Live Action Murder Mystery-Chapter 48

Chapter 48

(The mountain is the evidence.)

Above the snowy wasteland.

As Professor Wang continued to contemplate Gu Liang‘s brain hole, he became increasingly certain that it might be true. He slapped his thigh hard and exclaimed: “Yes, that must be it! Everything becomes more logical if that‘s the case! If Xiao Cao’s spirit had flown into an arbitrary rage, and happened to meet the both of them, he would definitely attack both of them. He would have no reason to only attack Scientist Li and not attack Doctor Xu!

“But if Doctor Xu were to be possessed by Xiao Hua, and Xiao Hua was the girl that Xiao Cao liked, he wouldn’t attack her! The entire story would then reach its logical conclusion!”

“Awesome! Amazing!”

After saying that, Professor Wang gave Gu Liang a huge thumbs up.

In contrast to Professor Wang‘s enthusiasm, Gu Liang was a lot calmer. “This is just a conjecture. Even if they were both possessed, we’re still unclear about the full story.”

For instance, where did Xiao Yuan go? They still lacked an explanation for this.

Moreover, why did Xiao Hua and Xiao Dong choose to possess Doctor Xu and Scientist Li respectively?

Why didn’t Xiao Cao find someone to possess? Why did he wander the mountain in spirit form? And where was he now?

If the murderer they needed to find was the person who caused the death of the three university students three years ago, was it possible that the murderer was between either Xiao Hua or Xiao Dong? Furthermore, what had happened that year?

Gu Liang issued a long sigh and gazed in the direction of the mountain cave again.

Subsequently, he chose to walk towards the small path in the northeast direction, and climb up to the midpoint of the mountain where the cave was situated.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Professor Wang called after him, “Be careful of that thick fog.”

“Come along with me,” Gu Liang said.

Professor Wang uttered, “You couldn’t possibly think that there’s something hidden on the mountain, right? With how thick the snow is, it’s not like we could find anything even if there was something buried under.”

“Isn’t this something?”

In the middle of the road to get to the mountain cave, a glass bottle laid quietly in the snow in front of Gu Liang, reflecting the moonlight.

Hearing that, Professor Wang strode over to him with large strides quickly, “Hm, it’s a glass bottle. But we don’t know what it was for right now.”

Gu Liang did not give a response, merely going up to pick up the bottle before he made his way towards the mountain cave slowly.

Then, he stopped in his tracks, quietly observing the cave for a moment. He turned his body and trekked east, towards a piece of land where they had never ventured to before.

“Are you only walking? Aren’t you going to dig around at least? What if we manage to dig up something else?” Professor Wang queried.

Faintly, Gu Liang replied, ”Didn’t you already say this? With how big this snow mountain is, we couldn’t dig anything out even if we tried.”

Professor Wang: “But we found a glass bottle, didn’t we? It seems like there is hope… And wandering around everywhere without direction won’t accomplish anything either.”

Gu Liang halted his footstep temporarily, gaze following the trail of disorderly footsteps, and towards the snow mountain that the moonlight was illuminating.

The moonlight was as white as frost, which made the mountain body look even colder.

A moment later, Gu Liang continued to forge ahead, saying: “All of us are under the assumption that the ‘evidence’ has been destroyed by the fire. The system, however, gave us two hours to explore freely. Which means to say… Perhaps this entire mountain’s topography and terrain, are the real pieces of evidence that we have to find.

“Don’t be anxious. Let’s walk and see. Maybe we’ll discover something.”

Professor Wang followed after Gu Liang, climbing up the mountain step by step.

Strictly speaking, the direction they were walking in was not true east, but in the northeast direction, skewed towards the east.

The slope inclined towards the north in the northeast direction went towards the cave where they found the corpses, and it was also the path that they had just followed in search for more clues.

Right now, they were walking in the northeast direction skewed north, which was in the direction of another slope going upwards.

Their ascent continued until they reached the highest point where there was another mountain cave.

The cave had already been obscured by the thick fog, which made it difficult for others to perceive its true appearance.

Once Gu Liang reached the cave entrance, he routed around it and arrived at the back of the cave. There were two erected and towering stone walls that scaled towards the sky, and when you walked to the middle of the two tall structures and raised your head, a sliver of the scenic sky could be seen.

