Chapter 40

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Suddenly, another conjecture occurred to Shen Mu.

What if the person who had received the Robber card was his junior sister, Xie You? If it was his junior sister, had she chosen the Witch card and discarded the Seer?!

All of a sudden, Shen Mu sat up. His junior sister had spoken first during the election and she did not seem like someone who was ignorant of how to play. If she was the Seer, then she would need to report her identity, so if she really was a God, it would either be the Idiot or the Witch. Furthermore, she had already known him beforehand. When a player becomes part of the Couple, it was expected for them to pay attention to the people they were familiar with, striving to identify the remaining members of their team. Based on his performance today and looking from the perspective of his junior sister, who was one of the Lovers, it wouldn’t be difficult for her to guess that he was Cupid.

Shen Mu took a deep breath, knowing that he needed to be calm——Xie You’s speech had left herself a path for retreat that could completely muddle the Civilians. He couldn’t help feeling slightly excited, and the cause of it lay in the fact that it was impossible for both the Witch and the Seer to be members of the third party!

First of all, there must be a Wolf, Cupid, and a good person amongst the members of the third party. Although his junior sister’s choice to help his Shen Xin by speaking up for her was reasonable, it was also very apparent. It was simply a matter of time before the pair was accused of being a Couple. If his junior sister could really prove that she was the Witch, while his sister would remain implicated, the pair would not be suspected of affiliation for the time being. It was, however, inevitable that one or two days later, the Witch would be subject to accusation for being a member of the third party.

There were still ten other players in the game. Even if in one or two days their team still had all three members of the third party, it would still be impossible for them to win the vote alone. At that time, with no one stepping forward as the Cupid, the Couple forming a third party would be unable to remain concealed. The fact that he, as the Seer, had survived the entire time up until then would also arouse other’s suspicions. What was more, if he couldn’t find the last unaffiliated Wolf during the day, he would definitely die that night.

But if he could prove that his sister possessed a good identity before he died, and his junior sister was able to verify her identity as the Witch… then the couple would have been formed from two good people, and wouldn’t arouse other’s suspicions! When people continued to die, the good people would only suspect that not all the Wolves had been eliminated. After all, if the Witch was linked to the third party, the Seer could not be part of the third party. In that case, the information provided by the Seer must be true. Since the “Seer” said that No. 9 was a good person, then No. 9 must be a “good person”.

As for who Cupid was… If there was no other option, then they could place the pot* on Lin Huiru, who died on the first day. As for why “Cupid” had exposed the “couple” in her death speech, who knew what she was thinking.

*T/N: the pot is a reference to 背黑锅 (bēi hēiguō): take the blame for others; be made a scapegoat; be unjustly blamed. The expression (literally, to carry a black wok) is a metaphor for taking the blame for the faults of others. In ancient times, a thief snuck into a bachelor’s home. Upon being unable to find a wallet or other valuables, he snuck into the kitchen to steal kitchenware. At this time, the bachelor was awakened and gave chase to the thief shouting, “Stop thief!” The thief dropped the knife and quickly ran away with the wok over his shoulder. The bachelor picked up the knife and gave up chase, returning to the kitchen to see what the thief had stolen. He discovered the wok was still in the kitchen—and that the thief had just taken the hard case it was kept in! Afterwards, people used “背黑锅 (bēi hēiguō) carry a black wok” as a metaphor for suffering for the fault of others. It is when you are blamed for a crime or mistake that someone else has committed and even punished for it. (Disclaimer: definition taken from eChineseLearning. Original document is here written by Elizabeth Brown – I have made my own adjustments.)

If tonight proved peaceful, then it would be the best chance for them to find the last Wolf. This was because, after a peaceful night or when multiple people died, the Sheriff would be the last to speak. Although tomorrow, since he had said today that he would check No. 1, Shen Mu intended to say that No. 1 was a Wolf to protect his sister. If he could find the last Wolf during the speeches tomorrow, then he could simply say that No. 1 was a good person and guide everyone to vote out the real Wolf.

Once all the Wolves had been eliminated, his position as the Seer would be stable and he could give his sister golden water without the need to worry about being discovered by the Wolves and necessitating the engagement of a life or death struggle.

Therefore, the Wolves must be eliminated first——and the blame for the nightly deaths could then be attributed to the Wolf team.

After receiving the Cupid card, Shen Mu had pondered whether he could guide the Wolves and the good team to kill each other, balancing the situation and allowing them, as the third party, to reap the profits, or else simply to find a way to eliminate one party first and reduce competition.

