by N. Heller
"Not only will this reduce his risk, but because he knows that we are who we are, he could even act as if he could confirm that we are not lying. This will also help reduce our doubts about him…"
[That’s right! That must be it.] B.Rabbit’s ears twitched as he exchanged a glance with Hai Tianqing.
"On top of that, I found something very odd," Lin Sanjiu said expressionlessly as she looked at the sweat pouring from Hu Changzai’s forehead — whenever she looked at an enemy, her face would turn cold and stoic. "Hu Changzai still hasn't developed the Physical Enhancement passive ability, so how could he survive two months of hunger? Logically speaking, he should have died of starvation!"
Like a sudden clap of thunder, these words shocked everyone, and their expressions changed. Hu Changzai looked at the suspicious faces around him and finally sighed after some time, "I can explain, but I am sure none of you will believe me."
B.Rabbit stared at him solemnly and said, "Just tell us."
"When the maze first appeared, I really felt like I was going to die immediately after 43 days of hunger. However, during the week when Xiao Jiu was unconscious for a week, I had to feed her some cracker paste a couple of times every day, so I had the habit of keeping a packet of crackers in my pocket. At first, I survived on the crackers. Executive Hai knows about it."
Hai Tianqing nodded, confirming what he said. Lin Sanjiu was stunned, she didn’t know that something like that would happen...
"However, every minute is equivalent to one day, so how can a packet of crackers last me for one month?
"That’s why I said that you will not believe me." Hu Changzai sighed, "When I finished the packet of crackers, I became weaker and weaker. It was difficult to even walk, and in the end, I lost Executive Hai and the others. Just as I fell to the ground and thought that I would die of hunger, I developed the Physical Enhancement passive ability. This was how I survived until Executive Hai came back for me…"
[Isn’t this too much of a coincidence? Just when no one was around, he developed the Physical Enhancement at that critical moment?] Lin Sanjiu thought to herself.
"You didn’t tell me about this?" Hai Tianqing frowned and said suspiciously.
Hu Changzai gave a wry smile and said, "The others were around at that time!"
No one could verify Hu Changzai’s explanation. Everyone grew silent again as none of them could make a confident choice. After thinking for some time, Lin Sanjiu was reminded about the reality of their situation when she felt a sharp hunger pang. That bit of fish she just ate seemed like nothing considering the days of hunger. Enduring the bouts of dizziness caused by her low blood sugar, she grabbed a pen and her voting paper. Without looking at Hu Changzai, she said, "If we continue discussing, we will all die of hunger. I’m not discussing this any longer. Let’s just vote."
Hu Changzai suddenly panicked. He looked at B.Rabbit then at Hai Tianqing, before he pleaded, "You won’t vote me, right? I am really not Mr. Dot…"
Lin Sanjiu ignored his desperate expression and quickly wrote down a name on her voting paper. Spurred by her action, Hai Tianqing also lowered his head and also wrote a name on his own voting paper. B.Rabbit could not write with his paw, so he looked around and paused at Lin Sanjiu before choosing her to write on his behalf. "Xiao Jiu, help me write that name. I want to vote for him."
Hearing that, Hu Changzai was totally dejected, "We’re finished. We will need to play the fifth game."
Within a few seconds, as he m.o.a.n.e.d and sighed, there were two pieces of red paper and one white paper in the middle of the table. The two members of the Red Team and Hai Tianqing had finished voting.
Even if he was the primary suspect, he still had to vote. Hu Changzai looked at his other three companions. He finally clenched his teeth and wrote a name on his voting paper before placing his vote with the other three pieces of paper.
Once the four pieces of paper were placed in the center of the table, all of them were so nervous that they could hear their own hearts beating. Lin Sanjiu’s throat felt dry. She suddenly doubted her previous conjecture and looked at Hu Changzai with unease. She couldn’t resist any longer and said with a soft voice, "It’s time to vote… Hai Tianqing, why don’t you reveal the votes?"
The tall, muscular man kept his silence for a few seconds before he reached for the votes hesitantly. He opened the first vote — it was Hu Changzai’s vote.
