Tong Yang realized that, despite having been through some events, her understanding of the parallel world was still too limited. She had thought that within a certain range, there could only exist one timeline or one moment, but what was happening right now told her that things were not that simple.
“Forget it, let’s just go take a look. It should be fine since it’s just outside the door.”
“It’s indeed strange that we haven’t come out for so long.”
“Let’s go, let’s go. If Tong Yang doesn’t come out, we can’t keep playing either.”
“Are you all going? Then I’m going too!”
…
Tong Yang heard the sound of chairs being pulled back and even felt their footsteps passing by her.
“Chu Shiyu?” Tong Yang tentatively called out, but received no response.
It seemed that she was trapped in a parallel world alone, yet she could still hear their voices, which meant they must be very close.
Has the parallel world advanced to this extent now?
Tong Yang walked into the resting area, hoping to find something that could serve as a gateway for traversing spaces. The “elevator game” Dr. Wu used to bring them into the parallel world had already failed, and perhaps there was something that could serve as a trigger. After all, the methods to enter a parallel world could vary by time and place.
However, there would definitely be some similarities.
“Tong Yang? What are you doing here?”
A surprised voice suddenly came from behind her, making Tong Yang jump and turn around in disbelief.
Including Chu Shiyu and Xu Junyue, all seven people came out from around the corner.
“You guys…”
Chu Shiyu said, “You never came out, so we went to check the 7-20 toy store. We searched inside and out but didn’t see you.”
Xu Junyue wondered, “When did you come out? How come we didn’t see you?”
“Did you come around from the opposite side?”
“That’s weird, we should have seen you.”
Tong Yang looked down, her fingers curling unconsciously in her palm, and asked, “You’ve already been to 7-20?”
“Yeah, we even searched around there!”
Tong Yang looked up at them, scrutinizing each person’s face, even suspecting that these were their counterparts from a parallel world. From hearing their voices leave the resting area to her entering it and their re-emergence, it might have been less than half a minute.
If Tong Yang was just in a different space from them, it would be impossible to walk back and forth between 7-20 and the resting area in half a minute.
So there were only two possibilities: first, they were lying; second, it wasn’t a spatial issue, but a temporal one.
Tong Yang asked, “Did you hear any voices talking?”
This question was directed at the Melon Eating Netizen group.
[Ah? Now? I think I heard someone talking]
[What’s up, Sister Tong?]
[There was no sound before, just now someone called out to you]
“What’s going on?”
“What happened?”
“Did you hear voices talking?”
The others looked at each other, unclear about the situation.
Tong Yang fell silent for a moment; the people in the Melon Eating Netizen group hadn’t heard their conversation just now, similar to how only she could see the messages from the group.
Because in 2024, only her time had been displaced, so she was the only one who could see the messages from the Melon Eating Netizen group.
However, just now, she was the only one who had heard Chu Shiyu and the others’ conversation, which also indicated that her time had been displaced during that period.
The issue might not be with the space, but with the time.
“How long has it been since you left the resting area to look for me at 7-20?”
Noticing Tong Yang’s troubled expression, Tao Bai checked the time and said, “About ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes…” Tong Yang murmured.
Just now, her time had been displaced to ten minutes earlier.
“Tong Yang, are you alright?” Chu Shiyu asked worriedly.
“It’s okay, let’s continue the game,” Tong Yang said.
“Have some water first.”
Tong Yang and the others sat around the round table in the resting area.
Taking the mineral water Tao Bai handed her, Tong Yang thanked him.
The displacement of time was neither more nor less than exactly ten minutes earlier.
She used death and deep unconsciousness to enter a loop in time, which was also about ten minutes before the death node.
The first two loops returned her to ten minutes before her own death, the third to ten minutes before Sun Ye’s death, the fourth to ten minutes before the death of everyone in exam room 1209, and the remaining loops returned to ten minutes before the Experimental Elementary School children drowned.
If there was something similar in these events, it was death.
But with so many people dying every second of every day around the world, why would she return to ten minutes before their deaths?
Apart from death, what else was common?
Yes, there was something.
