...Mastermind? What mastermind?
Could it be... the mastermind behind the cheating?
Chen Bingwen felt panic rising, but his body remained completely paralyzed. He could only maintain his posture, staring down at the desk.
The hallucination he experienced during his fall must have been so kind of nightmarish mory fragnt.
Although fragnted, he could roughly guess from the details that the nightmare was related to being caught cheating.
Judging by that piercing scream of "It was all his idea," there were likely others involved as well.
Could it be... collective cheating?
A clear thought suddenly pierced through Chen Bingwen's muddled mind.
In that instant, those blurry details wove together into a complete thread of clues—
He was a Deceiver of the World from the Domain of Wisdom, after all. At the very least, Chen Bingwen's mind was exceptionally sharp.
But before he could say a word, that overlapping, distorted voice echoed once more:
[I've heard the news. The person who organized this collective cheating is among the four of you.
[I'm going to call your parents. Think it over carefully.
[You can leave as soon as soone confesses!
[If no one confesses, then none of you are leaving!
[—Who tokens are not allowed to lie!]
Then, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed, quickly followed by the heavy thud of the office door shutting.
Only then were the four of them finally freed from their paralysis.
However, when Chen Bingwen tried to move, he realized he couldn't leave his seat at all. The surrounding space was pitch black; nothing could be observed.
The only thing visible was a star-shaped mark placed dead center on the table—a star ford by four diamond patterns.
Suddenly, four nas materialized above their heads:
[Frankenstein]
[Lucky Escapee]
[Gray Fox]
[Naless]
Seeing this, Chen Bingwen's heart skipped a beat.
The lingering trauma from the tutorial level instantly resurfaced—
—This isn't another damn round-table voting ga, is it?
But Chen Bingwen quickly comforted himself.
It's fine... Even if it really is a round-table vote where they have to eliminate soone, it's just a one-in-four chance of death. That's significantly better than the brutal elimination rate of his tutorial, where nine out of twelve people died.
Besides, at least this ti there wasn't that lunatic 'Werewolf' dragging people into life-and-death bets every day!
Based on the principles of Title classification, that dangerous maniac would definitely receive a Title from the Domain of Slaughter. Then, after being targeted, he would probably die in so unknown corner...
Thinking of this, Chen Bingwen let out a breath of relief.
[Lucky Escapee] asked with a hint of confusion, "What does he an by this? Does he want us to hand soone over?"
As he spoke, he unconsciously glanced at [Frankenstein].
Right at that mont, the tip of the star pattern pointing toward [Frankenstein] suddenly lit up with a blinking green light.
It emitted a soft rustling sound, much like a tape recorder.
"..."
Chen Bingwen tried to speak, but found he couldn't utter a single syllable.
Seeing this, Ming Po let out an intrigued "Oh."
Ming Po fell silent for a mont before speaking:
"...I think I understand. This seems to be a Q&A format. I have to answer your question, and I cannot lie.
"This is a ga where we must confront and interrogate each other to solve the case. It looks like one of us is the 'mastermind'."
Saying this, Ming Po smiled at Chen Bingwen, who bore the Gray Fox Title. "What do you think, classmate Chen?"
As Ming Po looked at [Gray Fox], the flashing green light in front of him instantly died out and lit up in front of [Gray Fox] instead.
At the sa ti, Chen Bingwen finally regained the ability to speak.
He also finally understood why Ming Po felt that way just now.
He simply couldn't voice any question unrelated to Ming Po's inquiry—whenever he tried to say sothing else, it felt as though his throat was completely blocked.
I see...
Chen Bingwen gradually grasped the rules of this ga.
Among the four of them, there was likely a "culprit." They needed to exchange information through confrontation to fish that person out.
But since only one person could answer the previous person's question each ti... what the next person could say was entirely dictated by the current speaker. Therefore, it wasn't just about clearing one's own suspicion, but also about controlling the rhythm of the conversation to force others into exposing their flaws!
That must be how this is played!
But the problem was...
Chen Bingwen realized that he might be that very person!
He swallowed hard and said in a deep voice, "I think that's exactly what it is.
"We need to use conversation to uncover the truth of the entire incident.
"Think about it, how did this start? We appeared in an exam room, bound by bizarre and fatal restrictions straight out of a set of supernatural rules. That's because, for students isolated from society, the school is their entire world. School rules are the will of heaven, and teachers are virtually absolute authorities.
"And that desk covered in scratches seems related to bullying. The most important clues are the words carved into it—"
Chen Bingwen paused and looked around.
Just then, he suddenly realized sothing and pulled his phone out of his pocket.
"It said things like 'cheat,' 'liar,' and 'go to jail.' But if it was just ordinary cheating, it shouldn't warrant jail ti, which ans it obviously wasn't a crucial exam like the college entrance exams; and if it were tied to a more severe criminal case, there should be scratches like 'murderer' instead.
"So I believe this incident must be connected to a severe case of collective cheating."
As he spoke, he turned on his phone and glanced at the ti.
Simultaneously, he looked over at the blurred figure of [Naless].
Chen Bingwen asked, "By the way, the three of us have t before, but who are you? Why can't we see you clearly?"
Without leaving a trace, he shifted the topic from "finding the cheating ringleader" to "uncovering the truth of the incident."
He couldn't be sure if the hallucinations others saw were the sa as his.
If they were the sa, then it was fine; but if they were different, he was highly likely the culprit.
Therefore, he didn't dare bring it up at all, hoping the others would start talking first.
As Chen Bingwen threw out the question, the green light in front of him died out and shifted to the obscured figure of [Naless].
It was her turn to speak.
"I am..."
The figure made a hesitant sound.
Her voice was also shrouded in fog, sounding processed by a voice changer, making it impossible to distinguish if it was male or female.
After [Naless] remained silent for about ten seconds, the blinking green light in front of her suddenly turned red, flashing more violently while emitting rapid beeping sounds.
"I, I'm the one whose arm was ripped off! My surna is Bai, you can call Xiao Bai!"
She said in a panic, "You guys definitely saw ! I was the one at the very front of the classroom!"
As she spoke, the mist obscuring her finally faded away, and her muffled voice returned to its natural tone.
Right now, she still only had one arm. Blood practically soaked the entire upper half of her body.
She looked as though she was on the verge of crying.
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