The name "B.Rabbit" was written on the white piece of paper. B.Rabbit scoffed at it disdainfully as he threw a sidelong glance at Hu Changzai. "Did you choose me out of desperation?"
"No… No… I just thought that the person least likely to be the culprit would usually be the right person… That’s how it is with novels, right?" Hu Changzai gave a feeble excuse.
Hai Tianqing coughed to grabbed everyone’s attention once more. He opened the second vote, which was his.
The rough handwriting on the paper showed the name: "Hu Changzai".
Hu Changzai was not surprised, he just gave a resigned sigh. Next, Hai Tianqing was going to reveal the votes from the Red Team. They did not know who Lin Sanjiu and B.Rabbit voted for.
Hai Tianqing used his large fingers and carefully pried open the third vote. "Hai Tianqing" was written clearly on that piece of paper.
"You must be joking?" His brows suddenly furrowed as he stared at Lin Sanjiu. Now, three of them each had one vote. That is to say, there could only be one suspect…
Lin Sanjiu took a deep breath as she looked at the fourth piece of paper. When it was turned over, the name: "Hai Tianqing" was revealed. Absolute silence enveloped the entire enclosed space.
Chapter 88 - What Happened After They Consumed Poison
Hai Tianqing stared hard at the four votes on the table, and a darker and more complex expression overtook his face. It was as if he could not accept that he was the only suspect. The air seemed to stop moving, and the heavy atmosphere weighed over their heads and shoulders. After some time had passed, Hai Tianqing lifted his head suddenly and glared at Lin Sanjiu.
"Eh… I thought I acted really well. How did you find out that I was the one?"
He was no longer speaking in Hai Tianqing’s usual deep voice, but instead, he was using the same voice that they had heard countless times, the voice which came from the white fog. It had a light-hearted, cheerful timbre — that which belonged to Mr. Dot.
"Crash!" There was a loud noise as Hu Changzai suddenly knocked over his own chair and quickly moved multiple steps away from Hai Tianqing, or rather Mr. Dot. He stood some distance away from the man as fear filled his face. B.Rabbit’s fur also flared as he went into a defensive position.
From the start, Mr. Dot was hidden within the white fog, they had only seen his voice and his handwriting, so no one knew what he was. Realizing that he was sitting so closely with them on the same table, each of them couldn’t help feeling a little frightened.
"What’s wrong? Didn’t I already tell you that I am here in this room?" Mr. Dot was quite unhappy when he saw their reactions and was offended. "You don’t need to be so scared!"
Lin Sanjiu had also instinctively shifted her chair away from the table when she heard him speak. Noticing that he did not sound like he would harm them, she asked with some lingering fear in her voice, "Umm… Excuse me, but where is Hai Tianqing?"
"That huge bloke must be sleeping," even though she was seeing Hai Tianqing’s face, the person’s tone and way of speaking were totally different. Lin Sanjiu wouldn’t be able to adjust to this so quickly if she had not experienced the incident with 12. Mr. Dot propped half his face with one of Hai Tianqing’s large palm as he crooked his head and chuckled, "You don’t have to worry. I will bring him back at the end of the Challenge."
With his gesture, the three others were further convinced that the man in front of them was not Hai Tianqing. Lin Sanjiu hesitated for a moment and quickly shot a question concerning their life and death, "Which plate was spiked with [Versu Poison]?
If they didn’t
start eating, Hu Changzai and herself wouldn’t last much longer. "Oh!" Mr. Dot replied as he reached out and knocked on B.Rabbit’s dinner plate.
"This."
B.Rabbit’s eyes grew wide as he looked at his own empty plate and then at Mr. Dot’s hand. He could only show disbelief as he suddenly shivered and plopped on the table, speechless. In a split second, Lin Sanjiu felt her blood rushing to her head. Not only did B.Rabbit eat the food on that plate, Hu Changzai and herself had also eaten that fish. When she saw B.Rabbit falling, both Hu Changzai and herself called out, "Rabbit!" Just as she was about to rush over to take a closer look, Mr. Dot patted B.Rabbit’s tummy. The rabbit’s two front paws trembled a little.
