Chapter 22: If You're So Capable, You Do It
Seeing the expression on the third brother of the National Football Team, Su Xiao silently stood up, drew the Dragon-Slaying Flash from his waist, and remained vigilant. There was no need to confront Alice now; he only needed to question the other party, but appropriate caution was still necessary.
"Such good luck?"
The little detective girl found it hard to believe.
"Hey, hey, hey, if the third brother of the National Football Team really is Alice in disguise, 'she' has five attributes at 80 points and all skills at Lv.40. Are you really planning to make a move?"
Seeing Su Xiao draw his blade, the cat girl was quite surprised.
"Third Brother!"
The eldest brother of the National Football Team sensed something was wrong instinctively and immediately shouted, stepping between Su Xiao and the third brother.
"Huh?"
The third brother looked at Su Xiao with a completely bewildered expression, the 'deep thought' on his face vanishing.
"B-Bai Ye, what's this about?"
The third brother was very confused, then thought of something. A second later, an announcement appeared.
[Announcement: Game Player No. 8 uses the Questioning Authority on Game Player No. 8. Questioning failed. Game Player No. 8 is not Alice in disguise.]
This was a prompt from Reincarnation Paradise. No matter how resourceful Alice was, she couldn't deceive the Paradise to this extent; otherwise, Reincarnation Paradise wouldn't have teleported the contractors into the Demon Castle.
This announcement confirmed the third brother's identity. Su Xiao sheathed the Dragon-Slashing Flash and sat back down on the sofa.
"I say, if you're clearly not Alice, why did you put on that expression of being caught?"
The little detective girl couldn't help but complain, looking helpless.
"Sorry, I just thought, since this is a reasoning game, that expression looked pretty cool. My bad."
The third brother of the National Football Team gave a simple, honest smile and scratched the back of his head.
Pi Pang rubbed his forehead with his fingers. The gold-rimmed glasses man leaned back on the sofa, feeling that the future was bleak. The cat girl, however, kept her attention on Su Xiao. Earlier, when the third brother was suspected of being Alice, aside from the first and second brothers of the National Football Team moving to protect the third brother, almost everyone else had stepped back. Only Su Xiao had drawn his blade and stepped forward.
"Not good."
The cat girl's two furry, pointed ears twitched, and she began to maintain a safe distance from Su Xiao.
"This is both bad news and good news. Since the third brother of the National Football Team isn't Alice, I have a suggestion: let's skip the other two members of the National Football Team for now. What do you think?"
The little detective girl took out a piece of white paper, tore it into eight pieces, and wrote a code name on each. She was summarizing the information gained from this round.
"Agreed."
Pi Pang spoke. This was the reason for choosing to verify the third brother of the National Football Team first. If Alice had really infiltrated the National Football Team, she would definitely have raised a different opinion when he proposed the elimination method, self-questioning, and room number order questioning.
No one had raised any objections earlier. Moreover, when Su Xiao walked towards the third brother of the National Football Team with his blade, the first and second brothers almost instinctively shielded the third brother. The three of them vaguely formed a formation, a habit developed from long-term cooperation. If there was even the slightest irregularity in the formation, the other two of the National Football Team would immediately notice.
Having the third brother of the National Football Team question himself served two purposes: first, to observe the reactions of the other two members of the National Football Team, and second, to test whether self-questioning was possible.
Although, from a probabilistic standpoint, the chance of Alice hiding among the three members of the National Football Team wasn't low—after all, there were only eight people present, and the three of them made up 24% of the group.
In reality, the likelihood of Alice hiding among the three members of the National Football Team was actually not high. The three of them were almost inseparable. In this game, if one of them acted abnormally, the other two would immediately point out that person and use the Questioning Authority. This wasn't a time for mutual protection.
The other five were different. Before entering the Demon Castle game, they had no understanding of each other. Even now, the five of them didn't know much about one another.
