Chapter 21: A Unique Line of Thought
Upon receiving this series of prompts, Su Xiao immediately rushed out of the room with Bubu Wang.
"Pay attention to smells and auras, though the likelihood of detecting anything is slim."
Su Xiao instructed Bubu Wang, who barked once to acknowledge receipt.
Bang, bang, bang...
Several consecutive door-pushing sounds came, and eight people almost simultaneously rushed out of their rooms, all standing on the landing platforms in front of their respective rooms.
"A reasoning game, huh? I like it."
The little detective girl adjusted her cap, looking mysterious and unfathomable.
"Based on the known information, Alice is hiding among us."
The gold-rimmed glasses man scanned the crowd, finally stopping his gaze on Su Xiao. After a moment, he shook his head.
"It's likely not a reasoning game, but an elimination game."
The cat-eared girl spoke, vigilant toward everyone, as anyone could be Alice in disguise.
"How so?"
The third brother of the National Football Team looked somewhat puzzled.
"If it were purely a reasoning game, there would be no need to distinguish between day and night. Only daytime would suffice. What's the point of night? In fact, even staying in the room at night isn't safe. This is Alice's castle; she can freely enter and exit all rooms. At night, she can enter rooms to kill. With five attributes at 80 points and all skills at Lv.40, that combat power is terrifying. In just a few game days, the numbers will plummet."
The cat-eared girl's expression wasn't good. She wasn't adept at this type of game.
"No."
The little detective girl flatly rejected this. She had been very active since the start of this game.
"This is a reasoning game. The night is just a smoke screen. If someone really dies at night, Alice could pretend to be dead, hiding in the room and only coming out at night to kill. She can blend in with the living or the dead. Compared to the living who frequently show up during the day, the dead make it easier to conceal her identity."
The little detective girl seemed to have activated some mode, becoming very confident.
"Let's set aside these details for now and summarize the game rules."
The gold-rimmed glasses man walked toward the living room downstairs. Soon, the eight of them gathered around the sofa. Alice couldn't act during the day.
Su Xiao had been pondering one question: could he directly kill Alice's clone? Five attributes at 80 points and all skills at Lv.40 were indeed powerful, but for Su Xiao, it wasn't insurmountable. His four attributes at 80 points weren't just for show. Even if he couldn't win, holding out for two hours was no problem. If attacked, he could survive one night.
Su Xiao could survive a night under Alice's clone's assault, but the gold-rimmed glasses man had no such thoughts. For him, an enemy with five attributes at 80 points was already hopeless. As for skills at Lv.40, he had almost no chance of survival.
"First, we have seven opportunities, meaning the right to challenge during seven daytimes. Each daytime, one of us eight can use the challenge right. If others want to use it, they have to wait for the next daytime. Therefore, this challenge right is key to our victory."
The gold-rimmed glasses man crossed his hands, a habitual gesture of his.
"Proposal."
The little detective girl spoke, pointing at herself: "Let's challenge ourselves."
The gold-rimmed glasses man's eyes lit up: "This idea might work."
"Opposed."
The eldest brother of the National Football Team spoke.
"Reason?"
"Whether challenging ourselves is effective is unknown. There's a certain degree of risk."
"I agree with the National Football Team's view."
The cat-eared girl also spoke.
"In that case, let's challenge in order of room numbers."
The gold-rimmed glasses man gave a proposal.
"Agreed."
"Opposed."
This time, Su Xiao voiced his opposition. He hadn't spoken until now. The gold-rimmed glasses man looked up at Su Xiao.
"Reason?"
"If someone dies at night, it will disrupt the order of who challenges and who is challenged. I suggest the elimination method."
"Agreed." ×3
The three brothers of the National Football Team immediately agreed with Su Xiao's view. This wasn't because they knew each other, but because if the elimination method was chosen, they would be the first to be eliminated.
"That makes sense. Let's go with the elimination method. First, eliminate the suspicion on the three brothers of the National Football Team. But the challenge right has major flaws. Eliminating one by one involves a lot of luck. If lucky, everyone's happy. If unlucky, even if we pass the game, more than half of us will die."