In the previous cycles of death, including Tong Yang herself, the victims had all died at the hands of beings from the parallel world. This meant that her time loop’s anchor point was the death of those recently killed by the parallel world, precisely ten minutes before their death. So, was there a connection between the ten minutes of the loop and the ten-minute displacement she experienced?
Aside from the similar timing and the division of sound and imagery similar to entering the parallel world, there were no other similarities. Yet, the parallel world seemed only able to change spaces, not time. So why was there a ten-minute displacement? Was it a coincidence? Or… a side effect of the time loop?
“Tong Yang, what is your role?”
“Tong Yang?”
“Tong Yang!”
Tong Yang snapped back to reality, looking confusedly at He Jingjing who asked, “What’s the matter?”
He Jingjing repeated, “What is your role?”
“Role?”
Chu Shiyu explained, “In the murder mystery game, everyone has a role, a script, and some timeline information.”
“It’s normal for Tong Yang not to know since it’s her first time playing.”
“It’s the script that the NPC at 7-20 asked you to look at.”
Tong Yang, still stunned, shook her head. “I don’t have a script.”
“No script? How is that possible?”
“Right, without a script, you don’t have a role, you can’t participate in the game.”
“I only found some clues, no one gave me a script or a role,” Tong Yang repeated.
“That’s odd, did you go to the wrong place?”
“7-20, I didn’t go wrong, Hu Shuo came looking for me midway.”
“What?” Hu Shuo looked startled and surprised, “When did I come to find you?”
Chu Shiyu and Xu Junyue both looked up at Tong Yang.
Tong Yang stared at Hu Shuo, “Have you been in the shop the whole time?”
Hu Shuo rubbed his arms, “No! Don’t joke around, is there some hidden mission?”
“Damn… really?”
“This is starting to feel like a horror movie.”
“I saw on Mango TV’s variety show, isn’t there always a player representing a detective? Maybe Tong Yang’s role is the detective.”
“That makes sense! Without a role, there’s no motive or suspicion, so you must be the detective.”
As everyone’s enthusiasm grew, Chu Shiyu whispered, “Is there something wrong with Hu Shuo?”
Xu Junyue leaned in and said, “Have we entered the parallel world again? Maybe we should just kill Hu Shuo and then talk.”
Tong Yang glanced at Xu Junyue, “Do you really want your dad to catch you and spend a few years in jail?”
Chu Shiyu chimed in, “If he’s really human, you might end up being shot.”
Xu Junyue pouted, “Then let’s find a chance to interrogate him later.”
Tong Yang shook her head slightly, “No need.”
“If he had left the shop midway, there’d be no need to lie, maybe the person then wasn’t him, the issue isn’t with him right now, but with the ‘Hu Shuo’ that appeared.”
“I get it now.”
“Understood.”
Chu Shiyu was unlikely to be replaced by the parallel world; although Xu Junyue wasn’t entirely above suspicion, the obvious issue now was with the “Hu Shuo” who appeared, maybe he had replaced the real Hu Shuo.
Despite this, there were still inexplicable elements, including the bodies they found, totaling only seven.
“Be careful, and it’s best to find some weapons for self-defense,” Tong Yang advised them.
“Hey! What are you three whispering about?”
“What’s the deal with you two? Are you trying to bribe the detective before we even start discussing the plot?”
“No, the victims haven’t even appeared yet, what plot is there to discuss?”
“Right! We haven’t even found the crime scene yet!”
…
“Ah!”
Before they could finish speaking, a scream came from not far away.
“Here it comes!”
“Let’s go check it out!”
The others were excited and eager to proceed.
Tong Yang and Chu Shiyu walked behind the group, and she asked in a low voice, “What happened just now?”
Tong Yang knew she was referring to the ten-minute time displacement.
“It’s nothing, let’s focus on the situation at hand,” Tong Yang didn’t reveal everything to her.
She herself hadn’t fully figured out the reason, and telling others would only add to the confusion.
Following the crowd towards the source of the sound, they arrived at shop 7-33, a ballet studio. A dim light shone at the entrance, and the sound came from behind the door to the right of the front desk.