As Professor Wang followed Gu Liang into the space between the two stone walls, he could not help but ask: “Why does it feel like you’ve been here before?”

“I have indeed been here.” Gu Liang answered, “That night did not go without encounters for me. I met Xiao Cao’s ghost, and was later chased all the way here.”

“Huh? Why didn’t you say it back then?”

Once he said those words, Professor Wang immediately came to his senses. “Oh, you were waiting on our timelines. Did Xiao Cao attack you then?”

“No. The encounter I had with him was identical to yours. Therefore, among the three men, all of us met Xiao Cao’s spirit. But only Scientist Li was attacked.”

“Additionally, Doctor Yu’s narration gave the sense that Xiao Cao was purely asking him the trust question at the start. It was only when Scientist Li turned his head around, and Xiao Cao saw his face, that he started to attack him. No matter how we twist it, there is definitely something strange where Scientist Li’s person is concerned.”

Soon after, Gu Liang and Professor Wang traversed through the two stone walls together, and reached the other exit.

After taking a few steps out, they could no longer walk forward, but they could vaguely discern that there was another downward slope below. However, where it led to if they were to continue downwards was unknown, because everything in front was completely enveloped by the thick fog.

“With the camp as the starting point, walking along the small path in the northeast direction until the bifurcation, and then going eastwards is the cave where we found the corpses, whereas going northwards is this cave and the two stone walls that form a line of sky. Southwards of the camp is the toilet.”

Gu Liang made a summary: “From what we know, this is how big the map is, which concludes our wandering. Let’s go back.”

“Sure.” Professor Wang followed Gu Liang’s lead in turning back to traverse through the stone walls that scaled towards the sky again. Then, they followed the slope to make their descent and trekked in the direction of their camp. “Are we really&#k2026; really going to go back like this?”

Gu Liang halted in his steps briefly, saying: “If you’re willing, you can try to flip up the snow or something. Maybe you’ll find something.”

Professor Wang: “Are you young people asking an old man like me to dig the snow? Don’t all of you know how to respect the old and cherish the young?”

Gu Liang smiled placidly without saying anything. Instead, he tightened his down jacket around and headed back to their camping grounds.

* * *

The two-hour free exploration time came to an end.

The centralised discussion thus began.

The “centralised discussion room” this time around was unusual.

Two men in black walked over from the mountain cave while bringing along a piece of white fog, and by the time they reached the camping grounds, the entire camping grounds was shrouded by the white fog in a thorough manner.

Hence, the white fog limited the players to a piece of empty land in front of the toilet, which made up for their “centralised discussion room”.

The men in black’s purpose in coming here was twofold: one was to seal off the free exploration premises, the other was to send them some food and water.

The two men in black placed down the box of energy bar and mineral water that they had in their hands and then they turned around and left.

Professor Wang complained, “Can we negotiate for a different place? This place is close to the toilet, it’s a little smelly.”

Despite his protests, the men in black ignored Professor Wang as they headed for the east, their figures slowly disappearing into the colours of the snow.

Once the men in black departed, the four players sat down on the snow-covered ground in a circle formation.

The moonlight had shifted towards the east slightly, and it was apparent that the night was growing deeper.

Doctor Xu’s complexion seemed to have some colour at last.

She bit into the energy bar that Scientist Li passed to her and drank a few mouthfuls of water before she asked Gu Liang: “Inspector Liu, when you and Professor Wang went to the camping grounds again, did you make any new discoveries?”

Gu Liang shook his head before he returned his own question: “Do you mind talking what happened back then? How did the fire start? Did you cause the gas canister to explode because you weren’t careful with your handling, which then gave rise to the fire?”

Upon hearing those words, Professor Wang’s eyes widened immediately as he shot a look in Gu Liang’s direction. Gu Liang shook his head lightly in reply, which allowed Professor Wang to realise that Gu Liang was trying to inveigle her for information imperceptibly. Thus, he remained silent, choosing to say nothing for the moment.

“I… I don’t know. I passed out. I don’t know anything.”