The gold-rimmed glasses man's words weren't unreasonable. Whether challenging oneself, challenging by room number order, or using the elimination method, all had flaws. There were too many details involved, such as who uses the challenge right first, and whether these proposals contained Alice's smoke screens.
The best method was to observe for now and challenge based on Alice's clues.
"This is a mess. This won't work, that won't work. We might as well wait to die."
The cat-eared girl slapped the stone table.
"Calm down."
The gold-rimmed glasses man frowned.
"I am calm. Everyone, Alice is among us, and her combat power is terrifying, as you all know. Therefore, there's no trust between us. For example, today's daytime challenge right. There are eight of us here, and the game only lasts seven days. So there's a chance Alice won't be challenged. Plus, the possibility of deaths during the game. Needless to say, whoever uses the challenge right first is safer. Alice will try to reduce the number of our challenge rights. Those without the challenge right will be safer."
Everyone had a point, but there was only one correct answer, and Su Xiao... couldn't figure it out.
Su Xiao had never been an intellectual powerhouse. Although his IQ wasn't low and he could handle basic setups, he wasn't the type to be exceptionally clever. His method for dealing with Alice's clone was simple: if she came for him, he'd try to kill her. Even if he couldn't, she couldn't kill him quickly. The troublesome part was that he had to find out who Alice was within seven game days. Once the game ended and the Wolf Butler appeared, the enemy wouldn't just have five attributes at 80 points.
Su Xiao's line of thought was somewhat unique. While others were thinking about how to avoid Alice's clone, he was thinking about how to kill Alice's clone.
This game seemed simple but was actually very difficult. Alice's clone disguised as a contractor was flawless. It couldn't be identified by habitual actions; one could only observe behavior that differed from others.
"We're overcomplicating things. Let's change our approach and keep it simple. Use the elimination method. First, eliminate the three brothers of the National Football Team."
The little detective girl noticed the situation was getting out of hand. If mutual suspicion continued, things would become even more uncontrollable.
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
Su Xiao and the fat guy spoke at the same time.
Su Xiao looked at the fat guy, who nodded.
"Anyone who doesn't accept me!"
The fat guy stood up. Except for Su Xiao, the other six were dumbfounded.
"Cough... wrong. Anyone who doesn't accept us two!"
The fat guy stood beside Su Xiao. Su Xiao already understood what the other meant.
The fat guy and Su Xiao looked like the types with strong combat power. Under their gazes, the little detective girl shrank her neck.
"I, I accept."
The little detective girl weakly raised her hand. Not accepting could mean death.
"I also accept."
The gold-rimmed glasses man answered seriously. He also realized the current situation.
"We three brothers have no objections."
"I have no objections either."
The wild-looking cat-eared girl temporarily yielded. After getting everyone's responses, the fat guy quietly breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"The little girl is right. If we overthink this game, we'll all die. Alice wants us to suspect each other. So, let's not suspect. On the first daytime, let's do an experiment. Use the elimination method + room number order + self-voting method."
"This method... is feasible!"
The little detective girl thought of something and immediately agreed with the fat guy's idea.
"We have to take risks anyway. So on the first day, let's try to see if self-voting is effective. First, based on room numbers, the third brother of the National Football Team challenges himself. Then proceed in order. If someone dies during this time, and it happens to be the one using the challenge right, we'll decide based on the situation."
The fat guy's method could be considered the safest, just like his physique—very stable.
The challenge order was: first the third brother of the National Football Team, then the second brother, progressing backward by room number. According to the fat guy's thinking, they had to first determine whether any of the three brothers of the National Football Team was impersonated by Alice. The three were members of the same adventure group, making them the biggest targets. Probability-wise, Alice was most likely hiding among them. As for having them identify each other, that was completely unfeasible. If Alice's disguise were that poor, she would have been caught long ago. Remember, Alice had the memories of the person she impersonated, similar to storage space abilities, numbers, etc. She could impersonate those too. Otherwise, a single reconnaissance-type piece of equipment could expose her.
"Um... can we challenge number 1 first? I'm also quite suspicious."
The little detective girl spoke.
"No. The National Football Team's issue must be resolved first. They deliberately chose adjacent rooms earlier. Let's start voting."
Everyone's gaze turned to the third brother of the National Football Team, whose eyelids drooped low.