“A person is dead! A person is dead!”
A janitor dressed in a cleaning uniform ran out in a panic.
“Help! There’s a dead person!”
Tao Bai stopped the janitor, asking, “Auntie, what happened?”
The janitor, panic-stricken, replied, “I don’t know! I just went in to clean, and inside… ah! You should go in and see for yourselves!”
After speaking, the janitor bypassed them and left.
Tong Yang watched her leave, then glanced across the corridor; she seemed to be an NPC here.
“Shall we go in and see?”
“Let’s go.”
The group pushed and shoved to the door, revealing a hallway with rooms on both sides. Every three meters along the corridor, a dim, yellowish light hung, casting an eerie atmosphere. There was a noticeable puddle of water on the floor, and next to it lay a wet mop.
The closest room had its door open but no lights on. The hallway light spilled into the room, creating a bright spot at the entrance. Zhou Jingyun, who was at the front, carefully approached the door and peered inside.
Where the light reached, there was the hem of a skirt stained with blood on the floor.
“There’s a body here,” Zhou Jingyun said, attempting to sound calm.
The group, both scared and curious, gathered at the door, blocking the light.
Tong Yang didn’t rush to move forward. She glanced at the words on the door: Dressing Room.
“There’s a light here. Let’s see if we can turn it on.”
“Whoa! It works!”
The light in the dressing room flickered on, and the group could finally see the scene behind the door. A girl in a white dress with her hair loose lay on the floor. From the exposed skin, she looked to be in her teens, about the same age as Tong Yang.
There appeared to be a wound on her abdomen, and blood was slowly oozing from beneath her, indicating the incident had happened not long ago.
“You guys, look! She seems like a real person!”
“Really! Her skin looks so smooth.”
“The boss is really going all out, even having a real NPC play the body.”
“No, won’t she break character?”
“She must be a professional.”
…
“Let’s check if there are any obvious clues at the crime scene.”
The dressing room was about the size of two bedrooms, and many storage cabinets were locked. The group spread out to look for any obvious clues.
Tong Yang entered the dressing room last. Seeing the girl’s body, blood still pouring from her, she crouched down and checked the pulse on her right wrist, as her middle school history teacher had taught her: normal pulses align with the heartbeat.
Placing her fingers gently on the wrist, she waited a moment. Her eyes narrowed. The girl no longer had a pulse.
In front of the body was a full-length mirror against the wall. Tong Yang used the mirror to inspect the body. Aside from the area bleeding, there were no other visible wounds.
“Xu Junyue, give me a hand, let’s turn her over.”
“Coming!”
Tong Yang and Xu Junyue flipped the body, and the skirt clung to her thighs, rising up as they moved her.
Tong Yang gestured for Chu Shiyu to adjust the girl’s skirt.
After laying the body flat on the floor, Tong Yang brushed the girl’s hair away from her face, revealing a delicate face. Because of blood loss, the girl’s face had turned pale, her eyes tightly shut.
“Is she dead?” Chu Shiyu asked.
“Mm.”
Tong Yang inspected her face and head but found no wounds. Then she took a thin piece of clothing from a nearby cabinet and draped it over the girl’s head.
The girl had a stab wound on her abdomen, very deep, enough to be fatal with one blow.
Her fingernails were trimmed short, her fingers delicate and smooth, with no traces of gripping.
Tong Yang crouched in front of the mirror, watching the girl’s body in the reflection.
According to the rules of the murder mystery game, the killer of the girl must be among the eight players. If this were just a real-life horror game, no player would actually kill anyone, and the girl wouldn’t truly be dead.
Given the current situation, the girl had been murdered, and the killer must be one of them. This killer might be the person replaced by the parallel world.
Who could it be? Hu Shuo?
Did the parallel world’s Hu Shuo kill the girl?
If the killer was the parallel world’s Hu Shuo, then no one among them would have been replaced, since there would now be two Hu Shuos. But the police had only found seven bodies, so how could that be?
The Melon Eating Netizen group had sent out news that Tong Yang, as the last survivor, told the police all seven people had died. She had also died from blood loss, so if the killer was the parallel world’s Hu Shuo, there should still be eight bodies at the scene, and the real-world Hu Shuo should have died with them.