Doctor Xu said: “It’s true, after you went to the toilet, I was at the entrance of the tent cooking vegetable soup, and then suddenly…. I don’t know why either, but the wind seemed to kick up slightly, and then I was knocked unconscious.”

The wind kicked up slightly?

Gu Liang thought back about it briefly. Prior to the incidents where he was knocked unconscious, the wind becoming bigger was a common denominator.

He was responsible for keeping vigil over their camp last night.

He remembered that he was quite animated, considering how he had been sleeping at every chance he got.

During that time, he was contemplating the case when the wind kicked up slightly, causing him to tighten his down jacket. Then, he had fallen asleep without being conscious of it.

And when he woke up, he saw Xiao Cao’s spirit.

Concurrently, the camp behind him had disappeared.

Following, he ran while Xiao Cao gave chase, and the two of them ran in the northeast direction though skewed north to go up the slope, and routed around the cave. At the very end, Gu Liang had ducked into the space between the two stone walls.

After entering the stone walls, Gu Liang “telephoned” Yang Ye, then exchanged a few lines with Xiao Cao.

The wind proceeded to rise, and then he fell asleep again.

Upon waking up once more, Gu Liang found himself back at the camp.

If he counted carefully, Gu Liang had fainted twice that night.

The third time Gu Liang fainted was when he and Professor Wang were exiting the toilet.

When he stepped out of the toilet doors, a gust of wind blew by, and he had collapsed to the ground.

It was 6 o’ clock when he went to the toilet. By the time he woke up, the broadcast announced that it was already 7.

He was unconscious for a full hour.

At this moment, Doctor Xu continued to say: “When I was briefly discussing it with Scientist Li just now, we came to the consensus that it wasn’t likely for the gas canister to explode because of a gas leak since we’re in an open and spacious environment. Someone must have started a fire first, and then the fire detonated the fuel gas canister.”

“But if you passed out before the fuel canister exploded, you shouldn’t have a chance of surviving.”

Gu Liang gazed at Doctor Xu, “Are you trying to say that the person who knocked you out, saved you? After he knocked you out, he brought you to a place far away from the explosion, which in turn, only caused you to suffer a slight impact from the blast wave in the midst of your unconsciousness, and made you roll down in the direction of the toilet?”

Their camp was very small, and it was erected on a relatively flat piece of snow-covered ground.

The road only started becoming uneven 50 metres south of the camp, and there was a slope going down the mountain to get to the toilet.

If Doctor Xu was not lying, this could only signify that after she fainted, someone had brought her outside of the blast radius and away from the camp. Once all the criteria was fulfilled, she only had to roll down the slope in the direction of the toilet once the explosion occurred, thereby allowing her to escape unscathed from the explosive impact.

This person had saved her.

Doctor Xu opened a mineral water bottle and drank from it before she said, “Yes, that’s probably what happened, it can’t be wrong. The reason why the few of us shifted the corpses out of the cave was because we wanted to bring them back to the base camp and then report it to the police there. Hence, the arson can only be committed by the murderer. It’s possible that he only wanted to burn all the related evidence, or perhaps just the corpses, but he never intended to kill me.”

After listening to her words, Professor Wang leaned closer to Gu Liang’s ear and said: “That probably isn’t a lie. She’s already been possessed, she’s Xiao Hua. The three boys, namely Xiao Yuan, Xiao Dong and Xiao Cao, all liked her. Since she has found a new body, they wouldn’t hurt her body.”

If they were following Gu Liang’s previous brain hole, Professor Wang’s conjecture was by no means illogical.

It was possible that one of the three boys had killed the other two boys that year, and he had unintentionally killed Xiao Hua in the process.

And from that day onwards, Xiao Hua’s spirit had wandered the snow mountain in a tragic manner.

That lasted until three years later, where an inspection team walked into the cave unknowingly and she finally found a suitable vessel. Thus, she possessed Doctor Xu’s body and supplanted her to live.

While the real murderer was burning the bodies, he was afraid of hurting Xiao Hua, so he brought her further away from the camp, lest she was harmed by the fire. It was plausible.

Of course, all of it premised on the fact that— Doctor Xu was not lying.

However, there was still a problem with the brain hole.

Since the real murderer knocked out “Xiao Hua”, he was hiding the fact that he was burning the bodies from her, which meant that Xiao Hua’s spirit did not know that he was the murderer as well.

