Chapter 231: The Corpse on the Chandelier
Ni Tian was somewhat reluctant, but since the other players suspected that Pan Siming and Big Bear's deaths were abnormal, she didn't dare to break off her cooperation with Xu Huo. Otherwise, she would become the target of everyone's suspicion, so she could only do as he said.
Seeing her avoid the others' gazes and slowly turn into the corridor, slipping inside, Xu Huo began searching the exhibition hall.
The first thing to look for was definitely the Painting Woman. She hadn't returned after coming out yesterday, and she wasn't in the exhibition hall now, which meant she could only have gone into the painting.
"You came out last night." Gao Jun suddenly walked up behind him and lowered his voice.
The exhibition hall wasn't soundproof, and the other players, whether they turned their heads or not, immediately focused their attention on them.
"You're pretty good at playing the thief crying 'stop thief,'" Xu Huo said calmly. "Whether I went out or not, Ni Tian can testify. But who can testify for you?"
Gao Jun retorted, "You two are working together. What's strange about clearing the instance one after another?"
"That's right. Ni Tian and I both cleared the instance. Not only that, we killed Deng Yu and his two companions. You're our next target," Xu Huo followed his words. "Does saying that make you feel better?"
"If you have time to pick a fight, you might as well look at the paintings."
He finished speaking and walked away first, while Gao Jun stood behind him, staring at him for a long while before continuing to examine the paintings.
Although they were supposed to be looking for fake paintings, the players were more focused on the two missing paintings. The Gloomy Man and Li Weiran both stopped in front of the pillars one after another, carefully examining the empty spaces.
"What connection is there between these two paintings?" Xie Man was baffled.
The Gloomy Man beside her didn't answer her question but walked away alone, causing Xie Man to roll her eyes. "What are you so cocky about? You haven't cleared the instance either, have you?"
The two left one after another, and Li Weiran was still standing there. But then Fan Shiji walked over, looking sneaky, and said, "I have something to discuss with you."
Li Weiran looked at him without speaking, but Fan Shiji continued, "The two of us are the most dangerous right now. The others can't be trusted. Shouldn't we cooperate?"
Li Weiran nodded and actively walked toward the room.
After they left, Xu Huo went back to the portrait painting's position. Looking around, he suddenly noticed that the leaves in the landscape painting behind him were quivering. Then a hand pushed aside the leaves and appeared within the painting's content.
The Painting Woman, shrunk to occupy only a tiny corner, smiled and waved at him.
Xu Huo smiled slightly, took out his phone, and asked her, "Did you see any dead people last night?"
The Painting Woman pointed diagonally upward. He followed her gaze and saw the crystal chandelier under the dome. The chandelier's lamp holder was solid, perfectly blocking the view.
"Do me a favor," Xu Huo said. "Get the corpse down from up there."
The Painting Woman nodded and burrowed back into the leaves.
Xu Huo turned and walked toward the corridor. Just then, a loud crash came from the room on the left. The other players had just turned their heads when they saw Ni Tian flying out of the corridor. Before she even hit the ground, Lu Gang rushed out and caught up with her, stomping his foot onto her abdomen!
Ni Tian, who had fallen heavily to the ground, coughed up blood. She got up, grabbed Lu Gang's foot, and flipped him over, striking his knee to force him to the ground while pressing her body down on him!
However, she was clearly no match for Lu Gang in terms of strength. He directly lifted her up and slammed her back against the large mural behind them!
Hearing the noise, Fan Shiji and Li Weiran came out of the room. The former asked, "Why are you fighting?"
At this moment, Ni Tian was pinned against the mural by Lu Gang, who had her shoulder in his grip. Her mouth stained with blood, she shouted at Xu Huo, "Aren't you going to help?!"
Xu Huo stepped forward, grabbed Lu Gang's shoulder, and pulled him back. "That's enough. Do you really want to kill her?"
Lu Gang stared at him, breathing heavily, but said nothing, his expression still furious.
Xu Huo said calmly, "You can't talk, but you're not brain-damaged. If you're looking for an excuse to kill Ni Tian now, are you going to look for an excuse to kill the other players later?"
The other players stood nearby, all staring at Lu Gang.
"You've all misunderstood." You Huanhuan stepped forward and said, "It's just that Ni Tian was sneaking out of our room just now. When I asked her what she was doing, she wouldn't say anything. Lu Gang got angry, that's all. He wasn't deliberately looking for an excuse."
Ni Tian, now free, immediately walked over to Xu Huo's side, popped her dislocated shoulder back into place, and said, "What's it to you what I was doing? Is the room your private property? Or is there something shameful hidden in there?"
Li Weiran frowned. "Finding the fake painting is the most important thing right now. If you want to cause trouble, we can settle things first, so no one keeps stirring up trouble every now and then."
"Hmph! You've got quite the mouth on you," Ni Tian said with a scowl. "If you're so capable, take care of these two first!"
Li Weiran was clearly getting angry, but before he could speak, the Gloomy Man cut him off. "What were you looking for in You Huanhuan and Lu Gang's room?"
Ni Tian glanced at Xu Huo, and Xu Huo took over. "Aren't you also suspicious that Pan Siming was killed by someone among us? So I asked her to look for the body."
The others immediately became wary, but the Gloomy Man laughed. "It seems there was no gain."
"We really didn't kill anyone," You Huanhuan said, her eyes reddening. "You have to believe me. If I killed Pan Siming, may heaven punish me by letting a mutant eat me!"
Unfortunately, her pitiful act didn't win any sympathy. Instead, Fan Shiji said, "If vows worked, lightning would have struck down countless people by now. Give us something real!"
You Huanhuan looked around, seemingly hurt by the players' coldness. She said stiffly, "Since you say I killed someone, show me the evidence! There's no corpse in my room. What right do you have to say I killed someone? Do you think I'm easy to bully?"
Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Xie Man, tired of watching the drama, turned around and waved her hand. "We can't even be sure if the person is dead or just left the instance. What's the point of looking for a corpse? Aren't we just making trouble for nothing?"
The one "making trouble for nothing," Xu Huo, watched her walk under the chandelier.
"Plop!" Something dripped onto Xie Man's face. She reached up to touch it, and when she brought her hand down, it was a piece of bloody flesh. Startled, she looked up and saw a shadow falling toward her!
Xie Man quickly stepped back to dodge, and when the thing hit the ground, she exclaimed in shock, "Pan Siming!"
"What?!" The other players were also startled by the corpse falling from the sky. They immediately gathered around. The Gloomy Man turned the body over, and everyone standing nearby couldn't help but gasp.
Pan Siming's death was too gruesome. One eyeball was burst, and his neck and half his face were completely chewed up. Scattered muscle tissue hung from the bones, and teeth marks could be seen along the edges.
"It's him. His trachea is severed. He was probably bitten to death alive." The Gloomy Man checked Pan Siming's clothes and frowned. "Although the clothes are soaked in blood, the amount of blood loss doesn't match. The person who killed him not only ate him but also drank all his blood."