Chapter 1

An old tungsten filament lamp hung from the center of the room by a black wire, casting a dim glow.

The tranquil atmosphere spread through the room like ink droplets in clear water.

In the center of the room stood a large round table, worn and battered. In the middle of the table, a small clock with intricate patterns stood, ticking away.

Around the table, ten people sat, each dressed differently. Their clothes were somewhat tattered, and their faces were covered in dust.

Some were slumped over the table, others leaned back in their chairs, all deeply asleep.

Beside these ten people, a man wearing a goat head mask and dressed in a black suit stood quietly.

His eyes, visible through the holes in the worn goat head mask, watched the ten people with interest.

The clock on the table chimed, the minute and hour hands both pointing to twelve.

From a distant place outside the room, a low bell sound echoed.

At the same moment, the ten men and women around the round table slowly awoke.

As they gradually regained consciousness, they first looked around in confusion, then at each other with doubt.

It seemed that none of them remembered why they were there.

"Good morning, Nine," the goat head spoke first. "I am pleased to meet you here. You have been asleep in front of me for twelve hours."

The man's bizarre appearance startled everyone in the dim light.

His mask appeared to be made from a real goat's head, with much of the fur yellowed and blackened, matted together.

Two hollows were cut out for the eyes, revealing his cunning gaze.

His every movement exuded a unique musky odor from the goat, along with a faint smell of decay.

A man with tattooed arms was stunned for a few seconds before finally asking the goat head, "Who... are you?"

"I believe you all have this question, so let me introduce myself to the Nine," the goat head said, happily waving his hands, as if he had prepared his answer long ago.

A young man named Qixia sat farthest from the goat head. He quickly surveyed the room and soon became solemn.

Strange, this room is truly bizarre.

There were no doors, only walls on all sides.

In other words, the room was completely enclosed, with a table placed in the center.

If so, how did they get here?

Could they have been brought in first, and then the walls built around them?

Qixia looked around again. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all crisscrossed with lines, dividing them into large squares.

Another point that caught Qixia's attention was the goat head's reference to the "Nine."

There were ten people sitting around the table, and with the goat head himself, there were eleven people in the room.

What did "Nine" mean?

He reached into his pocket, and as expected, his phone was already gone.

"There's no need to introduce yourself to us," a cold-voiced woman said to the goat head. "I advise you to stop your actions. I suspect you have been holding us captive for over twenty-four hours, which constitutes 'unlawful detention.' Every word you say now will be recorded and used as evidence against you."

As she spoke, she disdainfully rubbed the dust off her arms, as if being dirty was more offensive to her than being held captive.

The woman's words indeed sobered everyone up. Whoever this person was, to dare kidnap ten people was already a violation of the law.

"Wait..." A middle-aged man in a white coat interrupted, slowly turning to the cold-voiced woman. "We just woke up, how do you know we've been held captive for 'twenty-four hours'?"

His tone was steady and forceful, but it hit the mark.

The cold-voiced woman calmly pointed to the clock on the table and replied, "The clock points to twelve, but I have a habit of staying up late. The last time I checked the clock at home, it was already twelve. This means we've been held captive for at least twelve hours."

She then pointed to the walls around them and continued, "You should have noticed that there are no doors in this room, which means the person went to great lengths to get us in here. He said we've been asleep for twelve hours, and now the clock points to twelve again, indicating it has gone around at least twice. So I suspect it has been 'over twenty-four hours.' Is there a problem with that?"

The man in the white coat looked at the woman coldly after hearing her answer, still doubtful.

After all, in such an environment, this woman was too calm.

Would a normal person facing a kidnapping situation calmly state such things?

At this moment, a muscular young man in a black T-shirt asked, "Goat head, why are there ten people here, but you say there are nine?"

The goat head remained silent, not answering immediately.

"Damn it, I don't care how many people are here..." The tattooed man cursed, trying to stand up but found his legs weak and powerless, so he could only point at the goat head and threaten, "You better watch out, you don't know what trouble you're in. I really will take your life."

As he spoke, the expressions of the men in the room became increasingly serious. At this moment, they needed a leader. If they could subdue the goat head together, the situation would still be under control.

However, they found their legs felt as if they had been injected with something, making them completely powerless.

So the tattooed man could only threaten the goat head with words, shouting loudly.

Qixia did not speak, but gently stroked his chin, staring at the clock on the table, deep in thought.

The situation seemed more complicated than he had imagined.

He knew the goat head referred to "nine participants." If there were ten people here, it meant one of them was not a participant.

Who was he?

There were six men and four women in the room. Could one of them be the "kidnapper"?

The goat head no longer spoke, slowly approaching Qixia and standing behind a young man.

The others followed his gaze and noticed that this young man was different from the rest. His face, though dirty, was filled with a happy smile.

The goat head slowly raised his hand and placed it on the young man's back of the head.

The young man's smile became even more eerie. He looked at the others with excitement, as if he already knew something.

A dull thud echoed as the goat head slammed the young man's head into the table.

A pinkish-white substance splattered across the table like spilled paint, and blood splashed onto everyone's faces.

The young man's head was shattered on the table.

Outside the room, the distant bell sound rang again.

Qixia was close to the deceased, feeling a warm, sticky object stick to his face.

He thought his mental fortitude was strong enough, but he found himself trembling.

The girl sitting to the right of the deceased was stunned for three seconds before her face contorted, and she screamed.

This scream shattered everyone's psychological defenses.

To be able to shatter a human's hard skull with a hand on the table, was the goat head even human?

How could his frail body generate such immense strength?

The goat head slowly said, "I prepared ten people to use one of them to calm you down."