This indicated, not only did he hide the fact that he had harmed everyone from Xiao Hua, he had hidden it from her for a full three years.

Was this possible?

Impossible. There were too many places in the story that could not be explained.

When Scientist Li pulled Doctor Xu to the side, what were the exact contents of their private conversation?

The plot details that he was hiding might be the key to solving the case, he had to make him explain everything clearly.

But interpersonal relationships had always been Gu Liang’s weak point.

It had only worsened after he entered this game; after he had completely abandoned the set of societal etiquette and became himself, it was even harder for him to form any friendships with players he was unfamiliar with.

Gu Liang felt that if he was exchanged with Yang Ye, it was highly likely that he would be conversing merrily with a person like Scientist Li.

However, Gu Liang knew he was incapable of it.

And in the current situation where the other party had an odious attitude, Gu Liang essentially felt that since their words were soured, adding more words would be useless. The fact that their relationship hadn’t turned for the worse was already considered a blessing.

But… It was fortunate that he could still blackmail people.

Hence, Gu Liang opened his mouth and told Doctor Xu: “Presently, it seems like the person who saved you, and committed arson, can only be Scientist Li.”

Scientist Li shot a glare at him instantaneously. “What do you mean by that?”

Gu Liang looked towards Professor Wang: “Both of us were at the toilet, and we can testify for each other, right?”

Having received Gu Liang’s hint, Professor Wang nodded his head forcefully. “Yes, that’s right.”

“Since Professor Wang and I were at the toilet, then the only person who could have committed arson is Scientist Li.”

Gu Liang continued: “If that’s the case, everything can be explained. In our inspection team, Scientist Li and Doctor Xu were lovers, and they’re at the stage where they’re affianced. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Scientist Li would ensure that Doctor Xu was protected when he was setting the fire.”

Scientist Li’s face darkened completely. His anger values were accumulating and it was like it could break through the critical point at any given time and explode. “What nonsense are you spouting?”

Compared to his wrath, Gu Liang appeared extremely calm. “Weren’t we curious about where Xiao Yuan went prior to this? In actuality, Xiao Yuan might be Scientist Li. Three years ago, Xiao Yuan killed three people and escaped. Three years later, he mixed into the archaeology team and became one of our members, and even became engaged with Doctor Xu. Right now, everything he’s doing is for the sake of destroying the evidence.

“Think about it, I can eliminate myself as Xiao Yuan. Doctor Xu’s gender doesn’t match. Professor Wang’s age doesn’t match, which leaves only Scientist Li. No matter which perspective we judge it from, Scientist Li is the murderer.”

Scientist Li stood up immediately. From the looks of it, he was on the verge of hurling out profanities but he was restraining himself with the utmost effort. “If it’s that simple, is this script worth being two stars? I can also say that the murderer is you. I fucking know that I’m not Xiao Yuan, and after eliminating Doctor Xu and Professor Wang, only you remain.”

Gu Liang said: “I just said that Professor Wang and I can testify for each other during that time frame. We went to the toilet. It’s not possible for me to commit arson.”

“You—!” Scientist was agitated to the point where his anger was burning.

Doctor Xu stood up and pressed him down with all the strength she had to make him sit. It took quite a few pats on the shoulder before she barely managed to soothe him.

Doctor Xu glanced at Gu Liang before she looked at Scientist Li again, and a hint of doubt seeped into her expression, Subsequently, she said, “Maybe you should…”

“No, Xiao Wan. We can’t say that.”

Scientist Li let out a long exhale. Steeling his expression, he said: “Either way, I’m not the murderer. Use your brain and think about it: is it even possible that the case is this simple? Moreover, what are the reasons for deciding that I’m the murderer, and how do explain the matter regarding the ghost? What of Xiao Cao’s spirit?”

Gu Liang: “You have the choice of revealing your entire story.”

Scientist Li: “There’s nothing for me to say.”

Gu Liang: “Since you’re unwilling to say anything, we can’t deduce otherwise. I can only vote for you.”

Professor Wang added a line: “I agree with Inspector Liu’s suggestion.”