The most plausible explanation for the seven bodies is that someone among them had already been replaced, and after their death, their bodies returned to the parallel world.
Because including Tong Yang, all eight of them were dead.
So, the real killer couldn’t be the parallel world’s Hu Shuo, but rather someone within their group.
Whoever killed the girl was the one replaced by the parallel world.
“I found a knife with blood on it!”
“I found a few class schedules.”
“You guys…”
“Damn! Why are you covering the NPC’s face? She’s just an NPC actress, she’s not really dead.”
Tong Yang calmly examined the bloody knife they had found, saying, “Just pretend she’s still alive.”
“Don’t say that… it’s so creepy!”
“Tong Yang, do you like playing pranks? You were like this with the number draw earlier.”
“I don’t usually joke around.”
“Then it can’t be that she’s really dead…”
Tong Yang glanced at He Jingjing and motioned her over. “Do you know how to check for a pulse?”
“Yeah.”
Tong Yang lifted the girl’s arm. “You try.”
“I’ll give it a go.”
He Jingjing held the girl’s wrist and placed her fingers over the pulse point. One second, two seconds, three seconds… as time passed, her expression shifted from curiosity to fear.
“She really has no pulse!”
“Jingjing, you didn’t mess it up, did you?”
“I don’t know! Jingjing, you try!”
He Jingjing checked the pulse again, her brow furrowing tightly. “There’s really nothing.”
“Are you guys sure you’re doing it right? Let me try!” Hu Shuo stepped up eagerly.
Tong Yang placed the girl’s hand back down. “Just pretend she’s still alive. I’m afraid you’ll get too scared to move.”
“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Hu Shuo didn’t listen, insisting on trying himself.
After a moment, his face turned pale as he looked at Tao Bai and Zhou Jingyun, his voice trembling. “She’s really dead…”
Tao Bai frowned. “Tong Yang was right. The boss of the murder mystery game really has something going on. The hand in the box earlier should have been real.”
Hu Shuo suddenly let go of the girl’s hand and began rubbing his clothes, clearly scared and a bit unsteady. “Then… what do we do?”
Zhou Jingyun said, “We can’t leave now, and we can’t call the police. We’ll have to finish the game and find the exit before we can report it.”
“Are we going to run into danger?”
“I’m scared… will we be killed…?”
He Jingjing said, “If the boss just wanted to trick us into coming here and kill us, he wouldn’t have spent nearly a year creating this murder mystery set. Didn’t Hu Shuo say he’s a fan of murder mystery games? Even if he wants to kill us, it should be part of the game.”
Tao Bai nodded. “That makes sense. Typically, fans of murder mystery games follow the rules strictly. Maybe if we complete the game, we’ll be able to leave alive.”
“But if we leave alive, we’ll definitely report it, and the police will arrest the boss. Why would he let us leave?”
“Even if we don’t leave alive, the boss will still be arrested by the police. So whether we live or die doesn’t matter.”
Tong Yang listened to their heated discussion but didn’t offer an opinion.
In her eyes, this was already the parallel world. Whether these NPCs were real people or not, she didn’t know. Whether the boss had killed anyone or what role he played, she couldn’t say. However, finding the killer and the person replaced by the parallel world, and successfully leaving, seemed like it would require them to completely finish the game.
Since their current thoughts aligned with hers, Tong Yang didn’t feel the need to say more.
Zhou Jingyun said, “Since we have to finish the game, let’s not think too much. Let’s go back and discuss the plot and timeline.”
“Let’s go, let’s go! Hurry back!”
“Just the thought of being in the same room as a corpse makes my skin crawl!”
A group of people returned to the break room from the 7-33 Ballet Studio. Tong Yang was the only one among them without a clear identity. She sat at the front of the round table, while the rest of the group sat on either side of her.
“Let’s start by introducing our identities and timelines once we entered the mall. Chu Shiyu, you’re number one, you start,” someone said.
Chu Shiyu nodded. “Alright.”
