Qi Xia had been sitting in his seat, neither standing up nor looking for clues.
He felt a bit strange.
The psychologist Lin Qing, who also hadn't stood up.
Asked casually, "What are you thinking about?"
"Me?" Qi Xia was taken aback. "What, are you going to give me a psychological diagnosis?"
"Not really, although smart people like you tend to have some psychological issues, but this situation is not suitable for therapy," Lin Qing smiled slightly. "I just wanted to ask what you were thinking about."
Qi Xia pondered for a moment and said, "I'm thinking about the reason."
"The reason?"
Ignoring Lin Qing, Qi Xia called out to Dr. Zhao and asked, "Doctor, generally speaking, how long can a person survive after being shot in the heart?"
Dr. Zhao turned back, thought for a moment, and said, "If I remember correctly, when the heart is hit, a person will enter an unconscious state within a few seconds. However, because 'death' in medical terms refers to 'brain death,' even if someone is unconscious, the brain can still function for a few minutes."
Qi Xia nodded, "The sheep-headed man screamed for a few minutes just now, which indicates that his physical structure is much more resilient than that of an ordinary human, right?"
"Yes. He remained conscious for several minutes even after being shot in the heart."
Upon hearing Qi Xia and the doctor speak, everyone fell silent.
Just moments ago, it was this con artist's clear thinking that allowed all nine of them to survive.
"So, what do you think the reason is?" Qi Xia extended his index and thumb fingers to form a gun shape and placed it against his temple. "An ordinary person would choose to commit suicide like this."
He thought for a moment and then aimed his hand upward at his jaw, "Or like this."
Qi Xia withdrew his hand and pointed to his heart:
"Regardless of how... a person committing suicide would choose a method that minimizes their suffering. But why would he aim for his heart?"
Qiao Jiajin played with the sheep-headed mask in his hand, then turned the man's head over and said, "Maybe this guy's head is tougher; one shot might not kill him."
"Since he spat out blood, it proves that his physical structure is the same as ours," Officer Li said. "Even if he's strong, a shot to the head from this distance would definitely be fatal."
Qi Xia nodded, "If that's the case, I can only think of one reason."
He pointed to the mask in Qiao Jiajin's hand and said, "The sheep-headed man chose to shoot himself in the heart, most likely to protect something. The 'game' is probably not over yet."
Qiao Jiajin was taken aback, "You mean… he was afraid of damaging his mask?"
"Exactly."
Under Qi Xia's direction, Qiao Jiajin turned the sheep skin mask inside out, revealing the rough sheep skin lining to everyone.
A foul, rotten smell wafted from it.
As Qi Xia had suspected, there were words written inside the sheep skin mask in black ink.
Some areas were stained with blood, but Qiao Jiajin didn't mind; he grabbed his T-shirt and wiped it, making the writing finally legible.
"What's going on?" Qiao Jiajin was momentarily stunned and began to read the words on the mask in his non-standard Mandarin:
"I am 'Human Dog.'"
"You are cursed."
"I hope you survive."
"The clock ticks unceasingly, and danger lurks everywhere."
"If you want to survive, please turn towards your hometown one hundred times."
"By the way, they say that bamboo shoots spring up after the rain; why aren't the bamboo shoots afraid of the rain?"
"See you after the rain."
Qi Xia frowned slightly; it was indeed a hint for the next game...
The shadow of death hanging over everyone refused to dissipate.
They were already dead, but did they have to die again?
"Hey, con artist, what does this mean?" Qiao Jiajin asked.
"How would I know?" Qi Xia snorted coldly, "There are nine people here; do you expect me to do all the thinking?"
Lawyer Zhang Chenze slowly sat down in a chair and said, "Although I don't want to admit it, your line of thought aligns very closely with that of the 'Organizer.' If you have any ideas, you might as well share them."
"I…"
Before Qi Xia could speak, the walls around them suddenly began to change.
As everyone looked on in shock, holes began to appear out of thin air.
The originally cement walls now seemed to transform into a constantly changing, soft material.
Moments later, rows of holes were neatly arranged along the walls, as if they had always been there.
At the same time, the sound of chains being pulled echoed from all directions.
"What's going on?" Panic spread among the crowd.
"Look at the ceiling!" Someone suddenly shouted.
Everyone looked up and found that even the ceiling was covered with countless holes.
Qi Xia finally stood up, took the sheep skin mask from Qiao Jiajin's hands, and carefully examined the last line of text.
"See you after the rain."
"Rain...?"
Qiao Jiajin tiptoed to the wall, crouched down, and peered into one of the holes. He was immediately startled and stumbled back several steps.
"Holy crap!"
He shouted, looking for a place to hide, only to realize there was nowhere to conceal himself.
"What's wrong? What's inside?" Xiao Ran asked, a bit frightened.
Everyone knew that Qiao Jiajin was quite brave, so if something could scare him to the point of retreating, it must be something serious.
"Holy crap, you won't believe it!" Qiao Jiajin shouted, "It's harpoons! The holes are full of 'retreating' harpoons!"
"What does 'retreating' mean?" Dr. Zhao asked, confused.
"It should be 'cocked'," Qi Xia said. "Since just now, the sound of chains has been echoing from all directions. Now these harpoons are all cocked and could be launched at any moment."
"Hey! Con artist, think of a way out!" Qiao Jiajin rushed to Qi Xia's side, anxiously saying, "If all sides fire at once, where are we supposed to hide?"
Qi Xia pondered carefully; it wasn't difficult for him to survive, especially since there were already two corpses on the scene.
The penetrating power of the harpoons was limited; he could just stack the two bodies in the corner and hide behind them. While there was a chance of being injured, his survival rate would still be quite high.
"This time, it's probably going to be hard to save everyone. I need to look out for myself, so I won't be saving you anymore," Qi Xia said softly.
"You…" Qiao Jiajin hesitated, unable to finish his sentence. He turned to Officer Li and Dr. Zhao for help, but the two of them looked even more at a loss.
Qi Xia glanced again at the phrases on the sheep skin mask.
Could it be that he misunderstood?
The game would only truly end when there was only one person left.
If everyone continued to survive, this killing game would keep resurfacing.
After all, this room was very strange, and the walls could change at any moment.
It seemed to defy any scientific reasoning, more like magic.
But if the organizer were a powerful figure capable of casting magic, why would they torment these nine dead people?
Was this some sort of twisted game conducted by an organization managing ghosts?
While Qi Xia was lost in thought, Lin Qing spoke up, looking at the mask in his hand: "It says here… there's a way for us to survive, and it says we need to 'turn a hundred circles towards the direction of our hometown.'"
The crowd calmed down a bit and began to ponder this phrase.
"Does it mean we should face the direction of our hometown and spin around?" Tiantian asked.
"That doesn't make sense," Qiao Jiajin shook his head. "In this room, how can you determine the direction of your hometown? Plus, just spinning around a hundred times would only make you dizzy and wouldn't have any effect."
"Forget it! I'll give it a try first!" Tiantian randomly chose a direction and started spinning around.
Qi Xia thought for a moment and realized that things couldn't be that simple.