For this reason, Alice might not choose the three members of the National Football Team. The reason Pi Pang and the little detective girl wanted to verify the third brother of the National Football Team was not only for safety but also because it was an efficient approach. Judging from the current result, while verifying the third brother's identity, the other two brothers of the National Football Team were also mostly cleared of suspicion. Verifying one was equivalent to verifying three. Why not do it?
"Overall, the gains are good. Excluding the three members of the National Football Team, we have five people left. We still have six Questioning attempts left. So... let's see when Alice shows her true colors."
The little detective girl had performed remarkably in this game, and she was well aware of it.
"How about we change the rules a bit? Originally, the questioning order was based on the reverse order of room numbers. Now, let's change it to the forward order. Tomorrow, I'll be verified first, then No. 2, No. 3, and so on. What do you think?"
The little detective girl looked at Su Xiao and Pi Pang. She already understood their intentions: anyone who caused trouble in the game would be killed, regardless of whether that person was Alice. It would be even better if they were Alice.
"You just want to verify yourself first, so you'll be safe. But... I agree."
The cat girl had changed from her earlier anxious attitude. She was now very calm. Her earlier anxiety was a deliberate attempt to stir things up. It wasn't that the cat girl was brainless; it was bait.
The cat girl came out to stir things up. Whoever dared to agree with her had a 30% or higher chance of being Alice. Now that the situation was a bit clearer, the cat girl immediately stopped her disruptive behavior.
The gold-rimmed glasses man had interrupted the cat girl's disruptive actions earlier. In the cat girl's mind, the gold-rimmed glasses man was suspicious. Those who agreed with her weren't good people, and the motives of those who interrupted her were also unclear.
The little detective girl, on the other hand, was suspicious of Pi Pang, because he was also very active. Pi Pang was also suspicious of her.
"This is the list of suspects I've compiled. All eight of us are on it. It's a percentage system. The higher the number, the more suspicious."
The little detective girl arranged the eight pieces of paper on the stone table in order. Written on them were:
Bai Ye: 29%
Cocoa Bean: 21%
Pi Pang: 20%
Glasses: 10%
Cat Girl: 9%
National Football Team 1: 6%
National Football Team 2: 5%
National Football Team 3: 0%
...
Surprisingly, in the little detective girl's judgment, Su Xiao was considered more suspicious than Pi Pang.
"This 'Glasses' should be me, right?"
The gold-rimmed glasses man adjusted his glasses. He vaguely remembered how sycophantically the little detective girl had called him 'Brother Walsh' earlier, and now he had become 'Glasses.'
"Uh~ Brother Walsh, I tend to overlook other people's code names when I'm reasoning."
The little detective girl's call of 'Brother Walsh' was indeed sycophantic.
"Little sister Cocoa Bean, you seem to remember your own code name quite well."
"Ahem, shut up."
The little detective girl glared at the gold-rimmed glasses man.
"Unexpected. My suspicion level is the highest."
Su Xiao was a bit puzzled. Based on his actions, the likelihood of being suspected as Alice wasn't high.
"The probability of you being Alice is actually lower than mine and Pi Pang's. However... you were planning to kill all of us earlier, weren't you? At the start of this game."
The little detective girl swallowed hard. The others couldn't help but look at Su Xiao. The three brothers of the National Football Team had an expression that said, 'We knew it.'
"How could that be? I'm a very reasonable person."
Su Xiao showed a smile as he looked at the little detective girl. His eyes clearly said, 'Say one more word, and I'll kill you.'
"Uh~ I was just joking."
The little detective girl forced a smile and modified the order of the suspects.
"Giving in under threat makes this data completely unreliable, little sister Cocoa Bean."
The gold-rimmed glasses man had been holding a timer. Daylight only lasted one hour, and 49 minutes had already passed.
"If you're so capable, you do it."
The little detective girl glared at the gold-rimmed glasses man. The gold-rimmed glasses man raised the timer.
"Ten minutes left."