“I’m an employee at a café near Xili Mall. After work in the evening, I had plans to meet my boyfriend to watch a movie on the eighth floor, but since the movie didn’t start until 8:40, we decided to kill time and wander around the seventh floor,” Chu Shiyu explained.
“What time did you finish work?”
“At 5:30.”
“When does the movie start?”
“At 8:40.”
“So you finished work at 5:30, and you didn’t enter the seventh floor until 8:00? That’s two and a half hours in between?”
“Yes.”
“And what did you do during those two and a half hours?”
Since they had decided to play by the rules and leave the game, Chu Shiyu gave a faint smile and replied, “Some personal matters.”
“Do you know the deceased?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Okay, number two, your turn.”
Zhou Jingyun furrowed his brows. “Sorry, let me think for a moment.”
He lowered his head, flipped open a notebook on his seat, and after a few seconds, spoke up. “I’m Shiyu’s boyfriend. I arrived at Xili Mall around 5:00 to wait for her after work. We were together after 5:30.”
“Do you have an alibi for each other?”
“Yes.”
“What did you do in the two and a half hours before you entered the mall? Can you share?”
“Not available for comment.”
“Do you know the deceased?”
“No.”
“Number three, please share your identity and timeline.”
Tao Bai nodded and said, “I’m a customer. There’s a men’s clothing store on the seventh floor. I’m buying two outfits for when I visit my girlfriend’s parents tomorrow.”
“When did you arrive at the mall?”
“At 4:00 PM.”
“You’ve been shopping for two outfits from 4:00 PM until 8:00 PM?”
“Yes, I also had a meal in between.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know the deceased?”
“I don’t know her.”
“Number four…”
“Number four has no identity.”
Tong Yang did not refute, as she indeed had no identity, and from their accounts, what happened in the toy store was unrelated to their storyline.
“Number five.”
Number five was the twin sister, He Jingjing.
“I’m an employee at the mall’s beauty salon. I started work at 2:00 PM and finished at 10:00 PM.”
“Did you stay in the shop after you started work?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know the deceased?”
“No.”
“Number six.”
“I, I, I!” Xu Junyue raised her hand eagerly. “I’m the receptionist at the Ballet Studio. My working hours are from 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM.”
“Do you know the deceased?”
“Yes! She’s a student at our ballet studio.”
“What’s her name?”
“Tan Wanqi. She’s one of the most diligent students at our studio, almost always the last to leave after class.”
“How’s your relationship with her?”
“I’ve only worked here for less than a month, so we’re not close. We just greet each other when I leave at night.”
“Okay, number seven.”
Number seven was the twin sister, He Jingjing.
“I’m just a regular passerby, planning to watch a movie alone.”
“Is it the same movie as numbers one and two?”
“Yes, it’s also at 8:40 PM, but I arrived too early and just wandered around upstairs and downstairs.”
“What time did you arrive at Xili Mall?”
“7:40 PM. I think I saw the deceased on the first floor.”
“You saw her?”
He Jingjing nodded. “I saw her when I was waiting for the elevator on the first floor. She took the elevator back down and then left.”
“I was only on the seventh floor for a short while before she came up with two cups of coffee.”
Tong Yang spoke up, “Xu Junyue, what time did Tan Wanqi arrive at the studio?”
Xu Junyue replied, “She arrived at 7:58, but she only had one cup of coffee, which she gave to me.”
“Tan Wanqi entered Xili Mall before she came to the studio, she might have had friends with her, and before heading to the studio, she gave one cup of coffee to someone else.”
“Don’t rush. We’ll still need to gather evidence later.”
“Number eight.”
Hu Shuo spoke. “I’m a security guard on the seventh floor of the mall. I started my patrol at 7:30, and around 7:50, I heard a man and a woman arguing. The man even knocked over a cup of coffee.”
“Did you see what they looked like?”
Hu Shuo shook his head. “The man was extremely agitated, so I didn’t dare to look.”
“So, Tan Wanqi bought two cups of coffee—one for that man and one for the studio’s receptionist. After the argument, when she knocked over a cup of coffee, she headed for the studio.”
