After determining the method of using the prop, Cheng Tingyu didn't want to let the other party control the pace of the conversation. He continued to raise a question that an inspector must confirm: "Among the seven people who entered the instance, Liu Xuehong's condition is obviously abnormal."
The inspector had already questioned Yu Wenran and the other two, gaining some understanding of Liu Xuehong's transformation into a monster. However, since Cheng Tingyu mentioned it, he intended to hear her description once more.
"We have already heard that Liu Xuehong, during the process of deciphering the copy, was bewitched and became a monster..."
Cheng Tingyu interrupted the inspector and shook his head, "It's not during the process."
"From the very beginning, Liu Xuehong stood on the side of the monsters."
The inspector's eyes showed a hint of doubt: "Are you sure?"
Cheng Tingyu spoke honestly, "I'm not very sure."
As soon as the words fell, the pendant gently swung in the direction of the lie.
Cheng Tingyu added, "About seventy to eighty percent."
The pendant returned to stillness—regarding ambiguous statements, the prop could not provide an accurate judgment.
Inspector: "..."
Cheng Tingyu explained, "Liu Xuehong is a staff member in the duty room, not easily suspected by colleagues. Plus, I was present at the time, which minimized suspicion to the lowest. If he also understands the rules and knows how to escape from the cold-proof room, then this instance would be too safe for him. If I were the instance monster, I would also want to do something to Liu Xuehong."
She still clearly remembered the note she saw when she first arrived: "Humans may not be trustworthy, and copies are even less so."
Even if Liu Xuehong stood somewhat on the side of the copy, the copy would not harbor much goodwill towards him.
Inspector: "…For example?"
He couldn't quite understand the words of the person in front of him.
According to the confessions obtained from others, Liu Xuehong had kept herself well hidden until she was finally exposed by Cheng Tingyu, who boldly experimented and discovered the rules for creating illusions in the replicas.
However, according to what the other party said, she had already begun to harbor doubts before Liu Xuehong truly exposed herself.
Cheng Tingyu: "For example, the instance set the participants' respawn point on the mountain path."
The inspector, upon hearing this, seemed to realize something but couldn't immediately grasp it. He could only follow work protocols and verify the key information: "Are you sure your refresh point is on the mountain path?"
The inspection team had actually already learned the general situation of the instance from the accounts of Yu Wenran and the other two. They knew about the participants' experiences within the instance. However, at that time, they were unaware that the refresh point also held special value and did not think to verify the authenticity of this information.
Cheng Tingyu: "Confirmed."
With her words, the pendant gently tilted in the direction of the correct answer.
Cheng Tingyu: "According to the procedure, we need to stay in the cold-proof house for at least five days. During this period, any violation of the rules could be life-threatening. So why doesn't the game just place all participants in the cold-proof house from the start, instead of dropping them on the mountain path?" She smiled, "Adding a mountain climbing process doesn't consume much of the players' energy. Even if we appeared directly in the cold-proof house and planned to go out and explore, upon realizing that everything around is covered in snow, we would still have to return to the original place and follow the process of finding fuel, eating, and resting."
When Cheng Tingyu experienced the game flow in the cold-proof house, she couldn't help but feel a sense of doubt. The subsequent stages gradually confirmed her initial suspicions step by step.
Cheng Tingyu: "The shelter is set up for mountaineers waiting for rescue, but no matter how amateurish the 'Fitness Hiking Group' is, it's impossible for their activity goal to be 'getting lost in a blizzard and having to stay at a safe spot waiting for rescue.'"
By this time, the inspector finally understood what Cheng Tingyu meant: for most members of the "Fitness Travel Group," they were merely on a regular mountain hike, but unfortunately encountered heavy snow midway and had to find a way to save themselves.
Cheng Tingyu: "When the participants were just refreshed in the instance, they were heading straight for the cold-proof house—this is the game hinting to us that at least one person in that 'Fitness Hiking Group' already knew about the cold-proof house."
Being trapped by wind and snow, forced to spend five days in a place where life is at risk, already counts as the standard backdrop for a horror story. If there is someone in the team who has foreseen everything, it practically writes "suspected boss" all over their face.
The copy harbored intense malice towards all participants, hoping to kill everyone, hence leaving the obvious hint that "there is an insider in the team."
Cheng Tingyu: "Next is the part where we search for fuel in the basement. Generally speaking, the first day is when the monsters in the game are at their weakest. If the mastermind wants to help the cold shelter kill the residents, it's more likely that they would personally enter the basement level to ensure that at least one victim, who can serve as food for the monsters, appears."
"We decided on the candidates by drawing lots, and all the slips of paper were written by Liu Xuehong."
The inspector confirmed the information that "the note was written by Liu Xuehong" and then asked, "So you are certain that Liu Xuehong is the mastermind behind this?"
Cheng Tingyu admitted, "This is part of the reason.
"Another part is the result of elimination—four people went down to the basement, and I am very sure that I am not the culprit. Sun Xiaolin's death was very clear. If Li Junhui, who drew number one, hadn't been stopped, he would have almost followed in the footsteps of the violator. The remaining suspects are obviously not many..."