Scientist Li laughed coldly: “Since this is a four-person scenario, perhaps we won’t have a detective. Sure, you and Professor Wang can vote for me. But Xiao Wan and I will vote for Inspector Liu. At most, we’ll tie the vote at 2 for 2. When the time comes around, let’s see how the system will decide.”

“Is that so…” Gu Liang raised his right eyebrow briefly, and looked at the only woman in their midst, “Then I’ll have to persuade Doctor Xu.”

“In our previous discussion, we’ve deduced that under the circumstance where there weren’t any ghosts, Scientist Li holds the greatest amount of suspicion. Hereafter, let’s assume that ghosts exist.”

Gu Liang said: “We’ll start from the incident that happened that year. Four university students, three died. Xiao Yuan disappeared. I’m still inclined to believe that Scientist Li is Xiao Yuan. Of course, even if he wasn’t Xiao Yuan, this wouldn’t affect the later inference.

“Everyone has seen the corpses. Xiao Cao was sitting with his back against the rock wall when he died. Xiao Dong was hugging Xiao Hua as he died. I think the story should be as such: in the face of three boys who really liked her, Xiao Hua found herself in a predicament on who she should choose. On one hand, she was afraid of hurting everyone’s friendship, and on the other, the truth is that she wasn’t clear about who she liked exactly.

Gu Liang said, “For humans, sometimes they can only see their heart clearly between life and death. That year, perhaps for some unknown reason, the three of them were trapped in the cave, and froze to death as a result. And just before they died, Xiao Hua finally realised that the person she liked was Xiao Dong. Hence, she expressed her true feelings to Xiao Dong, and they died in each other’s arms.

“Since we’re considering the brain hole where there are ghosts, we’ll continue inferring accordingly. The three university students became ghosts. Ghosts are capable of possession. After meeting the inspection team, and through an act of possession, Xiao Hua became Doctor Xu, Xiao Dong became Scientist Li. As such, whether Scientist Li is Xiao Yuan or not, is no longer important, because his body has already been supplanted by Xiao Dong’s spirit.

“Xiao Dong likes Xiao Hua. And everything that happened that year was orchestrated by him. He was the one who hurt everyone, but he did not want Xiao Hua to know about this, so he had to destroy the corpses and leave naught of its trace. After he thought of a way to knock Xiao Hua unconscious, he committed the arson, which is driven by the fact that he wanted to prevent Xiao Hua from realising that he was the murderer. Additionally, he loves Xiao Hua. Hence, before he started the fire, he brought Xiao Hua to a safe place first.”

After hearing Gu Liang’s hypothesis, Professor Wang was the first to echo his sentiments. “I agree with the brain hole that has ghosts. If those are the circumstances, everything would make sense. There’s only one thing— How did Xiao Yuan escape that year? If Xiao Dong had committed the homicide, why did he end up killing Xiao Hua and himself, and yet Xiao Yuan was the one who ran away?”

Gu Liang said: “Yes. The lack of contextual clues happens to be the difficult part about this case. However, even if we’re not clear about the concrete plot, and we were to follow our deductions, it doesn’t matter if ghosts exist, or if Scientist Li is the Xiao Yuan from three years ago, because the player Scientist Li harbours the greatest suspicion.”

“You’re basically full of crazy and unfounded ravings. I say, Professor Wang, why are you getting fooled by him?”

Scientist Li glowered at Professor Wang momentarily before he glared at Gu Liang with dead eyes. “The story you’re spinning has too many holes. I can accept that Xiao Dong was the murderer from that year. Xiao Dong not daring to allow Xiao Hua to know that he killed everyone is fine too. In that case, let us talk about the matter of burning the corpses and erasing the traces.”

“Previously, you said that he burned the corpses and erased the evidence because he was afraid of Xiao Hua finding out. There’s a flaw in your logic. Out of all the times he could have chosen to burn the corpses, be it earlier or later, why did it have to be now? If he was afraid of Xiao Hua knowing that he was the murderer, is it possible that he only burned the corpses three years later?”

“Of course it’s possible.”

Gu Liang responded calmly: “According to the script’s settings, this hypothetical Rainbow Crystal in a cave is extremely difficult to find. In these three years, only our inspection team has found this cave, and we’re the only ones who pitched a camp nearby. Therefore, we’re the only ones who possess the tools to start a fire.

