A worn tungsten filament bulb hung from the ceiling by a black wire, flickering dimly. The silence spread through the room like ink diffusing in clear water. In the center stood a large, weathered round table, upon which rested a small, intricately patterned mantel clock, ticking steadily.Around the table sat ten individuals, each dressed differently; their clothes appeared somewhat tattered, and their faces were smudged with dust. Some lay sprawled across the table, while others leaned back in their chairs, all deeply asleep. Beside them stood a man wearing a goat-head mask and dressed in a black suit. His gaze, filled with interest, peered through the worn mask, intently observing the ten people.

The table clock on the table rang, and both the minute hand and the hour hand pointed to "twelve". From a very distant place outside the room, there came a low tolling of a bell. At the same moment, ten men and women sitting around the round - table slowly woke up. After they gradually regained consciousness, they first looked around in a daze and then looked at each other in confusion. It seemed that none of them remembered why they were here.

"Good morning, nine of you," the man with a goat's head spoke first. "I'm very glad to meet you here. You've been sleeping in front of me for twelve hours." The man's strange outfit really gave everyone a fright in the dim light.

His mask seemed to be made from a real goat's head, with much of its fur having turned yellow and black, tangled and matted together.

The eye sockets of the goat mask were hollowed out, revealing his cunning eyes.

Every movement he made carried not only the distinct musky scent of a goat but also a faint, underlying stench of decay.

A man with a tattooed arm froze for a few seconds before finally realizing the absurdity of the situation. Hesitantly, he asked the goat-headed figure, "Who... are you?"

"I believe you all have the same question, so let me introduce myself to the nine of you," the goat-headed man said cheerfully, waving his hands as if he had long prepared for this moment.

A young man named Qi Xia sat at the farthest distance from the goat-headed figure. He quickly scanned the room, and moments later, his expression grew serious.

Something was off. This room was far too strange.

There were no doors—only walls on all four sides.

In other words, the walls, ceiling, and floor of this room were completely sealed, yet there was a table placed right in the center.

If that were the case, how did they get here?

Could it be that they were brought in first, and then the walls were built around them?

Qi Xia glanced around again. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all covered in intersecting horizontal and vertical lines, dividing the surfaces into large square grids.

Another thing that caught Qi Xia's attention was the way the goat-headed man had said "nine."

No matter how he counted, there were ten people sitting around the round table. Including the goat-headed man himself, there were eleven people in total inside this room.

What did "nine" mean?

He reached into his pocket, and just as he expected, his phone was gone.

"No need to introduce yourself," a cold-voiced woman interrupted the goat-headed man. "I suggest you stop whatever you're doing as soon as possible. I suspect you've been holding us here for more than twenty-four hours, which constitutes 'unlawful imprisonment.' Every word you say now will be recorded and used as evidence against you."

As she spoke, she disdainfully brushed the dust off her arm, as if being dirty was more intolerable to her than being held captive.

The cold woman's words indeed snapped everyone into clarity. No matter who the other party was, the fact that he dared to kidnap ten people alone had already crossed the legal line.

"Wait a minute…" A middle-aged man in a white lab coat interrupted their thoughts. He slowly turned to the cold woman and asked, "We all just woke up—how do you know we've been imprisoned for 'twenty-four hours'?"

His tone was calm and firm, but his words struck directly at the heart of the matter.

The cold woman remained composed. She pointed at the mantel clock on the table and replied, "The clock here points to twelve o'clock. But I have a habit of staying up late. The last time I checked the time at home, it was already twelve. That means we've been imprisoned for at least twelve hours."

After she finished speaking, she pointed at the surrounding walls and continued, "You all should have noticed by now—there are no doors in this room. That means this person went through a lot of trouble to get us in here. He said we've been asleep for twelve hours, and now the clock points to twelve again, meaning it has gone around at least twice. That's why I suspect it's been 'more than twenty-four hours.' Any objections?"

The man in the white lab coat listened to her response, then shot her a cold glance, his eyes still filled with doubt.

After all, in this kind of situation, this woman was far too calm.

Would a normal person facing a kidnapping remain this composed and deliver such a logical analysis?

At that moment, a strong young man wearing a black T-shirt spoke up, "Goat-head, there are ten people here. Why did you say nine?"

The goat-headed man remained silent and did not answer immediately.

"Damn it, I don't care how many people are here…" the tattooed man cursed. He pushed against the table, trying to stand up, only to find that his legs were completely limp and powerless. He had no choice but to remain seated, pointing at the goat-headed man as he continued, "You bastard, I suggest you wise up. You have no idea how serious the consequences of messing with me are—I swear, I'll take your life."

As soon as he said that, the expressions of the other men around the table grew more serious.

At this moment, they indeed needed a leader. If they could work together to subdue the goat-headed man, the situation might still be under control.

However, they soon realized that their legs felt as if they had been injected with something—they were completely numb and unusable.

With no other option, the tattooed man resorted to verbal threats, shouting curses at the goat-headed man.

Qi Xia remained silent. He gently stroked his chin, his gaze fixed on the mantel clock on the table, lost in thought.

Things weren't as simple as they seemed.

He recalled that the goat-headed man had said there were "nine participants."

If there were ten people here, then that could only mean one of them wasn't a participant.

Then… who was it?

Six men and four women sat in the room—could one of them be the kidnapper?

The goat-headed man remained silent as he slowly walked to Qi Xia's side, stopping behind a young man.

Everyone followed his gaze and finally noticed something odd—this young man was different from the rest. Though his face was just as dirty, he wore an expression of pure happiness, a wide smile stretching across his face.

The goat-headed man 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 glanced around at the others, his eyes filled with excitement, as if he had known something all along.

Then, with a dull thud, the goat-headed man slammed the young man's head onto the table.

A mixture of pink and white burst forth like spilled paint, spreading across the tabletop in an instant. Droplets of blood splattered onto everyone's faces.

His skull had been completely shattered against the table.

From outside the room, a distant clock chimed once more.

Qi Xia was seated close to the dead man. He felt something warm and sticky land on his face—some unknown piece of flesh.

He had always considered himself mentally strong, yet at that moment, he couldn't stop his hands from trembling.

Three seconds later, the girl sitting to the right of the corpse finally processed what had happened. Her face twisted in horror, and she let out a bloodcurdling scream.

The scream shattered everyone's psychological defenses.

To be able to smash a human skull—one of the hardest bones in the body—against a table with just his hand… Was that goat-headed man even human?

How could such a thin and frail body unleash such terrifying strength?

The goat-headed man spoke slowly, "The reason I prepared ten people… was to use one of them to silence the rest of you."