After almost confirming the identity of the person behind the scenes, Cheng Tingyu began to think about how to cleanly and efficiently eliminate the opponent.
On the first night, Cheng Tingyu was not attacked and could only obtain copy information from others.
Cheng Tingyu: "Normally, Liu Xuehong wouldn't act against me too early, to avoid losing a suitable scapegoat."
After all, she was a visitor from the desolate zone. To the staff in the duty room, colleagues who worked together every day were obviously more trustworthy than a stranger.
The inspector silently mourned for three seconds for the doppelgänger mastermind he had never met—their plan was actually very sound, with the only flaw lying in Cheng Tingyu's own personality traits.
Cheng Tingyu: "So I planned to lure him into making the first move—I had some guesses about the range of the cold-proof house at the time, thinking that the area around the building must be the monsters' activity range. Only by placing the corpses further away could we eliminate the possibility of the monsters feeding. When Liu Xuehong noticed my actions, he indeed chose to act directly."
Liu Xuehong refrained from targeting Cheng Tingyu twice in a row, intending to leave her to take the blame. However, upon realizing that Cheng Tingyu had started paying attention to the state of the corpses and had taken actions that severely impacted his plans, he had no choice but to act immediately, aiming to eliminate her.
She very considerately helped create an opportunity for herself to be alone, luring Liu Xuehong into disrupting the environment of Bedroom No. 3, ultimately leading to her being killed for breaking the rules.
The inspector sighed, "If the copy could restrain its malice towards Liu Xuehong, it probably wouldn't be so easily deciphered."
Cheng Tingyu smiled, "You can't really blame the instance. Liu Xuehong knows the rules of the cold-proof house too well, even knowing how to kill the monsters. So the instance would rather let the other participants go and target him instead."
Realizing that the inspector hadn't figured out the method to kill the monster, Cheng Tingyu leisurely repeated the contents of the hint paper on the first floor of the cold-proof house.
"...Fourth rule, 'You may eat when hungry; excessive hunger will lead to death. You can choose any area within the shelter to dine, but please exercise restraint while eating.'"
The inspector suddenly realized—the rule was related to eating and explicitly mentioned the possibility of death.
Since the monsters are also bound by the rules, they can naturally be killed by the rule of "dying from excessive hunger."
Cheng Tingyu: "So for the mastermind behind the scenes, there is a possibility of a complete victory in the Cold Shelter instance. Liu Xuehong can completely use the instance to kill other participants first, and then starve the monsters in the house to death."
"The copy provides hints to others, to some extent, for self-preservation."
"Of course, judging by the fact that all the survivors were successfully taken away by the rescue team, their self-preservation efforts were likely not very successful."
The inspector listened to Cheng Tingyu's account, while also making sure to confirm the accuracy of key information with her.
Cheng Tingyu answered while never forgetting to secretly observe the items on the table.
As the inspector's confirmations increased, the crystal pendant's swaying grew increasingly faint.
This prop cannot be used indefinitely.
According to Cheng Tingyu's estimation, judging by the way the pendant was swinging, the inspector could at most ask one or two more questions.
The more power used to confirm the state of the copy, the less power remains to confirm her personal situation.
The inspector hurriedly took notes. Just as he was about to ask something else, he abruptly stopped and forcefully changed the subject: "One last question, are you a player?"
This is the question he must confirm today.
Cheng Tingyu blinked lightly and sighed inwardly.
The city inspectors were indeed not so easily swayed by her lead.
Cheng Tingyu leaned back in his chair and smiled, "I think it should be."
The inspector was not particularly surprised by this. After receiving the answer, he casually glanced at the ornament that theoretically still had some testing opportunities left.
The crystal pendant remained motionless.
"..."
Although a definite answer was given, the ornament was unable to measure the truth of the response.
The same situation fell into Cheng Tingyu's eyes, and at this moment, the smile in her eyes seemed to deepen a bit.
When he first crossed over, Cheng Tingyu found a piece of paper in that book with a set of rules for the dungeon strategy. One of the rules was "Players need to know their own name." Cheng Tingyu had only heard that his ability was called "Secret Eye," but he had no idea what that so-called name actually was.
So up until now, she was not a true player in the real sense.
For questions that even Cheng Tingyu herself was unclear about, the pendant could not judge the correctness of her answers.
Cheng Tingyu leisurely added another sentence: "However, I recently discovered that my combat abilities have significantly improved."
From her perspective, this was nothing but a most truthful answer.
However, to others, it seemed that Cheng Tingyu had just awakened an ability related to martial prowess.
The inspector confirmed this information with Cheng Tingyu, and after receiving an affirmative response, the crystal pendant tilted slightly to the correct side.
The inspector who had finished recording the work breathed a sigh of relief: "No problem, you probably awakened abilities related to 'flesh' or 'calamity insects'. After you stabilize for a while, you should be able to know your 'name'."
As they spoke, the inspector capped his pen and slowly stood up from his chair.