However, after proclaiming his identity as the Seer, Shen Mu understood that the Wolves needed to be eliminated first. The good people did not know the situation clearly, hence in the case of him claiming to have identified a good person as a Wolf, only that person would realise that he wasn’t the real Seer. The other good people wouldn’t know that person’s identity and naturally wouldn’t believe their words. But this wasn’t the case for the Wolves. The Wolves knew who was a good person and who was a Wolf. With the Wolves there, once he misidentified someone, they would be able to ascertain that he was not the real Seer. If the Cupid card wasn’t in this game, they would only feel that he, No. 2, was too bold and courageous by daring to claim that he was the Seer and give out identities without actually being able to check anyone. Was he a crazy person messing around, or did he really think that he could find all the Wolves with his eyes closed?

But with the Cupid, even if the person claiming to be a Seer was simply a conceited Civilian or a hidden expert player, they would inevitably fall under suspicion and the most probable explanation would be that he was part of a third party.

Following his train of thought, in which Xie You might be the Witch and may have buried the Seer… he realised that he was overthinking. Shen Mu felt a little disoriented for a moment. He knew in his heart——it was not conducive to ponder too much on a single possibility, since this was but one of many potential situations. Making too many assumptions would affect his ability to ascertain the real circumstance.

Shen Mu halted his hypothesis and started to reconsider other possibilities. He had the faint feeling that he had missed an important piece of information, and revisited matters repeatedly. However, for the moment, whatever it was kept eluding him and drowsiness gradually crept in.

……

Morning, the second day.

When Shen Mu woke up, it was eight past six.

I’m not dead, so…

Shen Mu opened ‘Player Status’, and sure enough.

The darkened avatars were still only No. 5, Lin Huiru, and No. 10.

Last night was a peaceful night.

Shen Mu could not help revealing a smile.

Since the Witch was willing to save him, no matter who they were, they were at least on his side. The biggest advantage of an uneventful night was that the Sheriff would be the last to speak. And being the Second day, the speech order would be anti-clockwise, with No. 1 being the first. Yesterday, he had said that he would check No.1, therefore he would be able to observe No.1’s reaction today first. If No.1 really claimed that she was the Witch… Shen Mu smiled, it didn’t really matter. If No.1 really said that she was the Witch, it would give Xie You, who was one of the last to speak, an opportunity to target her.

Additionally, his sister would be able to give him some clues today. Although she couldn’t simply sell out her own Wolf teammate; if she raised suspicions toward several players, including that particular one, it wouldn’t be an issue to secretly pass on the information to him and Xie You.

The third party was a team that found the situation more unfavourable to them when the game was dragged on and less people were left, as the situation becomes more and more clear. So early on, when the Wolves and the good guys fought each other, it was prudent to quickly act in secret to gain an advantage, before any suspicions were aroused..

Whether or not he could use today’s advantage to find the last Wolf would set the tone of the game.

At 9 am, the ten surviving players began the second round of speeches. Since last night had been peaceful, there was no death speech.

Anti-clockwise, player No. 1 spoke first.

No. 1 kept her head bowed just like yesterday, and seemed to be thinking about something, or perhaps she was in a daze. But unlike yesterday, she did not directly skip her speech, and the time just passed by, minute by minute, second by second.

Suddenly, No. 1 moved. Her shoulders trembled slightly, as if she was pressing the phone screen.

At that moment, the light in front of No. 1 turned blood red and exploded! Broken.

The power of the lamp’s explosion was weak, Shen Mu clearly saw a few small fragments passing in front of his eyes and landing on the table. No. 1 also collapsed at that instant, as if she was unconscious. Shen Mu’s heart sank subconsciously. No.1, he was afraid…

On his mobile phone screen, a new message flashed: ‘Player No. 1 chose to self-explode, the Second day has ended.’

Shen Mu subconsciously looked towards his sister. Shen Xin seemed to be stunned, her eyes containing shock that could not be concealed. This situation was obviously very unexpected. Shen Mu’s gaze swept across the hall. All the players seemed to have been startled by this action of No. 1’s, and their attention was focused on her small body. While retracting his gaze, Shen Mu’s eyes happened to collide with Du Xiulin’s. Shen Mu was unable to ascertain Du Xiulin’s exact line of sight through the lenses of his glasses, but he keenly felt that the other was not looking at No. 1 and instead was just like himself. Everyone else looked at No. 1, while they observed the expressions of others. Fortunately, everyone responded with surprise. His sister was just extremely shocked, which was a normal reaction.

No. 1 was no longer breathing. Her face that was upturned on one side, still contained a trace of colour, as if she was simply sleeping. Since he was very close to her, Shen Mu saw a slight smile of relief on her lips, and it brought complex feelings to his heart. He hadn’t expected that No. 1 really was a Wolf.

At this time, his identity as the Seer could be confirmed, but it was difficult to produce any feeling of happiness in his heart, and he could only sigh.

