Qi Xia remained seated, neither standing up nor searching for clues.
He felt a bit strange.
The psychological counselor Lin Kou was also seated, not standing up.
"What are you thinking?" Lin asked casually, covering his mouth and nose.
"Me?" Qi Xia was taken aback, "What? Are you going to give me a psychological diagnosis?"
"That's not it. Although people as smart as you tend to have some psychological issues, this situation is not really suitable for psychological therapy," Lin Kou smiled slightly, "I just want to know what you're thinking?"
Qi Xia pondered for a moment and said, "I'm thinking about the reason."
"Reason?"
Qi Xia ignored Lin and instead called out to Dr. Zhao, asking, "Doctor, how long can an average person survive after being shot in the heart?"
Dr. Zhao turned his head, thought for a moment, and said, "If I remember correctly, after a heart shot, a person will enter an unconscious state within a few seconds. However, since medical 'death' refers to 'brain death,' even if unconscious, the brain will continue to function for several more minutes."
Qi Xia nodded, "The goat-headed person just screamed for a few minutes, which indicates that his body structure is much more resilient than that of an average human, right?"
"Yes. He was conscious for several minutes after being shot in the heart."
Upon hearing Qi Xia and the doctor's conversation, everyone quieted down.
Just now, it was because of this cheater's clear thinking that all nine survived.
"So, what do you think the reason is?" Qi Xia extended his index finger and thumb to form the shape of a gun and placed it against his temple.
"Generally, people would choose to commit suicide like this," he thought for a moment, then pointed his hand upward from below his jaw, "Or like this."
Qi Xia withdrew his hand and pointed to his heart:
"No matter what... suicide victims would choose a way to die that causes them as little pain as possible. But why did he aim for his heart?"
Qiao Jiajin played with the goat head mask in his hand, then turned over the man's head and said, "Maybe this guy has a harder brain, and one shot can't kill him."
"Since he was spitting blood, it proves that his body structure is the same as ours," Officer Li said, "Even if he's stronger, a shot to the head at this distance would definitely kill him."
Qi Xia nodded:
"In that case, I can only think of one reason."
He pointed to the mask in Qiao Jiajin's hand and said, "The reason the goat-headed person chose to shoot himself in the heart is probably to protect something. The 'game' is probably not over yet."
Qiao Jiajin was shocked: "You mean... he was afraid of damaging his mask?"
"That's right."
Under Qi Xia's direction, Qiao Jiajin turned the goat skin mask over, exposing the rough inner lining to everyone.
A smell of rot and decay also came from it.
As Qi Xia had expected, there were words written in black ink on the inside of the goat skin mask.
However, some parts were stained with blood. Qiao Jiajin didn't care, grabbed his T-shirt to wipe it, and the writing finally became legible.
"What the...?" Qiao Jiajin was taken aback and began to read the words in his non-standard Mandarin:
"I am the 'Dog Person'.
"You are cursed.
"I hope you survive.
"The clock never stops, and there are dangers on all sides.
"If you want to live, turn in the direction of your hometown one hundred times.
"By the way, it's said that after the rain, bamboo shoots emerge. Why are bamboo shoots not afraid of the rain?
"See you after the rain."
Qi Xia frowned slightly, indeed, it was a hint for the next game...
The shadow of death that loomed over everyone was never dissipated.
They were already dead, yet they had to die again?
"Hey, swindler, what does this mean?" Qiao Jiajin asked.
"How would I know?" Qi Xia snorted coldly, "There are nine people here, do I have to think for everyone?"
Lawyer Zhang Chenze slowly sat down in his chair and said, "Although I don't want to admit it, your way of thinking fits very well with the 'organizer'. If you have any ideas, you might as well speak up."
"I..."
Before Qi Xia could speak, the walls around them suddenly changed.
To everyone's shock, holes appeared out of thin air.
The walls made of cement now looked like a constantly changing soft body.
A moment later, rows of holes were neatly arranged on the walls, as if they had been there all along.
At the same time, the sound of chains being pulled came from all four sides.
"What's going on?" Everyone panicked for a moment.
"Look at the ceiling!" someone shouted in alarm.
Everyone looked up and saw that the ceiling was also full of holes.
Qi Xia finally stood up, took the goat skin mask from Qiao Jiajin, and examined the last sentence on it.
"See you after the rain."
"Rain...?"
Qiao Jiajin walked over to the wall, kicked and shuffled, and looked into the hole, then was startled and took several steps back.
"Damn!"
He shouted, looking for a place to hide, but found nowhere to hide.
"What's wrong? What's inside?" Xiao Ran asked fearfully.
Everyone knew that Qiao Jiajin had a lot of courage, and if something could scare him into retreating, it must be something serious.
"Damn you...!" Qiao Jiajin shouted, "It's harpoons!
There are harpoons 'retreating' inside the holes!
"What does 'retreating' mean?" Dr. Zhao asked, confused.
"It should mean 'winding up'," Qi Xia said, "Since a while ago, there has been a continuous sound of chains from all sides. Now these harpoons are all wound up and ready to be launched."
"Hey! Swindler, think of something fast!" Qiao Jiajin came to Qi Xia's side, anxiously saying, "If they all launch at the same time, where can we hide?"
Qi Xia thought carefully for a moment, and it wouldn't be difficult for him to survive, after all, there were already two corpses on the scene.
The penetrating power of the harpoons was limited. He just needed to pile the two corpses in the corner and hide behind them. Although there was a possibility of injury, the survival rate would still be high.
"This time, it will be difficult to let everyone survive. I also need to protect myself, so I won't save you again," Qi Xia said softly.
"You..." Qiao Jiajin wanted to say something but stopped, and could only turn to Officer Li and Dr. Zhao for help, but the two of them seemed even more at a loss.
Qi Xia looked at the hint on the mutton skin mask again.
Could it be that he had misunderstood?
Only when there was only one person left would this 'game' really end.
If they always managed to survive, this kind of murder game would keep emerging.
After all, this room was very strange, with walls that could change at any time.
It didn't seem to conform to any scientific principles, but rather like magic.
But if the organizer was a powerful person capable of casting magic, why would they trouble their nine dead people?
Could this be some kind of malicious game conducted by an institution that manages ghosts?
While Qi Xia was lost in thought, Lin looked at the mask in his hand and spoke:
"There... It says on here to let us survive, to 'turn in the direction of our hometown a hundred times'.
Everyone calmed down a bit and began to think about this phrase.
"Could it mean to face the direction of our hometown and spin around?" Tian Tian asked.
"No, that's not right," Qiao Jiajin shook his head, "In this room, how can you determine the direction of your hometown? And spinning around a hundred times will only make you dizzy and have no effect."
"Whatever! I'll give it a try first!" Tian Tian randomly chose a direction and started spinning around.
Qi Xia thought for a moment, knowing that things couldn't be that simple.