/
After Lin Qin has shoved everyone down to the hall, he indicates for the other Missiontakers to gather information, while he starts blanking out.
He ShujĂŒn looks around. Lin Qin is daydreaming. Ye Lan looks cold as ice. Mystic is mumbling something again. So she speaks up, “now, who killed the victim?”
The rather restless bunch of people go dead silent.
When Lin Qin was on the second floor, the other Missiontakers followed, and saw first-hand how these people argued in fear and accused each other. The sudden murder seemed to have made them lose their minds.
They saw the murdered groom, too. He was young, athletic, muscular, and lied flat on the ground in front of the bed on his back. A knife went through his chest.
According to Ye Lan, the kitchen knife belongs to the kitchen; the chef would that he’s never seen this knife since arriving at the mansion in the afternoon.
This is information Ye Lan already got from exploring the Nightmare in the past.
The Missiontakers would have had a harder time investigating if not for Ye Lan’s valuable information, and for Lin Qin’s presence.
He ShujĂŒn’s question cuts to the chase so directly that the people seemed taken aback for a while. Finally, after a while, someone speaks up.
Ye Lan also pays close attention. She’s also curious who the real murderer is in this case.
A woman says, “I killed a-Hao.”
The victim’s name was Zhang Quanhao; this woman, though, wasn’t his girlfriend, even if she’s referring to him with an affectionate prefix.
He ShujĂŒn is looking at her weirdly. Is there some relationship drama going on?
Suddenly, another thinner and meeker, and also rather tired-looking woman who looks like she just bawled her eyes out, raises her head to glare at the first woman who spoke.
Ye Lan furrows her brows. She tells He ShujĂŒn, “you won’t find any answers this way. We also ended up with these two suspects when Zhang Quanhao was murdered.
The woman that spoke just now was Zhang Quanhao’s ex. She was unhappy Zhang Quanhao was marrying Ning Xi, and so tagged along on this trip.
Zhang Quanhao only realised this at the airport, and apparently he admonished her advances. Her love possibly turned to hate.
She immediately admits to having killed Zhang Quanhao when asked.
I don’t think she’s the real murderer, because more murders would happen, but she would have a perfect alibi then and no motive.”
The people of the tour group sans Zhang Quanhao all turn pale when they hear Ye Lan nonchalantly commenting that more murders would take place. Not that anyone is paying attention to them for now.
Shen YĂŒnjĂŒ then asks, “what about the other suspect then? Is she Ning Xi?”
“Yes. Zhang Quanhao’s fiancĂ©e-to-be,” Ye Lan glances over at her, and says, “she’d claim she knows nothing of Zhang Quanhao’s lingering relationship with his ex, but she clearly behaves with open hostility towards her.
Also, Ning Xi enjoys detective novels, and joins a lot of escape room and similar escapades. In fact, she met Zhang Quanhao on one such occasion when a mutual friend introduced them.”
Ye Lan’s information contained a lot of clues for the Missiontakers.
Then He ShujĂŒn asks for follow-up, “so do the people who die later have any relationship with Ning Xi?”
Ye Lan explains, “we couldn’t dig up much on that front, but we did conclude that Ning Xi had something going on with all the rest of the people in the tour group.”
They all then look at the woman sitting on the ground haggardly with bloodshot eyes. She seems devastated her boyfriend died.
Would such a lovestruck girlfriend really have killed her beloved?
As for the ‘alibi’ Ning Xi has for Zhang Quanhao’s death, it isn’t watertight.
Whether Ning Xi had the room’s key with her, and whether the door was locked by her or whoever else, are all questions whose answers only she knows.
It’s possible she finished her snacks downstairs, then killed Zhang Quanhao, and used some trick to lock the door, before calling the tour’s leader here.
A murder in a locked room is one of the most abused tropes of the genre both in literary form and on screen.
The Missiontakers’ goal right now, is only to figure out the motives and truth.
However, their seeming ignorance of possible methods Ning Xi could have used appears to anger her.
She yells out, “that’s right! I killed the damned dog of a man! And I’m going to kill all the people who wronged me!”
Her sharp yells reverberate through the cold mansion.
She suddenly starts chuckling and asks, “are you not curious how Zhang Quanhao died?”
He ShujĂŒn tells her without delay, “not really
”
Ning Xi seems to choke on her words, glaring at these outsiders angrily.
Meanwhile, Shen YĂŒnjĂŒ knits his brows a little and asks Ye Lan, “so who’s the Nightmare’s owner? With all the people in the Nightmare present, it must be the owner who’s succumbed rather than the Missiontaker, right?”
Ye Lan nods, but then shakes her head, “sorry, but we didn’t figure out who the owner was.”
Shen YĂŒnjĂŒ falls into thought a little. He isn’t too surprised.
Clearly, any victim who might have to face death, and even Ning Xi herself, could have been the Nightmare’s owner.
Not to mention this has to be those kinds of Nightmare where plot-triggered deaths don’t cause restarts, and only a full wipeout of everyone would start the next run.
It would mean that even Zhang Quanhao can possibly be the Nightmare owner.
Shen YĂŒnjĂŒ still can’t help but feel a little tired, even though uncertainty over Nightmare owners is already a staple for him at this point.
He ShujĂŒn is still asking questions, meanwhile, “so what kind of wrongs did you suffer at the hands of them?”
Ning Xi appears happy she is asked, and starts declaring with this confident look, “a very good question. I’ll tell you one by one. Then you’ll realise that all of these people deserve to die.
That old man there was my junior high school homeroom teacher. He’s retired now, but I’ll never forget how he punished me and my friend physically for failing our maths test.
The two aunties there are coworkers of my future mother-in-law. A-Hao and I were all fine and well together, but they chimed in and said how girls’ dowry should have a house.
Yes, I admit my family is poorer than a-Hao’s, but his family didn’t mind. They messed it all up with their shitty opinions, then they can’t blame me for taking revenge!
That little brat who’s barely an adult there? He just finished high school; but don’t be fooled, he’d already made my younger cousin preggers, and even wants to shoo her off to go enjoy college? You must be kidding me.
And this
 this woman! This bitch! A-Hao doesn’t like her anymore! Why is she still barging into our lives!”
When it comes to Zhang Quanhao’s ex, Ning Xi’s tone turns much sharper. Clearly, this is the person she hates and despises the most of the bunch.
He ShujĂŒn is already looking at Ning Xi really weirdly at this point.
The woman is laughing all happily, and says, “what do you think? Gathering all my enemies together and killing them all. It was such a pain to arrange
”
“But what about the people from the tour agency?”
Ning Xi says, “the last time a-Hao and I went on a trip, this agency had such a shitty attitude. They didn’t make up for the delayed flight in any way, so this time I chose them again. Too bad I couldn’t get them to give us the tour leader and guide from last time
 But I’ll get ‘em next time.”
He ShujĂŒn is speechless.
This woman
 is this what she truly thought? Or perhaps is it simply another product of the madness, having amplified the part of her that held an inordinate amount of grudges?
Maybe she really was this kind of person, too.
He ShujĂŒn can never understand the thought process of someone like her anyway.
It’s like her mind doesn’t know of any suitable comeback except killing people.