No. 12, Tang Youchen, who also sat next to No. 1, widened his eyes. He obviously wanted to say something, but the Second day’s speeches were over and he could only push those unspoken words back down his throat.

It was not only Tang Youchen who wanted to say something. No. 3 Xie You, No. 4 Du Xiulin, and No. 6 Yan Yuze all looked like they had something to say. No. 7 Zhao Xu was quite relaxed, as if he hadn’t wanted to make a speech anyway. Bai Lin’s face also showed a relaxed expression, as she had always been aiming to save herself. At this moment, her eyes contained a trace of happiness, but it was suppressed in her gaze and was not particularly obvious.

Following No. 1’s self-explosion, the Second day’s speeches ended prematurely. That moment was obviously not one for discussion, and the crowd did not gather together.

As he left the scene, Shen Mu thought about the issue of No. 1. First of all, his sister’s expression at the time was her real response, pure shock, and definitely not acting. Which was to say, the self-explosion of No. 1 hadn’t been planned by the Wolf team, and was her own decision… The thought process of No. 1 was not difficult to guess. She believed him to be the real Seer, and knew that her Wolf identity could not be hidden… Based on the situation from the past two days, it was clear that speaking for No. 1 was a very painful thing for her. Not to mention, concealing her identity as a Wolf and reasoning with others. She had obviously received a Wolf card, but her speech was abnormally short.

It was plain that No. 1 did not want to play casually, but did not have the ability to make a comprehensive speech. The faint smile that was fixed on No. 1’s face as she collapsed appeared again before Shen Mu’s eyes. Being able to die earlier, in comparison to speaking, seemed more of a release for her.

Had the Wolf team been resolved just like this?

The progress was incredibly smooth, but Shen Mu found it hard to relax. Would things really go so smoothly? However, there really were only three Wolves present in the game. No. 10 was the Wolf that had claimed to be a Seer, No. 1 was the self-exploding Wolf, and his sister was the Wolf that had become a member of the Couple.

So what he needed to consider was… if he died tonight, who should he pass the badge to?

The remaining Wolf was his younger sister. He didn’t know what kind of decision his sister would make. The Witch had already used the antidote, and he himself had no reason not to die, so it was logical for his sister to kill him. If he was the last Wolf, at this time, he would definitely choose to kill his teammate Cupid who was posing as the Seer. Although leaving the couple on the field was a great risk, he was viewed as the real Seer. No. 3 and No. 9 were both “golden water”, so there was still a possibility of winning the round. On the other hand, if the “Seer” inexplicably continued to survive, it would inevitably arouse others’ suspicion and expose them even further.

But this was what he would choose. Whether or not his younger sister would kill him was unknown. Maybe she would place her bet on fortune and choose to kill the Hunter instead.

…Hunter? Yan Yuze’s slightly raised peach blossom eyes appeared before Shen Mu, and there was an incisiveness hidden beneath his frivolousness. What if his sister really kills the Hunter, and not the Seer? Shen Mu had a hunch that Yan Yuze would immediately drag him down.

As for someone other than him and the Hunter… No, he hadn’t seen his sister since the start of the game. Who she had met on the way there, what information she had, what her perspective was… he didn’t know any of these. Perhaps his sister had interacted with other players and made other judgments of her own. He needed to meet his sister.

Making up his mind, Shen Mu left the room and headed to the first floor.

On the first floor, Shen Mu did not directly knock on no. 9, but chose room no. 6, the room of Hunter Yan Yuze first.

Dong dong dong.

“Who is it?” Yan Yuze’s voice sounded impatiently from within the room.

“It’s me, No. 2.”

The sound of footsteps inside was followed by a creak, and the door opened. Yan Yuze appeared at the door, speaking calmly to Shen Mu, without a look of impatience: “What’s wrong?”

“I have something to discuss with you. It’s about what happened in the forest and the three people who were eliminated.” Shen Mu said with a smile.

Yan Yuze’s eyes contained slight surprise. Raising an eyebrow, he asked: “You dare talk about the rules of the game, aren’t you afraid of being wiped out?”

“Only game content and discussing one’s own identity is forbidden, not the rules of the game, and especially not the rules of the entire Suspended Life Game.” Shen Mu smiled gently, implying through his words ‘I know that you understand’.

Yan Yuze raised his eyebrows slightly and no longer said anything else, immediately opening the door: “Come in.”

Entering his room, it was Shen Mu’s turn to be surprised this time.

There was another person inside. Sitting on the bed and smiling at him was No. 4, Mr. Du Xiulin.

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Translator’s corner:

Salted Fish: Shen Mu is so lucky ah! Who do you guys think the Witch is?Kitty: Shen Mu has a protagonist halo, naturally is lucky. The witch … I kinda hope his junior sister is the witch, she seems to be fairly smart! Looking forward to you guys’ comments!

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