Hu Changzai and Lin Sanjiu were stunned. B.Rabbit lifted up his confused face and asked quietly, "Am I dead?"
"Hehe. You just lost consciousness for a moment because you were shocked... Even though [Versu Poison] is indeed a poison, I never said that you would die if you consume it, did I?" Mr. Dot laughed out twice, gleefully. "I also suggested that you should all eat while you discussed… But you wouldn’t listen to me. But I have to give it to all of you. Despite your hunger, you quickly discovered my true identity."
No one replied because when Mr. Dot said the first sentence, Lin Sanjiu and Hu Changzai already rushed over to their own dinner plates. They removed the cloches, ignoring the knives and forks, and just used their hands to stuff their mouths with food. Both of their mouths were filled with food, and they were overwhelmed by the satisfaction that the delicious life-saving food gave to them to the point where they had no mood to listen carefully to what Mr. Dot had to say.
B.Rabbit, who had already eaten his fill, was the only one who still retained his senses. He only managed to calm his rapid heartbeat after taking in a few large gulps of air. "You, you mean [Versu Poison] doesn't kill? Then, what does it do?"
Mr. Dot gazed at the two people who were gobbling their food and listening to him at the same time. He laughed and said, "It’s something good. But you have to tell me something first. How did you see through my act?"
Lin Sanjiu’s cheeks bulged out like two balls as she continued eating. While she busily stuffed more food into her mouth, she replied, "Basically, it begughf ohf…"
"Speak properly!" Mr. Dot lectured.
Lin Sanjiu quickly drank a mouthful of soup. With the aid of the soup, she swallowed the food within her mouth. Then, she said, "If you want me to explain and analyze the situation, I really can’t express it properly. But my instincts told me that your behavior was different. Even though Hu Changzai seemed very suspicious, his behavior wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I could immediately tell that it was him through his personality. As for B.Rabbit, he was also as impatient and impulsive as usual. His behavior was totally in line."
"Just like that?" Mr. Dot tilted his head, unconvinced. He continued, "I observed this very carefully! Whether it was his way of speaking or his mannerisms, I’m sure I imitated that big bloke very well…"
Hu Changzai who was beside him nodded in agreement as he stuffed pieces of mutton and a handful of vegetable fried rice into his mouth, showing that he thought that Mr. Dot acted really well.
Lin Sanjiu put down the empty bowl of soup reluctantly, she continued explaining, "That’s right, you acted perfectly in front of us. If that were it, I wouldn’t even suspect you. But, you did a superfluous thing that Hai Tianqing would never do."
Her words also drew the attention of both B.Rabbit and Hu Changzai. Mr. Dot looked at her thoughtfully and seemed to comprehend what she meant. He nodded contemplatively.
"Old Wang and Lara from our team found a lunchbox in the maze. They had the impression that it was the delicious food that you promised, so they ate the food without any hesitation." Lin Sanjiu did not feel as anxious now that she felt some food in her stomach. While she tore the meat off the roast chicken on her plate and added, "But I recognized that lunchbox, it is a special item called [An inedible lunch]. Anyone who ate that food will die very quickly.
"I won that item in the first game, but I found it useless, so I offered it as a prize in the second game. Since the Red Team lost in the second game, it naturally went to the White Team.
"At first, I didn’t connect Hai Tianqing with the item. It was only"—she gestured at Hu Changzai—"until you said that you were separated from Hai Tianqing and that he came back with the other members of the White Team.
"At that point, I suddenly remembered something that was seemingly irrelevant. Which person in the White Team would get that item? According to the rules, unless everyone agreed that the item would be given to a particular person, the item would naturally be given to the person who contributed the most to the game. In the second game, who was most likely to get that item? Hai Tianqing managed to defeat two Red Team members. He was not only the biggest contributor but due to his combative skills, the others wouldn’t dare to snatch anything from him. Thus, it became obvious to me who the owner of the item was."