“That seems to be the case.”
[The man who argued with her is likely the suspect.]
[I think the receptionist might be involved too. Why would Tan Wanqi give coffee to a receptionist she wasn’t familiar with?]
[Maybe after arguing with the man, she just wasn’t in the mood, so she gave the coffee to the receptionist?]
[From my experience watching variety shows, the person who seems like the obvious suspect in the beginning is often not the killer.]
[And no one knows who the man she argued with is.]
“Players, please begin the first round of evidence collection.”
“The search areas are all rooms with the lights on.”
The lights in the break room suddenly went out, and other shops in the circular corridor lit up.
“The men’s clothing store, the beauty salon, the ballet studio, and the trash can by the railing on the seventh floor.”
“Pair up in twos. The three men should split up,” He Jingjing instructed.
“I’ll pair up with Tong Yang.” Xu Junyue walked over to her and pointed at the others. “Zhou Jingyun, you and Shiyu go to the men’s clothing store. Jingjing and Hu Shuo, go to the trash can area. Crystal and Tao Bai, go to the beauty salon. Tong Yang and I will go to the ballet studio.”
“Alright, everyone stay safe. If something happens, make sure to make some noise.”
“Okay.”
“Jun Yue, Tong Yang, you two girls, be extra careful.”
[Such kind-hearted young ladies.]
[Xu Junyue is the same girl who fought fiercely in the parallel world, right?]
[Laughing, their pair is the safest combination.]
After separating from the others, Tong Yang and Xu Junyue arrived at the ballet studio.
“Come over, come over!” Xu Junyue waved at her from behind the counter.
“What’s going on?” Tong Yang asked suspiciously.
“Ta-da!” Xu Junyue opened the cabinet and pulled out several butterfly knives. “7-26 is a weapon shop, and I casually grabbed these from there. They should be enough.”
Tong Yang took one of the knives and played with it in her hand. “Not bad.”
“Can you use a butterfly knife?”
“No, but I understand the principle.”
“Impressive! As expected from a top student.”
Tong Yang shot her a sideways glance, closed the butterfly knife, and tucked it into her waistband.
“Let’s go, let’s see if we can find any clues.” Tong Yang said.
She walked a few steps toward the small door next to the front desk, but when she didn’t hear footsteps behind her, she turned around. She found Xu Junyue leaning against the counter, staring at her with a meaningful look, skillfully twirling the butterfly knife in her right hand.
Tong Yang narrowed her eyes slightly and asked, “What’s going on?”
Xu Junyue smiled and gripped the butterfly knife tightly.
In an instant, Tong Yang drew the butterfly knife from her waistband and flicked it open. Before she knew it, Xu Junyue had already lunged at her with the blade.
Xu Junyue, who had received professional training, moved much more skillfully than Tong Yang. She was extremely proficient with the butterfly knife. Originally, the blade faced forward, but as she closed in on Tong Yang, she quickly spun one of the handles and turned the blade downward.
“Shhrrr—”
Before Tong Yang could react, the blade sliced through the fabric of her right shoulder, grazing her skin just barely.
Tong Yang swiftly struck her elbow, twisting her arm backward, and Xu Junyue rolled onto the ground. She still managed to grab Tong Yang as she fell.
Although Tong Yang wasn’t as strong as Xu Junyue, her reflexes were quick. She lifted the butterfly knife and slashed it toward Xu Junyue’s neck.
“Shh…”
The blade cut through the skin, and Xu Junyue sucked in a sharp breath, quickly retaliating by aiming the butterfly knife at Tong Yang’s abdomen.
Tong Yang jumped back, but the blade still grazed her clothes, exposing a patch of her smooth white skin.
Taking advantage of the moment, Tong Yang grabbed Xu Junyue’s knife hand, pressing hard on her wrist bone. Xu Junyue yelped in pain, and the butterfly knife dropped to the ground.
“Wait!”
With Tong Yang pinning her down, Xu Junyue suddenly shouted for her to stop.
Tong Yang, one hand holding Xu Junyue’s wrist and the other holding the butterfly knife, glanced at her without a word. Their breathing was ragged.
