were no women and I could only f.u.c.k men…. let me see…”
Princ.i.p.al Zha set his sights on Gu Liang’s person. “You’re just right.”
“Keep your mouth clean,” Yang Ye’s gaze sunk and he took a few steps forward to s.h.i.+eld Gu Liang.
However, Princ.i.p.al Zha turned a deaf ear to him and continued to say: “People like him, after I f.u.c.k him open…”
Before Princ.i.p.al Zha could finish his words, Yang Ye stalked up to him and sent a fist flying towards the right side of his face.
By the time Princ.i.p.al Zha reacted, his whole person was already lying face down, and both his hands were firmly clasped behind his back because of Yang Ye.
Not showing him the slightest civility, Yang Ye yanked his head up and slammed it against the ground, causing the skin on Princ.i.p.al Zha’s forehead to break and blood started flowing down instantaneously.
“It feels good to kill people, right? Do punches bring you the same pleasure then?” Yang Ye’s voice was exceptionally fierce.
“f.u.c.king let go of me! Laozi is going to kill you!” Princ.i.p.al Zha bellowed.
“If you continue spouting bulls.h.i.+t, I’ll kill you first!”
Just as Yang Ye’s voice sank in, he used one hand to lift up Princ.i.p.al Zha’s head while his other arm wrapped around his neck in a vice-like grip to ensure that let alone speaking, he would have trouble breathing.
“It’ll even present a good opportunity to test the rules of this game. The script enactment segment has already concluded. Killing a human sc.u.m like you won’t affect the plot developments. I’d really like to know if the men in black will come and save you!”
After he snapped out those words, Yang Ye lifted his head to pummel his face again, and gave him a few vicious kicks before he finally let him go.
Despite his numerous attempts, Princ.i.p.al Zha could only lie on the ground obediently for the time being because he was completely stripped of the strength to clamber to his feet.
As Yang Ye walked back to Gu Liang, he merely rubbed his hands like he had just worked out some muscles slightly.
And when he looked towards Gu Liang, he perceived some surprise in the gaze that Gu Liang regarded him with.
His lips were parted slightly, but he seemed to be at a loss for what to say.
It was probably because the words that Princ.i.p.al Zha had said just now were genuinely too awful to converse about.
Thus, Yang Ye patted Gu Liang on his shoulder and said: “Don’t take his words to heart. He’s a human sc.u.m.”
Gu Liang blinked and then nodded. “Mn.”