An old tungsten filament lamp, suspended in the center of the room by black wires, flickered dimly. The tranquil atmosphere spread throughout the room like ink dispersing in clear water. In the center of the room stood a large round table, looking quite weathered. At its center was a small, intricately patterned clock, ticking away. Seated around the table were ten people, each dressed in various styles, their clothes appearing somewhat worn and their faces smeared with dust. Some lay sprawled on the table, others reclined in their chairs, all deeply asleep.
Standing silently among them was a man wearing a goat head mask and dressed in a black suit. His gaze, penetrating through the worn-out mask, watched the ten people with great interest. The clock on the table chimed, its hands both pointing to twelve. From a distant place outside the room, a low bell sounded. At that moment, the ten men and women seated around the table began to awaken. As they gradually regained consciousness, they first looked around in bewilderment, then at each other in confusion. It seemed none of them remembered why they were there.
"Good morning, everyone," the goat head spoke first. "I'm pleased to meet you here. You've been asleep in my presence for twelve hours." The appearance of the man before them was truly eerie, startling everyone in the dim light. His mask seemed to be made from a real goat's head, many of its hairs yellowed and blackened, tangled together. Two holes were carved out where the eyes should be, revealing his cunning eyes. His every movement emitted not only the unique musky scent of a goat but also a faint odor of decay.
A tattooed man stared blankly for a few seconds before finally noticing the oddity of the situation. Hesitantly, he asked the goat head, "Who... are you?" "I believe you all have this question," the goat head responded, waving his hands happily as if he had been prepared for this. A young man named Qi Xia, sitting the farthest from the goat head, quickly scanned the room. After a moment, his expression grew serious. This room was indeed strange. There were no doors, only walls on all sides. In other words, the room was entirely enclosed, yet there was a table in the center. How did they get here? Were they brought in first, and then the walls built around them?
Qi Xia looked around again. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all crisscrossed with lines, dividing them into large squares. Another thing that caught Qi Xia's attention was the goat head's reference to "nine people." No matter how he counted, there were ten people around the table, plus the goat head himself, making eleven. What did he mean by "nine people"? He reached into his pocket, unsurprised to find his phone had been taken.
"No need to introduce yourself," a cold woman spoke to the goat head. "I advise you to stop your actions immediately. I suspect you've detained us for over twenty-four hours, which constitutes illegal detention. Everything you say will be used as evidence against you." As she spoke, she disdainfully brushed the dust from her arms, seemingly more bothered by the dirt than by the captivity. Her words brought some clarity to the group. Regardless of who this person was, daring to kidnap ten people alone had already crossed a legal boundary.
"Wait..." a middle-aged man in a white coat interrupted their thoughts. He slowly turned to the cold woman and asked, "We just woke up, how do you know we've been detained for twenty-four hours?" His tone was calm and firm, but his question was pointed. The cold woman unhurriedly pointed to the clock on the table and replied, "The clock points to twelve. I have a habit of staying up late. The last time I checked the clock at home, it was already twelve. This means we've been detained for at least twelve hours." She then pointed around the room and continued, "You should have noticed there are no doors here, which means this person went to some effort to get us in here. He said we've been asleep for twelve hours. Now the clock points to twelve again, meaning at least two cycles have passed. So I suspect it's been over twenty-four hours. Any problems with that?"
The man in the white coat gave her a cold look, still filled with suspicion. In such an environment, her calmness was unsettling. Would a normal person remain so composed in the face of such a kidnapping? A young man in a black T-shirt then asked, "Goat head, why are there ten people here, but you said there are nine?" The goat head remained silent, not immediately responding. "I don't care how many people are here..." the tattooed man cursed, trying to stand up but finding his legs too weak, so he could only continue pointing at the goat head, "I advise you to wise up. You have no idea how serious the consequences of provoking me can be. I will really take your life." His words made the men around the table grow more serious. At this moment, they indeed needed a leader. If they could subdue the goat head together, the situation might still be under control.
However, everyone found that their legs felt completely powerless, as if they had been injected with something. The tattooed man could only threaten the goat head with words, shouting curses loudly. Qi Xia didn't speak. He gently stroked his chin, gazing thoughtfully at the clock on the table. Things seemed more complicated than they appeared.
He knew the goat head mentioned "nine participants." If there were ten people here, it could only mean one of them was not a participant. But who were they? Among the six men and four women in the room, was one of them the "abductor"?
The goat head said nothing more. He slowly walked over to Qi Xia and stood behind a young man. The others followed his gaze and noticed that this young man was different from everyone else. Though his face was also dirty, it bore a peculiar, happy smile.
The goat head slowly raised his hand and placed it on the back of the young man's head. The young man's smile grew even more eerie. He looked around at the others with an excited expression, as if he already knew something.
With a dull thud, the goat head slammed the young man's head onto the table. Pinkish-white matter spread across the table like spilled paint, splattering everyone with blood. The young man's skull had been shattered on the table.
A distant bell sounded again outside the room. Qi Xia, sitting close to the deceased, felt something warm and sticky land on his face. Though he prided himself on his strong nerves, he couldn't help but tremble. The girl sitting to the right of the deceased froze for three seconds before her face twisted in horror, and she screamed.
The scream broke through everyone's psychological defenses. Could a person capable of shattering a human skull on a table with their hand still be considered "human"? How could such a frail body possess such immense strength?
The goat head spoke slowly, "The reason I prepared ten people is to use one of you to keep the rest quiet."