“Tong Yang, you have abs!” Xu Junyue exclaimed excitedly, reaching out to poke her stomach.
Tong Yang’s face remained emotionless as she stared at her. After a few seconds, she muttered, “You’re crazy.”
Then, she released Xu Junyue and stood up.
[Abs? Let me touch them!]
[Ahhh, sister, you have abs! I want to touch them!]
[I can’t touch men’s abs, so I’ll try touching yours, sister!]
[I wish time would slow down a bit so I can rush into your arms when I meet you.]
[I want to too…]
[You’re a guy, you’re not allowed to think that!]
[Guys aren’t allowed to touch my sister!]
[Guys, stay away!]
Xu Junyue, still not satisfied, looked at the clothes that were torn by the knife. “Aren’t you a bookworm? I can’t believe you have such a nice set of abs. It’s hard to believe.”
“Go away.” Tong Yang said with no courtesy, pulling the fabric from her stomach and revealing a cropped top.
“I have abs too, look! But they’re not as good as yours.”
Tong Yang shot her a cold glare.
Xu Junyue shamelessly crawled back up from the ground. “Don’t be mad, I was just testing you.”
“I know. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have gone easy on you.”
Xu Junyue’s first slash aimed for her shoulder was meant to draw blood, but she had pulled back at the last moment. Neither of them used their full strength after that.
“Don’t be mad. When we came looking for you, we couldn’t figure out when you came out of the toy store. Then you just appeared in the break room. It was really suspicious. I even thought you’d been killed and replaced by someone from the parallel world.”
Tong Yang looked at her with a half-smile. “To be honest, I suspected you might have been replaced too.”
Xu Junyue made a face of realization. “I knew it! That’s why you reacted so quickly, pulling out the knife and rushing at me. You must’ve already suspected me.”
Tong Yang countered, “Don’t you think you’re suspicious?”
Xu Junyue thought for a moment and nodded. “I am.”
“That’s more like it.”
“Then should we call it a truce now?” Xu Junyue raised her hand halfway, not as if to shake hands but more like preparing to arm wrestle with Tong Yang.
Tong Yang grasped her raised hand. “Alright.”
The reason Xu Junyue had paired up with her was probably because she suspected that Tong Yang had been replaced by someone from the parallel world. After all, she was the only one without an identity, and she suddenly appeared in the break room, making her very suspicious. If it hadn’t been Tong Yang herself, Xu Junyue would’ve thought there was definitely something wrong.
But thinking about it, Chu Shiyu must really trust her—she hadn’t even doubted her. However, when they were at Nameless Hill, Chu Shiyu hadn’t doubted herself either.
“Tong Yang, you really didn’t get an identity at 7-20?”
“Mm.”
“Then did you see the NPC?”
“I’m not sure if it was an NPC, but I think I accidentally stumbled upon a murder scene, which doesn’t relate to your identities or storyline.”
Xu Junyue nodded. “That’s probably someone from the parallel world.”
“Can’t be sure.”
Tong Yang hesitated for a moment before asking, “Is your friend always like this?”
“Yeah, I’ve known them for years.”
“Mm.”
Tong Yang walked toward the counter to search for clues. On the table were a computer and some draft papers.
“What’s wrong?” Xu Junyue asked.
“Nothing.” Tong Yang bent over to examine things more closely, saying casually, “I suspect that one of them has already been replaced by someone from the parallel world.”
Xu Junyue froze in shock. “What did you just say?”
Tong Yang didn’t lift her head and replied, “I’m just guessing. No evidence, and I don’t know who it is.”
After a pause, Tong Yang continued, “And the person involved in the parallel world might not just be one of us eight players. It could also include some NPCs. Don’t act rashly toward them. Otherwise, after we finish, you might have to turn yourself in.”
Xu Junyue nodded, though she was still confused. “So, the hand in the box and the body in the changing room might be things from the parallel world?”
“Not sure. Can’t rule out the possibility that they exist in reality too.”
“Then you mentioned seeing Hu Shuo earlier…”
“That’s true, but he doesn’t know that another version of him exists in this parallel world.”