B.Rabbit frowned as he thought about what she said, then he said, "But you can’t be sure that it was Executive Hai who set up that trap. It was possible that the long-legged woman took the lunch box from Executive Hai and created that trap…"
Lin Sanjiu munched on a piece of chicken before she spoke in a muffled voice, "Even so, if the woman had asked for that item, Hai Tianqing would have thought of what she was planning. She was definitely targeting us, so why would he give it to her? Not only that, but who pointed out that the woman was the mastermind behind the second game?"
B.Rabbit paused for a moment and instantly understood Lin Sanjiu. That was what Hai Tianqing told him during the second game.
"She didn’t look like that sort of scheming person to me," even though she was talking while she was eating, she was quickly finishing the food on the plate. "However, if that woman was just a distraction, everything would make sense."
"Then, why would you lead me to suspect Hu Changzai?" B.Rabbit asked.
"If I brought attention directly to Mr. Dot, who knows what he would say to mess things up?" Lin Sanjiu still felt a little scared when she thought about this. "However, after I voted, I was still very uncertain. I nearly scared myself…"
Mr. Dot repeatedly nodded as he heard what she said. "Ah, I actually didn’t have to do that. However, thinking that I already took on that role, I had to play it perfectly… I didn’t expect that it would let the cat out of the bag."
He used a subtly strange tone when he said that which made the three of them shut their mouths. Even without her [School of Higher Consciousness], Lin Sanjiu could sense a dangerous atmosphere in the air. Clearly, she was not the only one who had sensed it as her other two companions also grew silent. It was as if they had recognized that the person that who was sitting so close to them was someone whose face they had not even seen.
"Mr. Dot, this means that the Red Team won, right? Does this mean that the Challenge has ended?" Lin Sanjiu asked cautiously after waiting for some time.
Mr. Dot narrowed his eyes as he smiled. Just when Lin Sanjiu could feel her heart almost leaping out from her throat, she heard him sigh. Almost as if he was reluctant about it, he concluded, "Alright, since you’ve finished the game. This is the end of the Challenge."
After he said that, the black walls started descending as if they received his command. They quickly slid back into the ground, and the room disappeared along with the maze in a few seconds. The four of them sat at the desolate table, right in the middle of a white fog.
When they looked up, they could see a few people who were probably the members of the White Team.
"The Challenge has ended. Are you ready to receive your rewards and penalties?"
Chapter 89 - We Got out of That Pocket Dimension, so Let's Continue on Our Journey...huh?
Hai Tianqing rubbed his face, he felt as if he had been dreaming for a long time. The vague images slowly faded from his mind as he opened his eyes. Appearing a little dazed after waking up, he looked aroun
d him and saw three familiar figures.
The warm rain and white fog had dissipated at some unknown point in time, and the stars now shone through the clear night sky. The three figures sat in a circle, with an awkward distance between them. No one could deny that odd but serious atmosphere in the air.
"What are you doing?" Hai Tianqing sat up. When he did this, his temples throbbed painfully. "How did I fall asleep here?" He stood up and walked toward his companions. He intuitively felt that something was wrong, his face turned green.
"Where is my Active ability? Why is my [The glory of a personal trainer] gone?"
Just then, the three figures who had remained rigid for some time started moving. Hu Changzai slowly turned and looked at him. Hai Tianqing wasn’t sure if he was imagining it, but he felt that Hu Changzai seemed rather reluctant...
"Executive Hai, you’re awake?" his voice seemed forced when he said that. "You don’t have to worry. Your ability is with Xiao Jiu. She has some of your special items as well. She will return them to you soon."
"Do you mean that I didn’t dream up that weird Challenge?" Hai Tianqing stared at Hu Changzai. His deeply furrowed brows clearly showed his disbelief.
"Yes. That really happened. But it is over."
"What’s wrong with your face?" he finally couldn’t resist asking.
He could hardly tell Hu Changzai’s expression behind all that decorative design on the bespectacled man’s face. Hu Changzai laughed dryly. The two set of black lines on his face — arranged like the circuits of a motherboard — curved slightly with his smile. The lines led to his neck and extended past his collar. "In the last game, we accidentally ate something called [Versu Poison]. That’s why we look like this now…"