Chapter 43: Wen Xishu's Game

This was, of course, a very dangerous act. Wen Xishu was well aware of this, but his observation had been extremely meticulous. If Theta hadn't died, if not for that peculiar scent carried by the beast, Zheng Zai likely could have exercised self-restraint. Therefore, now that a portion of Zheng Zai's desires had been temporarily satisfied, that self-restraint should become even stronger. He believed that Zheng Zai, having eased his flesh-and-blood craving, was entirely capable of regaining control over his own body.

Thus, at this moment, Wen Xishu chose to build some favorable impression. Wen Xishu succeeded; in Zheng Zai's eyes, he was practically an angel. Ever since his father was arrested, it had been a very, very long time since the world had made him feel any sense of goodwill.

However, this scene played out rather differently in the eyes of the other few people—it was terrifying. On Park Mi-hee's delicate arms, which countless upper-class men had once adored, goosebumps actually appeared. A man-eating monster, alongside a weirdo who smiled and greeted the monster while even proactively feeding it meat. Previously, Park Mi-hee had thought Wen Xishu's background story was made up, that he wasn't someone with mental health issues. But right now, in her eyes, Wen Xishu had problems far beyond the ordinary.

Cain was also breaking out in cold sweat. People who liked to decorate themselves with grand charges were actually just borrowing titles to package themselves; that was not something a truly strong person would do. Right now, the vibe Wen Xishu gave off was that of a genuine powerhouse—a deranged powerhouse.

This scene did not last long because Zheng Zai had already stood up. He said to Wen Xishu, "I... I'm sorry for letting you see me looking like that. I... I'm full now. Thank you, thank you. My condition is much better now, even better than before, and I think I can help you." He repeated "thank you" twice.

Wen Xishu merely waved his hand. After turning things over in his mind, he decided to continue killing people. There were four rooms in total, and according to the mission description, there should be four items requiring purification. Four rooms should also correspond to four different mechanisms for finding things. Even so, Wen Xishu did not change his original plan: to wipe out all his teammates.

"Depending on your performance, if you do well enough, it's not impossible to survive, but it definitely has to be good enough," he muttered inwardly. In a place where he couldn't even guarantee his own survival, Wen Xishu didn't mind at all getting his hands stained with blood. He already knew whom he should kill first.

"Are you guys coming over? I think we can analyze some things."

The rest of them were still in a daze. Cain, Mendemuer, Zheng Zai, and Park Mi-hee only knew that for some unknown reason, Theta had just been killed by a monster. Yet within such a short span of time, Wen Xishu had already managed to deduce clues?

Suppressing the fear of Wen Xishu rising within her heart, Park Mi-hee spoke as gently and steadily as she could: "What just happened? What clues have you figured out?"

Wen Xishu looked at the music box resting up high on the bookshelf. The table was three meters high, and the bookshelf was even taller. Still, it wouldn't be too difficult for them to climb up.

"I'll mention a few points, and I believe you know them too, Captain, right? First of all, in the place we've entered, there exists an item that needs to be purified, and we possess the ability to purify. I wonder if you guys remember, during our first time climbing the tower, before our accounts were registered, when we headed to the mission area, we were given temporary identities. For example, I played a rescuer tasked with saving a little girl. After the account registration, the mechanism actually didn't change; our entry method still involved playing a certain person, except now we had our own IDs. This time, we are playing exorcists, purifying this house. In all likelihood, that falling parrot is some kind of evil entity. It released a curse onto a certain item. Purifying the curse will draw the scrutiny of the monster; if we guess right, it will inflict damage on the monster, and if we guess wrong, the monster will kill us. Therefore, how to accurately find that item is what we need to do.

"Right, I'm sure you noticed, Captain, that Theta died because he wanted to smell a woman's underwear. He was most likely thinking with his lower half and chose to purify the underwear. And so, he was killed by that monster. Before the monster appeared, there was a prompt in everyone's minds. Based on women's clothing and that sickening sound... some unspeakable sins took place in this room, including but not limited to... assault. The difficulty of the exercises in the workbook is at the seventh-grade level. Of course, my academic peak was high school senior year, and many years have passed so I don't remember much, but roughly... I can tell that the owner of this workbook is no older than fifteen. She suffered things she shouldn't have at that age.

"Also, the monster's eyesight isn't very good. This monster—at least for this room—is very easy to hide from. If I trigger the monster, I will die, but you won't; you'll have enough time to hide. So theoretically, we still have five chances left. Oh, the monster will disappear once the music box stops playing. I think the music box is very suspicious. At least for now, whether it's the sense of presence emitted by the music box hidden atop the bookshelf just now... or the difficulty of acquiring its location in this giant-sized room—it both resembles that purifiable contaminant. I believe that perhaps purifying the music box will allow us to find an item, and then two people can leave alive."

Park Mi-hee seemed to understand somewhat why Wen Xishu had managed to draw the attention of the upper echelons. Just by witnessing a monster kill someone once, he had grasped this many clues. But now, a problem arose as well. Everyone, including Cain, admitted that Wen Xishu's analysis made a lot of sense. They felt things must be just as he said.

Yet at this moment, not a single person stepped forward to say, "I'll purify the music box."

Wen Xishu had known this would happen all along. No matter how logical his explanation was, no one would be willing to be the lab rat. What if he was wrong? What if Wen Xishu's analysis was incorrect, and the contaminant wasn't that music box? Then whoever went to purify the music box would undoubtedly die.

Consequently, everyone fell into silence. Wen Xishu loved this game setup. Even though he was also in danger, the madness deep in his bones made him find it immensely entertaining:

"We should be aware that the door outside is closing in. Hey, if we just stand around here like this, we'll all die. Once the doors collide, three different types of monsters will come to kill us. I have some confidence in my analytical skills, and of course, you guys are all very smart too. If you successfully find the contaminant, you don't have to take me with you; you can just let me help the remaining two teammates. But that assumes I don't open the box. Looking at it now, though, none of you seem to have any intention of opening the box. Tsk tsk, looks like I'll have to make a move then. If I open the box, I'm taking myself and Mr. Zheng Zai with me. I believe you're all smart enough to survive without me."

Cain, Mendemuer, and Park Mi-hee all felt a chill run through their hearts. They were incapable of deducing these clues in a single round; the analytical capabilities of the two sides were simply on completely different levels. It could be said that if Wen Xishu left, they would undoubtedly die. If Wen Xishu was wrong... well, in truth, they would only be buying themselves a little more time to live.

They couldn't let Wen Xishu open the box. But if Wen Xishu didn't go, who would? After all, purifying the box themselves carried deadly risks.

Watching the way everyone wanted to go yet couldn't bring themselves to take a step, Wen Xishu was having the time of his life.