“Has the person replaced him?” Xu Junyue asked in surprise.
“He’s not dead yet. When I said replaced, I meant someone completely took over his identity. But we still need to be careful of Hu Shuo.”
“Do you think Jingjing is in danger?” Xu Junyue frowned.
“The two Hu Shuos probably won’t appear together. Pairing up with Hu Shuo is the safest option.”
“That’s good.”
There were some sticky notes at the bottom of the computer screen with information about computer usage policies and clock-in/clock-out times. One note indicated that the receptionist must ensure all students leave before locking up for the night.
“What are you standing there for? Go in and find the clues.” Tong Yang glanced at her.
“Got it.” Xu Junyue turned and walked toward the small door.
After what had just happened, Xu Junyue was no longer suspected, but Tong Yang wasn’t taking any chances. She figured that Xu Junyue might still be the one who killed the girl, so she decided to search the counter area herself, sending Xu Junyue away.
On the desk, in addition to a few sticky notes, there were student files. Tong Yang quickly flipped through them and found Tan Wanqi’s file.
Tan Wanqi was seventeen years old and had been studying ballet for three years.
What puzzled Tong Yang was that the file seemed to have been crumpled up by someone and then flattened out, with many wrinkles on it.
Tong Yang turned on the computer and found someone’s social media account logged in. In the pinned messages, there was a conversation:
[This B-class is really annoying, someone’s always showering during my off-hours.]
[The damn company still hasn’t paid me, I’m beyond words.]
Aside from that, there was no other information in the social media account.
Tong Yang opened a drawer and took a quick look. Most of it was receipts and some POS machines, with a bunch of random keys nearby, but no locked areas.
Under the counter was another cabinet. She opened it and pulled out a stack of pay slips.
The most recent one showed that the average salary of the studio’s teachers was around 30,000, while the cleaning and receptionist staff earned around 5,000. Xu Junyue’s salary was the lowest, just over 3,000, with a note saying: “During work hours, a customer’s items went missing from the front desk, a 2,000 yuan compensation has been deducted from her salary.”
“Deducted 2,000?” Tong Yang frowned. “Worked hard for a month and had half my salary taken away.”
“Evidence collection time is up. Please return to the break area.”
At that moment, the announcement came through the intercom.
Tong Yang took some of the documents she could carry and returned to the break area with Xu Junyue.
When they arrived, the others were already sitting in their positions.
“Everyone’s here, let’s start presenting the evidence.”
Chu Shiyu and Zhou Jingyun had gone to the men’s clothing store, where Tao Bai was before the incident.
“We heard a recording of a conversation from the staff at the men’s clothing store.”
After a brief static sound from the recorder, a conversation played:
“Is that customer sick? He’s been acting so agitated.”
“I heard him on the phone in the fitting room, threatening someone that they’d eventually find him, and when they did, he’d make sure they paid.”
“I saw him wandering around this floor for hours, not buying anything. It looked like he was waiting for someone.”
“Should we call the police?”
“But he hasn’t really done anything…”
“Look at the clothes he changed out of!”
“There’s so much coffee on his clothes…”
The recording stopped abruptly.
Everyone’s gaze shifted to Tao Bai.
He raised his eyes and gave a harmless smile.
But since it wasn’t yet time to discuss, no one interrupted.
“Then we found a men’s jacket in the fitting room, covered in coffee, with a letter and some photos of a girl in the pockets.”
Chu Shiyu took the photos out and placed them on the table. “You probably guessed it. The girl in the photos is the deceased, Tan Wanqi.”
“Yikes! She’s so young, still a minor! She seemed so gentle, but she’s actually a freak.”
Tao Bai gave a helpless smile. “It’s not what you think.”
“What do you mean?”
“Hard evidence! Hurry up and confess!”
“You said you came to the mall to buy two outfits and meet your girlfriend’s parents, but your relationship with Tan Wanqi doesn’t look normal.”
“Tan Wanqi is so young. How could she bring you to meet her parents?”
Tao Bai glanced around at the group and sighed. “Maybe so.”
“Ugh! Pervert!”