“Furthermore, we’re about to hand the corpses over the police. Once the police start investigating, it’s highly likely that they’ll discover the fact that the murderer from that year was Xiao Dong. Although Xiao Dong already has Scientist Li’s identity and doesn’t have to fear going to jail, Xiao Hua will come to know about this matter all the same. This is Xiao Dong’s motivation for burning the corpses and erasing the evidence.”

“With the motivation, conditions to commit the crime, the alcohol, the fuel gas canister, etcetera, it’s only expected that he would set the corpses on fire.”

The questions that Scientist Li brought up were resolved by Gu Liang in quick succession.

At the very end, Gu Liang raised his head to look at the moon hanging in the sky and uttered: “There’s still a lot of time. You have enough time to consider if you want to tell us the story you’ve been hiding. Or else, the murderer can only be you.”

* * *

Once Gu Liang was done saying his piece, he went to the side to sit down alone.

Professor Wang peered at him for a beat before he turned his head back, and saw Scientist Li pulling Doctor Xu to the side again to have some private words.

After looking left and right, Professor Wang’s only choice was to find Gu Liang.

He walked to Gu Liang’s side and sat down. “Honestly speaking, I still harboured some doubts about the story initially. But after hearing your explanation, I think we’re cutting it close. The murderer should be him, there’s no running.”

“Not necessarily. From our current purview, it can’t be denied that the script is far too simple. No matter if he was Xiao Yuan, or the Xiao Dong possessed Scientist Li, the person being voted for, who will be put to death, will be the player himself. His burden of proof is too heavy.”

Gu Liang uttered, “The reason why I said those things previously was because I wanted to force him into saying the story he’s concealing.”

“What do you think he’s concealing?” Professor Wang asked.

Gu Liang thought about it, and said: “I think he should be Xiao Yuan. There should be two reasons why he refuses to unclench his jaw and admit to it. One, this is his side task, he wants to obtain the uncommon reward card. Two, he’s afraid that if he says it, we’ll believe that he’s the murderer from three years ago.”

“According to your previous brain hole, the Xiao Yuan from three years ago, is the Scientist Li of today. But it doesn’t matter if he is Xiao Yuan or not; the possessed him, has currently become Xiao Dong. The one who killed, and set the fire to destroy the corpses, all of it was done by Xiao Dong. So if that’s the case…. then, this…”

Gu Liang opened his mouth and said: “If that’s the case, he only needs to give strong evidence that he’s not Xiao Dong, and that he hasn’t been possessed. However, the thing he disputed with me about from beginning to end, was that he wasn’t Xiao Yuan. That, in itself, is incredibly contrary.

“Therefore, it’s plausible that he doesn’t know the truth. He’s merely trying to complete his side task, and he’s afraid of being framed as the murderer.”

“What the fuck is going on then?” Professor Wang kept sighing.

“In any case… Regardless of which perspective we use, this story is brimming with a sense of oddness.”

Having said that, Gu Liang took out the glass bottle from his pocket, which he had picked up as he was heading towards the cave.

It was not a common glass bottle but a reagent bottle, the sort that was used to store some kind of special medicine.

After staring at the reagent bottle for a moment, Gu Liang stood up and walked outwards.

“Hey… what are you doing? Don’t take things too hard and commit suicide. The fog is over there.” Professor Wang reminded him.

“I’m fine. Actually, I have another conjecture. However, before I confirm this conjecture, I want to listen to someone’s opinion first.”

Gu Liang pulled out a card from his bosom and his gaze shifted slightly. “In any case, I drew a Request for Help Card. I can try and contact a friend.”

Professor Wang mumbled in a small voice, “You’re capable of making friends?”

— Scientist Li is even harder to get along with, I can’t find him for a chat.

If I keep looking for Doctor Xu, someone might start thinking that I’m a dirty old man who keeps entangling with pretty young ladies.

It’s truly meaningless to be alone, which is why I reluctantly followed you around the entire time…

Gu Liang: “?”

“Nothing! I was speaking at random! You can go ahead!”

“……”

The translator would like to mention she’s a direction-impaired travesty.